ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 6, 1997 TAG: 9702060051
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHARLESTON, S.C.
SOURCE: Associated Press
TWO OF ITS FOUR FEMALE cadets have quit, claiming harassment. Now court-appointed consultants will look into the constitutionality of the college's efforts to go coed.
A federal judge appointed outside experts Wednesday to evaluate how The Citadel is bringing women into its corps of cadets after allegations that two women were targets of harassment and hazing.
Retired Army Col. Robert McDannell, with two assistants, should review the assimilation efforts, determine if they are constitutional and report back by March 15, U.S. District Judge Weston Houck said.
In another development, The Citadel's faculty has asked the college administration to review the rigorous training system for new cadets in light of the hazing allegations.
McDannell, now a consultant, worked at West Point and at Texas A&M on issues related to bringing women into the cadet corps at those schools.
Two of four female cadets at The Citadel have dropped out this year, saying they were hazed and harassed. Among the allegations made by Jeanie Mentavlos of Charlotte, N.C., and Kim Messer of Clover, S.C., is that their clothes were set afire and cleanser was put in their mouths.
McDannell testified before Houck at a hearing last month on security at the school. He said it would be difficult for The Citadel to assimilate women without outside experts' help.
He will be assisted by Lt. Col. Rebecca Ray, special assistant to the commandant of cadets at Texas A&M who was in charge of bringing women into the corps there, and Cheryl Twomley, an expert in organizational culture and change.
Ray advised Virginia Military Institute last summer on plans to admit women.
The judge asked them to determine whether The Citadel's efforts admit women on equal terms with men, eliminate vestiges of discrimination and prevent future discrimination. The school did not object to bringing in the experts.
Each will be paid $350 a day plus reasonable travel and living expenses. Houck said the costs will be split between the school and the U.S. Justice Department.
The Citadel's faculty council recently passed a resolution asking that cadet training be separated from the academic year and that all barracks have faculty and staff supervision. The professors also want the college to rethink the philosophy behind freshman training.
The faculty wants the administration ``to really dig down ... to see what needs to be done,'' council head Jim Leonard told The Post and Courier of Charleston, S.C.
The resolution says that while The Citadel's traditional system is designed to build leaders through adversity, most leadership training today is based on the thinking that ``values and character arise best from positive motivation and inspiration as opposed to stress and adversity.''
Scrapping the Fourth Class system of freshman training is not the only possibility, Leonard said. An alternative would be to improve enforcement so violations are reported, he said.
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