THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, June 25, 1996 TAG: 9606220030
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: 42 lines
The problem with Virginia Military Institute and The Citadel is not that they are single-sex institutions but that they are single-sex public institutions. If my tax dollars go to support a college, all of my children should be able to attend.
I am a product of a private, single-sex college (Loras College, Dubuque, Iowa, Class of `61), and the experience has always served me well. However, I came of age in a different era. By the way, Loras has long since seen the light and gone co-ed.
VMI and The Citadel advertise themselves as incubators of future military and civilian leaders. If this is true, they are preparing their grads for a world that does not exist. Like it or not, half of the human race is female, and women are everywhere.
Picture this: A fresh Army 2nd Lt. (VMI/The Citadel grad) reports for duty. His platoon leader is 1st Lt. Mary Jones, company commander is Major Jane Smith, battalion commander is Lt. Col. Joyce Williams and top enlisted subordinate is MSgt. Susan Washington. Is he prepared for this? Should be fun to watch.
After seeing the deportment of the ``gentlemen'' of The Citadel upon hearing that Shannon Faulkner resigned, one wonders what they are being prepared for.
The separate-but-equal gambit is also bogus. Mary Baldwin College in Virginia and Converse College in South Carolina are both fine schools. Unfortunately, they do not carry the weight of VMI or The Citadel when they appear on a resume. If they did, the good old boys would be suing to have their sons admitted to them.
The U.S. Supreme Court should strike down the last vestiges of discrimination in public education. VMI and The Citadel are resilient institutions. I'm sure they will survive, as have the nation's military academies.
DON BRAHAM
Commander
U.S. Navy (ret.)
Virginia Beach, June 12, 1996 by CNB