DATE: Tuesday, August 19, 1997              TAG: 9708190301

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MATT CHITTUM, LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE 

DATELINE: LEXINGTON                         LENGTH:   43 lines

ATTEN-SHUN! VMI MAKES HISTORY WOMEN CADETS BREAK INTO COLLEGE'S RANKS

[This story is not available electronically. For complete text, please see microfilm.] ILLUSTRATION: STEVE HELBER color photos/The Associated Press

First-year cadet Brooke Green, of Shirley, N.Y., looks down a line

of cadets who had received their haircuts as part of the induction

to VMI Monday. The women's cuts left about 1 inch of hair on top,

compared with 1/2 inch for men. Green is one of the first 30 women

to enroll at VMI.

A company of cadets marches across the VMI campus. With 460

enrollees, the school marked its largest ``rat mass'' ever.

Photos

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Kendra Russell, left, and Amanda Harris, center, share a joke about

their VMI haircuts with male counterpart Samuel Fishburne on Monday.

The cadets wear tags hanging around their necks. The signs say: ``I

am rat (your name here). If I am lost, please return me to'' their

assigned company. They signed up for classes and declared majors

Monday. They will start their military training Wednesday.

Natasha Miller of Arlington steals a look around the grounds as she

totes her belongings into the barracks she'll call home this fall at

VMI. ``Rats,'' or first-year students, will have little chance to

look around starting Wednesday when the military regimen that will

be enforced throughout the year hits its stride. Thirty women

enrolled Monday, seven years after a suit was filed challenging

VMI's male-only tradition. KEYWORDS: WOMEN IN THE MILITARY VMI

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