DATE: Tuesday, July 1, 1997                 TAG: 9707010236

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B9   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: LEXINGTON                         LENGTH:   54 lines

WOMEN JOIN MALE CADETS FOR VMI SUMMER SCHOOL THEY'LL BE IN THE CORPS OFFICIALLY IN AUGUST - HAIRCUTS, INITIATION AND ALL.

Virginia Military Institute began its summer transition program Monday, and 18 of the women who will join the corps of cadets in August are taking classes and getting in shape for the grueling initiation.

The summer school students registered, had lunch in the mess hall, went through a campus orientation and heard welcoming remarks from Superintendent Josiah Bunting and other administrators.

The summer school at VMI is like those at most other colleges. The women can wear casual clothes, keep their long hair and stay up as long as they like.

They are staying in a group of rooms above the student union because construction crews are still working on the women's rooms and showers in the barracks.

``I'm not nervous,'' said Erin Claunch of Round Hill in northern Virginia. ``Everyone has been so friendly.''

But on Aug. 18, the women will sleep in unlocked rooms in the barracks, get close-cropped haircuts, be forbidden to wear jewelry and makeup and begin a year of physical and mental torment. Upper class cadets will refer to the freshmen as ``rats,'' because of their lowly status.

Thirty-two women and 425 men are planning to join the first coed freshman class.

The Supreme Court ruled last June that VMI had to enroll women or become a private college. Three months later, VMI's board of visitors voted to integrate women into the corps of cadets.

``I don't really dread it,'' Angelia Pickett of Glasgow, Ky., said during a break in the program.

Being a pioneer ``adds to the challenge,'' Alexis Abrams of Alexandria said.

The transition program is voluntary, but VMI said the percentage of cadets who drop out after attending the program is about half of the percentage of nonparticipants who drop out.

The summer school students take either a math or an English course to help lighten their academic load during the first semester. They also will go through physical training three mornings of the week and participate in intramural sports.

``They are able to talk about VMI, and that helps,'' said Mike Strickler, VMI's public relations director. ``They can get in better physical condition, so when they come here it's not a shock from the mental standpoint or the physical standpoint.''

They will become familiar with the campus and get to know their classmates, including some of the upperclassmen who will be disciplining them during the initiation period.

``It's important to form relationships with both the women and the men,'' Abrams said. ``All of us as a group will be going through this.''

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