Alumni and Friends of VMI:
New Era at the Institute: Well unless you've been hiding under a rock, you know that the fourth class matriculated this past Monday with 430 men and 30 women. As of this writing 21 of the men have dropped out (about 5 percent) and 1 woman has dropped out (about 3 percent). From the film footage I've seen, the cadre is doing a fine job of breaking the rats in.
Cadre is different from what I remember. Even though the rats arrived Monday, the in your face treatment of the rat line really didn't begin until 1:00 PM Wednesday afternoon. Heck, I still get the chills when I think of the first night sweat parties.
Raging Debate: For those AOL subscribers you should check out aol://5863:126/mB:138142. This is a URL site where the issue about women at VMI is debated.
Our Participants on the Scene: We had a couple cyber corps participants present at the Institute this past Monday. They report that things went very well and the Institute and the corps was handling things well. Appears the female rooms are spread throughout the fourth stoop and the women cadets are dispersed among different companies.
Rats and Minks: One day this past week a bunch of dead white rats were found on the parade ground with a towel with the words "Save the Males" written on this. Of course the media (and I think some feminist groups, but I may be mistaken about this) jumped all over this. It was determined that this was a prank pulled by our neighbors from Washington and Lee. The W&L president has issued an apology to Gen Bunting and VMI.
VMI on the Tube: Of course I think every major news network was on hand this past Monday. But VMI was also featured on ABC's Nightline on Tuesday night. I gotta say that Gen Bunting, Col Bissell and the entire VMI family did a tremendous job. As someone said, when Gen Bunting used the term "inculcate", Col Dillard was surely smiling from his grave. Amen to that.
VMI and Crossfire: In case you haven't heard, some VMI and Citadel grads have gotten together and are looking into creating a private men-only Christian college. Mike Guthrie ('77 I think) is one of the VMI grads leading the effort. He was on Crossfire Monday night along with Shannon Faulkner's attorney. Mike did a fair job, but I think Pat Buchanan was certainly much more articulate (as you might expect). A recent AP article has quoted Mike as saying the Southern Military Institute (SMI) would most likely be located in northern Alabama and it would be an "overtly politically incorrect institution" emphasizing military traditions of the Confederacy. MIke estimates SMI will cost $100million to launch and could begin enrolling cadets in 2004. An associated plan includes about 1,000 cadets organized into three battalions of three companies each. SMI cadets would also attend religious service of their choice and would complete Christian-based "moral leadership training."
And What of VWIL?: Appears that the Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership (VWIL) program is doing very well, thank you very much. When 40+ new cadets so up this year, the program will have approximately 100 cadets. Only three women applied to VMI and VWIL...all chose Mary Baldwin. VWIL still receives state taxpayer funding of about $7,500 per cadet, the same amount that the General Assembly allocates for VMI.
Citadel Update: Solicitor David Schwake has declined to prosecute any Citadel cadets for the alleged last year of two female cadets. Citadel has taken separate steps, however, as fourteen cadets were either disciplined or left school. Nineteen more women are expected to enroll at The Citadel this year.
Greetings from Orlando: Allan Berenbrok '80
e-mailed me and indicates that he's been working on some sort of
project for Disney in Orlando. He invites alumni in the area to
give him a call at his office number 407-827-5151. His e-mail
address is:
allan_berenbrok@wdi.disney.com.
Subscribing to The Cadet: The VMI newspaper's
e-mail address is:
VMICadet@vmi.edu. The cost
for a one-year subscription is $25; $15 for the second semester.
AOL Chat: OK, for the AOL subscribers, we're gonna have an interactive chat on the evening of Sunday, Sept 7 at 8:00 PM (Eastern). Go to private chat room entitled VMI. We haven't had a chat for some time. Time to get together again.
Later.
Yours in the Spirit,
RB Lane '75
Last Updated: October 11, 2009
Site Created by: Richard L. Neff II, '90 - Network Technologies Group