Tuesday, May 5, 1998 EX-CADETS TO TAKE EXAMS FEDERAL JUDGE CALLS STUDENT INVESTIGATORS' METHODS 'GESTAPO TACTICS' By MATT CHITTUM ROANOKE TIMES VMI Superintendent Josiah Bunting III said the college still will not award a diploma to a cadet convicted of an honor violation.   Virginia Military Institute officials have agreed to let six cadets, who were expelled late Friday night for lying, take their final exams pending a full hearing in federal court on constitutional issues. The three seniors in the group hope to prevail in court and get their VMI degree, but the VMI superintendent says under no circumstance will the college award a diploma to a cadet who has been convicted of an honor violation. Lawyers for the six cadets - the three seniors and the three freshmen they were responsible for mentoring - went before U.S. District Judge James Turk Monday, seeking a temporary restraining order to block their expulsions. The cadets had to leave campus immediately after the verdict was returned about 11:30 p.m. Friday. A fire broke out in a barracks room a few hours later, and a source at VMI confirmed it was the one the seniors had just vacated. The fire is under investigation by state police, and VMI officials said they could not rule out a connection to the expulsions. The cadets were found guilty of lying about the existence of an unauthorized disciplinary system during midnight interrogations by the student Officer of the Guard Association. Tabor Cronk, an assistant attorney general representing VMI, said the middle of the night is the only convenient time the OGA can do its work because of the rigorous schedules cadets have during the day. Turk referred to the investigators' methods as "Gestapo tactics." Those tactics are at the heart of the cadets' complaint, but Turk declined to intervene at this point. Instead, he urged the two parties to work out a way for the six to take their exams, so their courses will be completed and they won't be punished by delays in the legal process. Other cadets are taking their exams this week. The cadets will be allowed to take their exams at any off-campus location, proctored by a VMI graduate or an instructor or administrator at any college, according to the agreement. They can also work out terms with their professors to take "incompletes" in their classes and finish them later. Bernhardt Wruble, a Washington, D.C., attorney representing the freshmen, said one of the freshmen is "a little downhearted" and may not continue with his case. He would not say which of his clients was having second thoughts, but only Terence Redmond of Hockessin, Del., and Brandon Crane of Evansville, Ind., were in court Monday. Albert Gore of Chesterfield was not there. Crane had his calculus book with him and studied during recesses. None of the seniors was there. Phantamith Prompol and Donald Evans, of Alexandria, and Jason Roderiques of North Dartmouth, Mass., would be taking their exams this week and graduating May 16 if they hadn't been expelled. VMI Superintendent Josiah Bunting III said that despite the agreement to let them finish their courses, he didn't believe they should ever receive degrees. "Appellate authority necessary to overturn a decision by the Cadet Honor Court rests solely, I believe, with the VMI Board of Visitors," he said in a statement. Attorneys for the seniors argue that an appeal to the board, however, is almost useless. Only three of 156 honor court convictions since 1985 have been overturned by the board, they wrote in their motion to the court. The charges against the cadets stemmed from an investigation of the "whacking system," in which the seniors allegedly struck the freshmen with a belt for various infractions such as bad grades or spilling drinks in their room. All six initially denied the existence of the system during questioning by the Officer of the Guard Association between midnight and 2 a.m., but they later recanted. Their lawyers argue the statements were coerced by the association, which questioned one of the freshmen between fits of vomiting. "I do not presently know of any police organization in the United States that has the power to haul you out of bed in the middle of the night and force you to make a statement," Wruble told the court. He said later that those tactics are "something that ought to come to an end regardless of the outcome of this case."