ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, December 21, 1996 TAG: 9612230060
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
THE SOON TO BE COED military school is still writing its rules for fraternization, sexual harassment, and "Conduct Unbecoming a Cadet.".
With the latest batch of Virginia Military Institute's court papers comes the answer to one nagging question about the pending entry of women:
Women and men both get the same "close-cropped haircut" when they enter VMI.
That's OK with Lauren Wagner of Richmond. She's postponing her decision about going to VMI until January, when she'll find out if she got into the Air Force Academy instead.
"If I do go to VMI, I plan to show up with a very, very short haircut," she said.
In its quarterly progress report filed in U.S. District Court in Roanoke, the school said "women cadets - like the men - will receive close-cropped haircuts as part of their entry into the rat line. Once out of the rat line, all cadets will be required to maintain a hair length and style in keeping with the military nature of the Institute, but not so short as to be unattractive in a civilian setting."
VMI officials last week said no decision about haircuts had been made and that options were being studied. But the chairman of VMI's assimilation plan, Col. Mike Bissell, said late Friday that "we played with options, we looked at it, and basically came back to keep it the way it was."
After the Supreme Court ordered VMI to admit women or give up public funds in June, the school spent three months deciding whether to go private or coed. Once the board decided in September to admit women, the school said both sexes would get "buzzcuts."
But VMI has since moved toward using the term "close-cropped" instead. And just how short that is remains unknown, Bissell said.
"I don't think anybody's measured and come up with a finite number," he said.
Said Bill Hurd, the deputy attorney general handling the case: "I think the operative term is close-cropped.
"I think there's some flexibility in that term."
Meanwhile, the school also plans to keep the same physical fitness requirements it always has had: 60 sit-ups in two minutes, five pull-ups, and a 11/2-mile run in 12 minutes. Passing the test is not a requirement for graduation or admission; rather, it is administered every semester to students until they pass.
VMI's decision to change neither rat haircuts nor physical requirements attests to the school's vow to adhere strictly to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's writings, which say the school's methodology "is not inherently unsuitable to women."
However, issues of fraternization and sexual harassment must be addressed. The school "will adopt regulations proscribing fraternization in cases where it would ... detract from the training mission of VMI," writes Tabor Cronk, an assistant attorney general, in papers filed late Friday.
The school also is looking into how much it needs to change its rules for "Conduct Unbecoming a Cadet" to deal with sexual harassment. The school is "studying how best to remind cadets of the high standards of the Institute, both in the context of providing orientation for the admission of women and in revising VMI publications, such as the Rat Bible and Blue Book of Regulations," Cronk writes.
VMI also shed more light on how it hopes to go about creating a women's athletic program under NCAA rules. Based on "the interests of women prospects and the advice of other institutions," the school will form teams in the following order: cross country, indoor track, outdoor track and swimming. They're hoping to field a women's cross country team next fall, and recruiting has begun.
VMI has said it hopes to receive an NCAA waiver from the standard requirement of seven sports for men and women alike, until more women matriculate.
Meantime, some possible members of VMI's first coed class seem unconcerned about their haircuts.
"Personally, hair is not going to be one of the difficult things I'm going to have to face," Wagner said.
In Poquosen, Brooke Elliott, who has sent in her acceptance to VMI, wasn't available to comment late Friday. Asked about the VMI haircuts, her mother, Candi, said, "Well, Brooke went out and got her hair cut real short yesterday."
As for herself?
"I can't get that shook up about it, to tell you the truth."
LENGTH: Medium: 83 linesby CNB