THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 22, 1997 TAG: 9702220327
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: CHARLESTON, S.C. LENGTH: 36 lines
Blaming intimidation from Justice Department lawyers, The Citadel said Friday it has postponed disciplinary hearings into allegations that two female cadets were hazed and harassed.
The military college, which planned to begin hearings Saturday, said it delayed them until next month because federal lawyers began questioning cadets and prompted some to refuse to talk without their parents or lawyers.
Lee Douglass, a spokeswoman for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, said the agency did nothing unusual.
``The problems that exist at The Citadel were not brought on by the Department of Justice,'' she said.
The FBI and state police are investigating the allegations made by Jeanie Mentavlos and Kim Messer, who did not return to school after winter break. Among other things, the two said their clothes were set afire, cleanser was put on their heads, they were forced to stand in a closet while they were shoved and kicked, and they were forced to drink alcohol.
Eleven cadets face disciplinary action. Two others were implicated, but one resigned and one did not return for the spring semester.
On Thursday, the school's interim president, Clifton Poole, said the two women ``were disciplinary problems from the beginning.''
He cited only one disciplinary issue: when female cadets violated school policy by giving themselves extremely short haircuts.
Poole told The Greenville News that the two female cadets might have been drummed out of the corps earlier had officers at the school not continually urged them to stay.
KEYWORDS: CITADEL INVESTIGATION JUSTICE DEPARTMENT MILTARY
COLLEGE