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Female
Rats Rising By
Kathryn Jean Lopez, NR associate editor |
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N.B.: This interview will not be the last word on the debate over coeducation at VMI. Stay tuned for more on VMI next week on NRO. Kathryn Jean Lopez: What made you want to write a book on VMI's integration of women? Didn't you think that might cause problems for you? Especially as the wife of the band leader? Laura Fairchild Brodie: When I began this book, I was fresh out of graduate school with a lot of writing and research skills and a particular interest in women's lives. I was looking for an intellectual project that I could pursue in Lexington, Va., while raising a family. For a person of my background, coeducation at VMI was the best story in town. I had watched VMI's legal battle with the federal government evolve over seven years. I thought VMI's transition to coeducation would be a fascinating case study in higher education. Also, because I am a professor of English literature, I am especially interested in people's stories. I originally envisioned this project as an oral history — I wanted to gather together the stories and impressions of a variety of people at VMI — to hear them speak about the unique features of the school's culture, and what would be involved in bringing women into that world. Anyone who reads Breaking Out will find that it is filled with the voices of male and female cadets, administrators, faculty, and alumni. My personal connection to VMI was more of a help than a hindrance. Most of the people I interviewed were extremely candid with me…. Some readers of Breaking Out might question my objectivity as an author because of my family's financial ties to VMI, but I find that an insider's perspective is usually best for revealing an institution's flaws as well as its strengths. Lopez: Was there anything wrong, in your mind, with VMI being all-male? There are, after all, all-female institutions. Brodie: There are no public, all-female colleges in the United States, and VMI's legal problems derived from its status as a public institution. I agree with Justice Rehnquist, who wrote in June of 1996 that it might have been okay for VMI to remain all-male if the state of Virginia had shown an equal willingness to provide single-sex educational opportunities for women. In other words, I think that "separate but equal" might work when applied to gender, rather than race. A few of Virginia's public colleges used to be all female (Mary Washington, for instance), but all of them have since admitted men. This left VMI as the only single-sex public college in Virginia. VMI tried to remedy the problem by starting a military program for women at Mary Baldwin College. Today this program (the Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership), continues to attract more women than VMI. But the Supreme Court ruled, I think correctly, that the VWIL program did not constitute an equal alternative to VMI. When it comes to VMI's former status as an all-male school, of course there were pros and cons. On the downside, the institute's all-male admissions policy limited its applicant pool, not only because women were excluded, but because the majority of young men these days don't want to attend a single-sex college. In recent years, the number of male applicants to VMI has risen dramatically, and I think coeducation is part, though not all, of the reason. Finally, what concerned me most about VMI's all-male culture was some of the behavior it fostered in the school's barracks. Prior to the arrival of women, cadets would often say that VMI's barracks was the biggest fraternity house in Virginia, known for crude behavior, rough language, and an atmosphere in which women were viewed primarily as sex objects. Time will tell whether the presence of female cadets has a softening impact on life in VMI's barracks. Lopez: What was your experience on the Executive Committee for Coeducation? Brodie: In August of 1996, when I told VMI's Superintendent, Josiah S. Bunting III, that I wanted to study the transition to coeducation at VMI, he was very supportive and invited me to join VMI's Executive Committee for Coeducation. This committee met on a weekly basis during the 1996-97 school year, as VMI was planning for women, and on a biweekly basis after that…. In some of the earliest meetings, I was the only woman at the table, and I found it interesting to hear VMI officials discuss everything from pregnancy to sexual harassment. I found the discussions remarkably conscientious, if occasionally overwrought. Lopez: Overall, has the assimilation of women into VMI been worthwhile? In retrospect, was there anything wrong with the all-male culture? Brodie: In my book I don't try to make a case for or against coeducation at VMI. My goal is to look at VMI's culture and let a variety of people express their concerns for the future. Certainly some alumni and observers will tell you that there has been nothing worthwhile in this change. I myself think that coeducation is still in its early phases and VMI will have to recruit a lot more women (the school is currently 5% female) before we can gauge the long-term impact of coeducation. There have, however, been a few positive signs. According to two VMI officials, last year when the president of VMI's senior class met with the institute's Board of Visitors, he told them that his education had been incomplete before the arrival of women. Recently, more male cadets have joined in this refrain, saying that going to school with women will make VMI graduates better prepared for a coed workforce and coed military. As with all colleges, VMI will ultimately be judged by the quality of its graduates, male and female. Lopez: How else has the place changed because of women? Brodie: VMI has been trying hard to limit changes to superficial matters — haircuts and skirts — while preserving the essentials of its program — its honor system, its ratline, and its hierarchical class system. The women who are coming to VMI say they want the same experience that men have traditionally received. They want as few accommodations as possible, in part because they realize that they will take the heat for any changes that are made. VMI, however, is constantly changing, although most of the changes have little to do with coeducation. For instance, some observers claim that the ratline (VMI's six-month version of boot camp) has gotten easier since the arrival of women. In fact, the ratline has been changing over the past 15 years to meet the vision of each new VMI Commandant. At VMI the Commandant is like a Dean of Students. He's in charge of cadet life in the barracks. VMI has had seven Commandants over the past 12 years, each one with his own idea of how the ratline should operate. The Commandant's job is an especially grueling one, but if VMI wants to avoid change, it will need more continuity in its leadership. Lopez: What would draw a woman to be a cadet at VMI? Isn't there something unfeminine about it? Brodie: The women who are attracted to VMI seem to be coming for the same reasons as the men. Some want to pursue military careers. Some are attracted by the school's small size and comaraderie. Some like VMI's old-fashioned values. But above all, they are looking for something different — they don't want the typical college experience. These women and men seem to be seeking a special challenge, a way to test themselves. Is VMI an unfeminine choice? That depends upon your definition of femininity. During the ratline there is little room for traditional expressions of femininity. When a school is trying to bond thirty-or-so women with 400 men, masculinity always wins out. After the ratline, VMI's female cadets have to decide what defines them as women. Do they want long hair? Do they want to wear makeup? VMI will always be an overwhelmingly male institution — its women will have to carve their own niche within that world. Lopez: Since you have written your book, a cadet from VMI has gotten pregnant. How has that changed things? Brodie: Several VMI cadets have had children in the past — some have even brought their babies to basketball games and parades — but all of these cadets have been male. This spring VMI was confronted with its first pregnant cadet, a woman whose baby is due this summer. This young woman chose not to take a leave of absence; she remained at VMI through her second trimester and her presence prompted a lot of anger from cadets and alumni who felt that VMI should have had a policy in place that would have required pregnant cadets to take a leave of absence. VMI, however, has accommodated male cadets with all sorts of physical problems in the past, exempting them from physical duties for up to a semester at a time. It would be hard for the school to argue that pregnancy is the one physical condition that requires a leave of absence. Despite the emotion surrounding the issue, the presence of a pregnant cadet does not affect VMI's mission. VMI is not the military, where pregnancy might affect deployability. VMI is a college, and all colleges in America that include women have to deal with pregnancy. Lopez: In a op-ed earlier this year, you wrote, "Some observers have complained that the presence of a pregnant cadet at VMI will deplete corps morale. But morale is more likely to suffer from the viciousness of some of the women's classmates, who have used the occasion of this pregnancy to vent their hostility toward women at VMI." But doesn't the addition of women, and the obvious fact that there is fraternization, raise questions about (a) whether women should be there, and (b) whether women who become pregnant should be there? Isn't some of the hostility justified? Brodie: It is never justified for college students to make obscene, violent statements against fellow students, and against women in general, as was the case with some VMI cadets who responded to this pregnancy by posting anonymous expressions of anger on an Internet website. One purpose of higher education is to teach young people to express their opinions with reason and eloquence, not to simply propagate hatred. There are many young men at VMI who wish that their school were still all male, and their opinions are valid. The problem rests in those young men who feel it is appropriate to vent their frustrations by carrying out what the current Commandant describes as "a guerilla campaign" against women — throwing food on women in the mess hall, cursing women who dare to wear skirts, [and] sending threatening e-mail. When it comes to fraternization, yes, this is certainly one of the biggest issues that concerns VMI alumni and cadets. Some cadets feel that all dating should be prohibited within VMI's Corps. But most colleges assume that developing a mature approach toward dating is a natural part of the maturation of 18-22 year olds. In addition, VMI's male cadets must accept their share of responsibility for any problems with fraternization. When I asked one female cadet about fraternization at VMI, she responded with a shrug: "We are surrounded by guys and they are constantly hitting on us." Lopez: Do you have any concerns about women in the military, generally? About the relaxing of standards? Brodie: I am not an expert on U.S. military training, and so I can comment only as a concerned civilian and former Marine wife. I believe the vast majority of jobs in the military can be performed equally well by women and men. But when it comes positions that require sheer physical strength, especially in combat, I think the bar should not be lowered for anyone. Finally, I have no patience for the argument that America is not ready to see atrocities committed against a female POW. Unfortunately, America is a country where atrocities against women — including rape and domestic violence — occur every day. We, as a nation, will have to take a more forceful stand on violence against women in our own country, before we can claim to be squeamish about potential violence against American servicewomen. |
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his
weekend, The Virginia Military Institute sends forth into the world
its first crop of female graduates. To mark the
