THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 22, 1996 TAG: 9607200010
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: 52 lines
Your editorial ``The battle is over'' (June 30) is typical of many others. The writer obviously did not go to VMI nor have knowledge of the school's system.
Having attended one year (as a rat) before leaving due to World War II, I say that if women are admitted, the institute will have to change so much that the women who attend will not attend the same school that exists today and will not derive the benefits so many already have.
The Supreme Court is the law of the land, but I don't think all will agree with all of its decisions. In many 5-to-4 decisions, only one out of 280 million people decides the law of the land, which means that the court is almost evenly divided on many issues. Even your own staff writer who went to a single-sex college seemed to agree with VMI's position in her column last week. It is obvious that she has had experience in a single-sex college.
We don't know yet how far the court's decision goes, but aren't the single-sex schools - Randolph-Macon Woman's College, Sweet Briar, Hollins, Wellesley, Smith and the like - in jeopardy since none are 100 percent private?
The gender integration at the U.S. Naval Academy and West Point has not gone well. Standards had to be lowered in many areas. The most serious change was brought out in an article also in your June 30 paper: ``Female midshipman is spared expulsion from Naval Academy.'' A female midshipman will be disciplined instead of expelled for lying. It also says ``Four days before graduation on May 24, a midshipman-run honor board convicted Jackson, and in late May, the academy's second in command, Capt. William T. R. Bogle, recommended that she be dismissed from the officer school.''
To the shame of the Naval Academy, (expressed also by many friends who are graduates), the superintendent overruled and is going to discipline her only. Two points:
If this midshipman had been a male, he would already be home.
An honor system that has any credibility is run by the students alone.
At VMI, this would never happen. Some of my Naval Academy friends suspect that the decision to overrule the honor court came from Washington.
You asserted that if VMI's code of honor means anything, VMI will salute and obey the court. The writer doesn't understand the honor system. It has nothing to do with saluting; it is based solely on lying, cheating and stealing, and reporting those who do. It is run 100 percent by the cadets, period.
I was taught to respect parents, teachers, people of the cloth and the U.S. Supreme Court. I still do, but I don't have to agree with all of the court's decisions, especially this one.
ALLEN J. CLAY
VMI Class of `46
Virginia Beach, July 8, 1996 by CNB