THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 17, 1996 TAG: 9607170003
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A16 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: 43 lines
The U.S. Supreme Court decision that VMI must admit women marks another black day in the history of this country.
History and heritage are no longer preserved. Courts no longer respect what is right, good and positive.
I will bet that the justices deciding the VMI case have never set foot on VMI soil to understand what VMI has always strived to do for its young men or everything VMI stands for. How frustrating has been the feeling of helplessness before the challenge of trying to save the life of VMI. How can we let a small group of women have such an impact on something so important to our heritage?
The first time a female cadet walks through those arches, her mere presence will be the school's destruction. Women will never experience the unique male bonding that has resulted from the single-sex environment at VMI. If VMI's going public is out of the question, are the women admitted to the school willing to have their heads shaved, endure the Rat Line, accept strict discipline, climb up that traditional muddy hill when the Rat Line breaks out, endure the absence of privacy and accept military etiquette? Young women who apply for admission to VMI have no concept of what is expected of them as cadets. They are not after a military education. They are only out to destroy.
My son is a VMI cadet. I pray that he will have graduated before this change must take effect. Young men seeking the advantage of a single-sex education in the future have now been denied that privilege at the finest college of its type in the country.
What VMI has given its cadets in mind and body cannot be matched anywhere else. I am willing to bet that Stonewall Jackson, General Marshall and the six young cadets who gave their lives at the Battle of Newmarket are turning over in their graves. My hope is that VMI will find a way to go private and impale the justices who would destroy it.
I have watched my son grow into a special young man through his experiences at VMI. No mother on Earth could be prouder of her son than I am. I have always supported everything VMI stands for. I will mourn this black day until the day I die.
CAROL SIMPSON
Virginia Beach, June 29, 1996 by CNB