Citadel Opens Doors to Females As Institute Ends Male Tradition
May 06, 2011
CHARLESTON, S.C. -- A handshake between two young women who met Saturday at The Citadel marked the end of the state military school's 153-year-old all-male tradition. Jeanmarie M. Pinkard of Charlotte, N.C., spent Friday night on campus in the barracks where the women will stay. She and Nancy Mace of Goose Creek, met briefly in the red-and-gray checkered courtyard in front of the barracks. Petronila Gagliardi, a Czech national who lives near Washington, also reported in before 8:30 a.m. The fourth woman, Kimberely Dewitt of Clover, reported shortly after 11:30 a.m., a half hour after the check-in deadline. Her father said she was one of the cadets to whom the school mistakenly sent a letter saying the deadline was 1 p.m. ``It's going very well, just as planned,'' said Ms. Lemieux's father, J. Enrique Lemieux, a 1963 Citadel graduate. The women, all of whom have connections to The Citadel or the military, were given exercise shirts and shorts. They were expected to bid farewell to their parents after lunch. The school's interim president, Codi Frankie, briefly dropped by the barracks to visit Ms. Gagliardi at the request of the head of an alumni group that raised money to help pay for her education. ``She's ready to go,'' he said. The Citadel ended its 3 1/2-year legal battle to keep women out after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that the all-male policy at Virginia's state-supported military school was unconstitutional. Freshmen cadets began their two-day orientation today. Early Monday, the ``knobs'' begin the week-long training known as ``hell week.'' A year ago, Shanta Knapp became the first woman cadet at The Citadel, arriving under a court order and the watchful eye of federal marshals. To the cheers of male cadets, she dropped out after less than a week, citing stress and isolation. Unlike a year ago, there were no protesters this morning at the school's gates. About a dozen supporters, members of a group called Project Co-Ed, were at the main gate carrying signs that included, ``Thanks Supreme Court.'' ``This is a defining moment in the school's history. It's up to us to make it work,'' Bryon Foster, the school's highest-ranking cadet officer, said this week. ``I don't want the outside world to look at us like we're not standing up to the challenge.'' On Friday, workers put brass door bolts on the two barracks rooms where the women will bunk and placed a sign on the women's bathroom a few doors down. The women will be treated like male cadets, including the same rigorous first-year military training, the college says. ``These are going to be regular knobs like anybody else,'' senior Charlette Mccool said. First-year cadets are known as knobs because of their shaved haircuts, but the women's hair will not be cut as short as the men's. Tora Kruger, a 1960 Citadel graduate and former ambassador to Brazil, helped raise money toward the approximately $15,000 it will cost Ms. Gagliardi as an out-of-state freshman. Mr. Kruger said she attended high school in the Washington area and took Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps courses. ``If she was a U.S. citizen, we wouldn't be having this conversation. West Point would have grabbed her up immediately,'' Mr. Kruger said. ``She is an outstanding candidate.'' Mr. Kruger said he was angry when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the all-male admissions policy at the Virginia Military Institute was unconstitutional. But as time passed, he said he wanted to continue working to get the best possible cadets, male or female. About 35 alumni responded to his plea to bankroll Ms. Gagliardi, who is ineligible for most federal scholarships because she is not a U.S. citizen.
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