Saturday, May 16, 1998 VMI REFLECTS ON YEAR OF CONTROVERSY AND MILESTONES `I THINK WE'RE A LITTLE BRUISED, AND A LOT OF THAT IS UNFAIR,' SAYS ALUMNUS By MATT CHITTUM ROANOKE TIMES The year proved to be a demanding one for Lexington's VMI, but not in the manner anyone expected.   Virginia Military Institute exhaled this week. Its administrators, its faculty and its corps of cadets - especially its seniors, who leave cadet life behind after today's 11 a.m. graduation. Just about everyone associated with the institute has been holding his or her breath since August, when hundreds of journalists bivouacked on the parade ground like a traveling carnival. The world was waiting to see if VMI could pull off the transition to co-education with more success than The Citadel. The Citadel's efforts ignited in controversy when two of the first four women cadets left amid allegations they were hazed. The year proved to be a demanding one for the institute, but not in the way that anyone expected. "We did not know that many of these demands would have little to do with what we thought would be the demands at the beginning of the year," VMI Superintendent Josiah Bunting told the Board of Visitors at its Thursday meeting. Except for a few incidents of cadets caught in sexual encounters in barracks, the year's scandals had little to do with co-education. Some seniors allegedly beat freshman "rats" with belts and coat hangers, resulting in the seniors' suspension and later their indictment on hazing charges. A few months later, more seniors were accused of beating freshmen - the whole affair ending this month with both the beaters and the beaten expelled by the honor court for lying about it. As the year ends, VMI may be facing more intrusion by the federal government, as those expelled cadets pursue an appeal of their honor court conviction in federal court. And it has all been reported widely in the local and national press. "I think we're a little bruised, and a lot of that is unfair," said Roanoke Realtor and VMI board member Bob Copty, a 1970 graduate. "This is the way the school works. If we're to be bruised because we have an honor system and we hold kids to a high standard, so be it." "I think we're still standing strong," said Ezra Clark of Salt Lake City, next year's senior class president. "I don't think we've failed at anything." But by most accounts, they haven't entirely succeeded, either. Not yet. Twenty-three women survived the ratline, but that doesn't mean attitudes about them have changed. "I feel like we're still fighting the battle, and we will be until we graduate," said cadet Kelly Sullivan, one of VMI's first female cadets. But resentment of the women's presence has become more open in the last few months, said Sullivan, of Jackson, Ga. It's only since breakout on March 16 that male cadets, especially juniors and seniors, have begun to mumble snide remarks about women when female cadets walk by. She didn't say what the remarks were. It's a "delicate situation," she said. She just wants people to know that women have been admitted but not necessarily embraced at VMI. Copty called that "somewhat natural." "Whether the women like it or not," he said, "they are going to be thought of as a group in barracks, with a reputation like other groups. Athletes, for instance, are knocked for getting out of some ratline activities to go to team practices. Seniors who don't attain rank are thought of as lazy and slovenly." Sullivan said the women are also blamed for the publicity the year's other debacles received. "It's true," she said. "But there's nothing much we can do about it." As for the belt whippings, VMI is trying to make the most of them as a "teaching moment," Bunting said. Plans are in place to re-emphasize that the striking of cadets will not be tolerated. That sort of "personal cruelty" can't go on, Bunting said, because it costs the ratline its "impersonality, in which all are treated the same - badly." Bunting and others are already looking ahead to next year, when another 35 to 40 women are expected to join the corps. Clark, next year's president, said this year's senior class - including his older brother - has done most of the hard work toward assimilating women. He and another brother, who serves as his vice president, can just build on what the class of 1998 accomplished.The change in attitude will come slowly, Clark said. The U.S. Department of Justice, which sued VMI to get women admitted, is withholding judgement on whether the transition is a success. We don't have enough information to give them a clean bill of health," spokesman Myron Marlin said. "Nonetheless, we're happy the doors are open to women." Bunting, however, is confident that VMI has done well, especially in choosing not to soften its training regimen to accommodate women. That would have deprived Sullivan and the others the pride they feel in their accomplishment. Sullivan doesn't present herself as a gender pioneer, but lately, she's beginning to feel a little pride. She said she and the other women put pressure on themselves to be the standard bearer for other women who aspire to VMI. "It not only meant something to us," she said. "It meant something to the outside world." And when the outside world noticed, like when flowers arrived for the women to congratulate them for finishing the ratline, it felt good. "I think we needed things like that to let us know not everyone had a problem with us breaking a tradition." There's a lot left for the women to achieve. Six women attained the rank of corporal, but none was invited to join the training cadre. No women were elected class officers, though a few were nominated. Sullivan is satisfied with the progress so far. "We have a place now," she said.