Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 23, 1995 TAG: 9508240024
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CAL THOMAS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
In announcing her decision to leave The Citadel after spending ``hell week'' in the infirmary, Faulkner blamed ``the stress of the past 2 1/2-year legal battle, not the stress of the corps or anything like that ... I was handling the corps.'' Really? If Faulkner could not withstand the legal battle, how could she have been expected to successfully face a battlefield enemy?
That, and the discipline that goes with it, is what military training is for. It is not about making women feel accepted or blazing trails for radical feminists who think they succeed when they invade male turf and force men to kneel in submission. There are no fainting couches in war, and certainly not different rules of engagement for women.
``Maybe it would have been different if other women had gone in with me,'' said Faulkner. Not if she was still 20 pounds overweight (U.S. District Judge C. Weston Houck ruled that the weight standard was arbitrary). Does anyone believe that Faulkner's poor physical condition would have allowed her to do 18 push-ups in two minutes (men are required to do 42) and survive the relentless adversarial techniques designed to break down the concept of individuality, instill discipline and build a spirit of unity out of diverse personalities?
As part of that training, male cadets are harangued when they fall short of standards. In Faulkner's case, specific orders were given that male colleagues ``may not, as they might other cadets, say she is incapable of performing up to standards.'' Apparently this is in keeping with Navy Secretary John Dalton's policy resulting from absences due to pregnancy, which forbids ``adverse comments'' about assignment problems resulting from such absences. At The Citadel, constant criticism has always been an essential part of the school's experience.
Officials at The Citadel built separate facilities for Faulkner, at a cost of $25,000. But when she arrived, she was told that because she plays the flute, she could live in quarters reserved for the band. Every compromise was made to guarantee her success. But even though ``the fix'' was in, and the system took a dive for her, Faulkner never made it out of the infirmary.
The pitiful saga of Shannon Faulkner isn't about equality of opportunity. If it were, so many women would not have come to The Citadel's defense, especially in favor of single-sex colleges. If single-sex schools are important to the development of some women who want that choice, why can't the same be said of all-male institutions, so long as opportunities for women are available elsewhere?
The answer is obvious. This issue is about politics, not education or opportunity. Faulkner said, ``I think there is [no] justice in me staying and killing myself just for the political point.'' But politics was her point.
State-sponsored all-female schools continue to flourish, as they should. Women who desire to study in such institutions should be allowed that choice. Men don't argue they are deprived of a proper education because they can't matriculate at women's schools. The reason this is a one-way street is because the gender feminists want to break men down and deny any concept of maleness beyond the biological definition.
As she left with the cheers of the still all-male cadet corps rising above a thunderstorm, Faulkner said: ``I was hanging in with everything the cadre was throwing at me. I was hanging in right there with the other classmen.'' Talk about denial!
And she promised (threatened?) that other women were already preparing to follow her next term. She's probably right about that. The gender feminists won't give up until they've emasculated every male within reach and silenced the rest.
The Citadel President Claudius E. Watts III has written that the school ``is trying to preserve an educational environment that molds young men into adults of good character, honor and integrity. It is part of a single-gender educational system that has proved successful throughout history.''
But success is not what the gender feminists are about - and Shannon Faulkner is living proof of that.
Los Angeles Times Syndicate
by CNB