ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, March 6, 1997 TAG: 9703060088
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: MICHAEL E. RUANE KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
The nation's private military schools and programs are in danger of losing a special relationship with the Army
The Army is considering stripping the privileged status of a half-dozen private military colleges and programs by denying their graduates preference for active-duty officer jobs.
The Pentagon, military school officials and members of Congress told Knight-Ridder that the Army is considering the change. School officials said that such changes could damage prestige and traditions of their institutions, and seriously hurt recruiting.
Schools such as The Citadel, in South Carolina, and the Virginia Military Institute would be affected. The change would force their graduates to compete for coveted active-duty slots with the graduates of Army officer-training programs at 301 other colleges around the country.
Though the idea follows bitter controversies over the integration of women at The Citadel and VMI, school officials say they do not believe the Army is seeking to distance itself from them.
The Army is wrestling with its own gender problems, in the form of the sexual-harassment scandal at a training center in Aberdeen, Md.
The issue, school officials say, is more a matter of the service seeking what it believes is more equitable competition for the dwindling active-duty slots in the slimmed-down military.
Still, said retired Army Lt. Gen. Willard Scott, executive director of the Association of Military Colleges and Schools:
``Any time you change something that recognizes the uniqueness of these colleges, it gets people a little worked up. There's nothing left that sets them apart as being unique training grounds for young lieutenants.''
In Congress, powerful senators such as John Warner, R-Va.; Strom Thurmond, R-S.C.; and Ernest Hollings, D-S.C., a Citadel graduate, have expressed concern. Said Thurmond: ``I stand with The Citadel and with VMI.''
The decision would affect six schools that are known as the senior, or essential, military schools. Aside from VMI and The Citadel, they are Texas A&M, Virginia Tech, Vermont's Norwich College, and North Georgia College and State University.
Only VMI and The Citadel have military-only programs. The others have cadet corps, as well as nonmilitary students.
And while separate from the nation's three service academies, the six have deep traditions of their own and have produced many illustrious American military figures.
Norwich, for example, was founded in 1819 and is the oldest private military school in the country. VMI, founded in 1839, has links to both the famed Confederate general Thomas J. ``Stonewall'' Jackson and the World War II statesman Gen. George C. Marshall.
Traditionally, the Army has all but guaranteed active-duty assignments to the schools' graduates, giving them preference over graduates of the Reserve Officer Training Corps Programs from civilian colleges, even if the cadets have lower grades.
The reason, school officials say, has been that the strict, full-time military regimen at the military schools has been more valued than the part-time ROTC programs at civilian schools.
``We feel that the type of training we give, which is seven days a week, 24 hours a day, and a total immersion ... really sets us apart,'' said Richard Hansen, a senior vice president at Norwich, in Northfield, Vt.
Said Maj. Gen. Josiah Bunting, the superintendent of VMI:
``A VMI cadet is up at 6:10 in the morning. He lives in a Spartan room with two other people and sleeps in a cot. ... Four years of that is surely worth something in training and habituating people as career soldiers.''
Often, however, military school graduates have significantly lower grades than civilian school graduates.
School officials said Sara E. Lister, the Army's assistant secretary for manpower and reserve affairs, is spearheading the re-examination of the policy. She could not be reached for comment, and the Army would say little about the change other than that it was under discussion.
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