May 15, 1999 First women graduate after 2 years in VMI At least one graduating Keydet would prefer his class to be all male, but says he is not bothered that women are graduating with him. By MATT CHITTUM THE ROANOKE TIMES After placing sheepskins into the palms of 17,162 male graduates, Virginia Military Institute will award its first diplomas to women today, just two years after the first women matriculated at the Lexington college. Melissa Graham of Burleson, Texas, and Chih-Yuan Ho of Taipei, Taiwan - along with 217 male graduates - will pick up their diplomas at the 11 a.m. commencement. Controversial radio talk show host and convicted Watergate conspirator G. Gordon Liddy will speak, despite protests from some seniors. Both women, who transferred from other colleges, wear academic stars on their uniforms signifying 3.5 grade point averages at VMI. Graham will receive a bachelor of arts degree in psychology and will be commissioned into the Army field artillery. Ho will receive a bachelor of science in psychology. She plans to apply for U.S. citizenship and hopes to serve in the Navy and attend dental school at Tufts University, according to VMI spokesman Mike Strickler. "They're real stars, and they've been through the full fury of the VMI indoctrination," said VMI Superintendent Josiah Bunting III. "They are both very capable and very diligent young women who were quick to take advantage of an opportunity that was given them by the Supreme Court decision." The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June 1996 that the state-run school's all-male admissions policy was unconstitutional. Graham and Ho entered VMI in August 1997 along with 28 other women who helped comprise the first coed class in the institute's history. Graham came from New Mexico Military Institute, where she earned an associate's degree in liberal arts with honors. Ho came to Lexington after graduating in three years from Fu-Jen Catholic University in Taiwan. Though they met graduation requirements this year - along with two men who have been at the institute for three years - VMI tradition holds that Graham and Ho will forever be part of the class with which they endured the "ratline" training regimen, the Class of 2001. But as with many things at VMI that involve women, their early graduation has generated some grumbling among the cadets. "There hasn't been anything overtly said," said senior Jabbari Craddock of Richmond. "I'm sure there is animosity. You can sense things, and you can tell tones. But no one's ever said ... 'I don't want these women to get out of here with us.'" "I feel fine with it," said Micah Wei, also a senior from Richmond. "This isn't the first time we've had people graduate in two years." "A lot of people might say unless you spend your four years here, you don't get every little intangible element of VMI," he said. "We have people who hang around for five or six years and presumably get even more of the experience," Bunting said. "I would enjoin these people to leave off taking potshots," he added. Wei said that in his mind, the ratline is the core of the VMI experience. Craddock said it didn't really hit him until Thursday's commencement rehearsal that women were graduating this year. "If you would ask me would I rather it be all male, I would say yes. If you ask me does it bother me that women are graduating with me, I would say no," he said. "You want people that matriculated with you or before you," he said. "It's kind of like, 'We started together, we'll finish together.'" But Craddock admits and Wei agrees that people should be used to a coed VMI by now. Next year, two women will hold serious rank in the corps for the first time. Erin Claunch of Round Hill will be a regimental staff sergeant, while Angelia Pickett of Glasgow, Ky., will be a sergeant in the color guard. And VMI has had a record recruiting year. Total applications are running 8.3 percent ahead of last year's level, at 1,141. Among them are 83 women - eight more than last year. In the end, Wei and Craddock are comfortable to have Graham and Ho taking their last walk as cadets with them, if not a little proud. May 16, 1999 2 female cadets make history When each woman received her diploma, the remaining women in the corps stood and cheered for them. Melissa Graham almost quit Virginia Military Institute a month after she arrived. By MATT CHITTUM THE ROANOKE TIMES She was just a little way into the grueling six-month "ratline" training period, and already it seemed as if the grind would never change or end. Her senior mentor talked her into staying, and now she's ever thankful. "It would have been a big mistake," the 21-year-old said. "I'm more than glad I stayed." Saturday, Graham, of Burleson, Texas, and Chih-Yuan Ho of Taipei, Taiwan, became the first women ever to graduate from the 159-year-old Lexington college. Both earned degrees in psychology. Graham already holds an associate's degree from New Mexico Military Institute, while Ho has a degree from Fu-Jen Catholic University in Taipei. Nearly 220 men also picked up diplomas Saturday, adding their names to the list of more than 17,000 VMI graduates who have gone before them. Graham said she was proud to be one of the first women to graduate from VMI - Ho actually picked up her diploma first. Graham said being at VMI had given her greater pride in her gender. But once it was over, she was more taken by the usual feelings of leaving good friends behind. "I'm going to miss my roommates," she said. "I'm sad and proud." Ho said she loves everything about VMI, even the mess hall food, and found the storied ratline not as tough as she expected. She discounted the importance of one's gender. "We are all VMI cadets," she said quietly, with a heavy accent. She reminded herself of what she wanted to say with a tiny, folded slip of paper she retrieved from her belt. But when each of the women received her diploma, the remaining women in the corps stood as a group and cheered for them. It was a rare public show of unity by the women of VMI. "There are so few women that we have to take care of each other," said rising junior Kelly Sullivan of Jackson, Ga., who entered the institute with Graham and Ho in August 1997, just more than a year after the Supreme Court ruled that an all-male, state-supported VMI was unconstitutional. "We have two very strong women here today who have led the way for us," Sullivan said. "This is another step in the process of making this a school for women as well as a school for men." Beyond that, though, there were few outward recognitions of the milestone. "Events like this are invariably anticlimactic," said VMI Superintendent Josiah Bunting III after it was all over. During his remarks from the stage, Bunting praised the graduating class for executing the order to accept women in their ranks "efficiently, gracefully and nobly." Valedictorian Ben Kincaid, son of anti-abortion activist Anne Kincaid, noted that he and his classmates had learned about friendship, loyalty, pain, forgiveness and "women - a lot about women." Radio talk show host and Watergate conspirator G. Gordon Liddy, whose appearance had drawn criticism, only briefly mentioned coeducation at VMI. "The issue of women at VMI is closed. The issue of women in the armed forces is open for debate," he said. He said the military "had it right" during World War II, when women served in the rear to "free a man to fight." Graham, who will be commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army field artillery in October, found the remark offensive. "Knowing what he has done in the past, I expected it of him," Graham said, "so I didn't take it to heart." Still, Graham did not stand and applaud when the speech was over, as did a good many cadets in the stands in Cameron Hall. As far as coeducation at VMI goes, Bunting said, it "has done nothing to arrest the momentum of the school." In fact, it's helped in some areas. Applications are at record highs, and fund raising among VMI alumni - many of whom were dead set against women coming to the institute - is "almost off the charts" this year, Bunting said. He said Graham's and Ho's accomplishments "vindicated the way VMI has conducted itself in the last couple of years." Both Graham and Ho wore academic stars on their uniforms, signifying a grade point average above 3.5. Ho hopes to attain U.S. citizenship, serve in the Navy and attend dental school at Tufts University, according to VMI spokesman Mike Strickler. Even detractors of coeducation at VMI could find little fault with the pair. "Everybody who walked across the stage is as entitled to a VMI diploma as I was," said former VMI Alumni Association President Steve Fogleman, who opposed admitting women to his alma mater. "And I hope they get everything out of it that I did."