VMI Cadet. November 1, 1996

              Happy Halloween!
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Sun; Cloudy. Hi 58 Lo 35 €he Caiict
VOLUME LXXXIX Friday 1 November, 1996 Number 7
A&M Cadets
Visit VMI
Chris Hobbs '97
News W riter
On Tuesday afternoon two fe-male
Texas A&M cadets visited VMI
after being invited by the Co-Liduca-tion
committee to share their thoughts
on the integration of women to an all
male military environment.
Col. Mike Bissell said of the
visit, "The cadets were v e r y excited to
be here. They wanted to know every-thing
about our system so that they
could understand how w e operate. We
gave them an extremely detailed tour
of barracks so that they could see first
hand what kind of environment cadets
live in here. 1 sat up with t h em one night
answering questions about cadet life at
VMI. It's great to get some outside per-spectives
from cadets at other military
schools that are now doing what w e
want to do."
While on post the female ca-dets
attended meetings w ith various co-educational
sub-committees and larger
forum sessions with both faculty and
committee-at-large r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s.
These meetings were set u p in order for
the committees to ask specific ques-tions
of the visiting cadets. Ibpics of
discussion ranged from sexual harass-ment
to haircuts.
Texas A&M Cadet Jennyth
Peterson remarked,"Uveryone has been
so hospitable here. 1 hope our visit has
Tt'.vu.v .-(ct.l/ Cadet. Jennyth f'eterson. speaks to Co-cch<calion Cummiiice
been helpful; we tried lo an.swerall your
questions a s well as we could, 1 want lo
see you guys eomo through this the
same schoc>l you are now."
Several trips are enrrenlly
scheduled for VMI cadets to travel to
integrated military schools. In the same
manner as ha\ ing female cadets travel
here, \'M1 cadets w ill he sent out to
gather as much Information as possible
about o t h e r svstems. Some of the
schools that will soon be visited include
The Citadel. N'irginia Tech, and Texas
A&M.
rhis visit followed closely o n
the heelsof last week's Promagi m e e t -
ing, where concerns about the integra-tion
proccss were discussed. The f o c us
of the meeting was phrased in question
form. Should women accommodate to
VMI, or should VMI accommodate to
w o m e n ? The meeting ended w ith the
conclusion that \ Ml should prov ide a
suitable environment for women, with-out
altogether losing the traditions that
have made \'MI what it is today.
.Any cadet who desires more
infomiation concerning the integration
of women at VMI are encouraged to
v i s i t ed the new Co-l:ducation bulletin
board located in Washington Arch.
Virginia Cadets Convene On Post
Scott Weisiger '97
Guest Writer
In only its second meeting, ca-dets
from VML VWIL, and VPl gath-ered
on post for the Virgmia Corps of
Cadets Leadership Seminar, on Octo-ber
25-26.
Each school sent eight cadets,
who were separated into three groups
to discuss the scheduled areas of inter-est.
These areas were organization of
the respective Corps, degree of control
cadets should have in running their
Corps, and how cadets should tnake the
transition from the cadet Corps envi-ronment
into the real world after gradu-ation.
The seminar opened at thir-teen
hundred hours o n the 25th and Col.
Michael Bissel gave a welcome speech.
The cadets took a break from discus-sion
for Friday's parade, and then re-formed
for a reception and dinner in
Moody Hall. The guest speaker for the
dinner was General Carrol Thackston,
the Virginia State .Adjutant.
The CIC for the VMI repre-sentatives
was cadet Paul Reedy "97,
and he felt that, "it w a s good for us to
get together and discuss our dilTerent
ideas on the application of leadership
m our respective systems. Hopefully,
activities such as t h i s will help us nin
our Corps in a more efficient and pro-ductive
manner"
The seminar closed on Satur-day
at t en hundred hours, after more
discussion. A lot of time was spent on
coeducation and the prospect of a j o i nt
FTX between \'M), V\V II,, and \ PI.
One of the big reasons this
seminar was a success, said Reed>. was
Ciuh-ts trom IM Tccli observe paratic
because of the "tireless work and con-tributions
from cadet Mike Helenky."
Belenky was in charge of giving tours
for the visiting cadets, arranging sleep-ing
plans, and shuttling e v e r y o ne
around.
The Virginia Corps of Cadets
Leadership Seminar will meet for the
third time, during the Spring semester,
at Virginia Tech. The topics of discus-s
i o n w ill decided later this semester or
at the beginning of the next semester
Alumni Fundraising May Falter
Brad Cooke '98
Guest \ \ riter
On the Tuesday follow ing the
VMI Board of Visitors decision to ad-mit
women, The VMI Foundation Inc.
received a call f r om a widow of a
1920's graduate who had left his es-tate
to VMI in his will.
His w idow wanted to restrict
the estate's benefits to only male ca-dets.
Annually about 25"o of VMl's
income comes f r om private sources.
20% of those private sources comes
from alumni donations. Many mem-bers
of the VM1 f a m i l y are w orried that
because most alumni are angered over
the decision to g o coed, they will no
longer donate money to the school.
According to (ieorgc 11 Rob-erts
Jr, VMI class of "68 and Lxecu-tive
Vise President of the VMI Foun-dation,
the primary agency w hich con-trols
incoming f u n d s f r om alumni,
there have been a few calls and letters
from alumni who have stated that they
w ill g i v e no more nionev to the school
once w omen are admitted.
So far, these reports pose no
s e r i o u s financial t h r e a t . R u m o rs
througli Hanacks of one such an alum-nus,
w h o annually donates millions and
pledged not to donate anymore, were
dispelled by Warren .l.(Buddy)Bryan,
\ Ml class of "71 and Vice President
of the VMI Foundation Inc.
Along with staling that he
knows of no single donor who annu-ally
dnnates millions of dollars, Bryan
also ccimmented, "1 don't know of any
major donor w ho has backed otT."
Roberts says it is loo e a r ly to
know if the school stands to lose sig-nificant
amounts. VMI cunently has
appro^imately S>75 million promised to
them, most of w hich comes in the fonn
of estates lelt to the school by alumni
in w ills, Roberts explained.
Bryan knew of one alumnus
who took VMI out o f h i s will since the
BOV's decision, this cost the school a
six fi uure aniotml.
Currently around 7(iO alumni
donate more than SI()()() a year. Ihe
endowment in scholarships and fellow-ships
donated is about Sb 1 2 inillion
and the money donated to the Keydet
Club and for general benefit c o m e s to
about S2 1 2 million, Roberts s a i d.
Roberts has faith in alumni
and said that the bond between alumni
and brother rats to VMI is t o o strong
for an issue such as this to d e s t r o y it.
However, he also .stated that t h e y will
have a better idea of what to e x p e c t as
time passes. Bryan also commented
that the impact was uncertain.
Bryan groups a l u m n i into
four categories regarding annual dona-tions:
I )-those unhappy with t h e deci-sion
and who will w ithhold f u n d s . 2)-
those who will wait and see w h a t hap-pens
in the school's future, probably
the largest group according tci Bryan,
3)-ihose who most likely are s t i l l will-i
n g t o g i v e , hut will wait and s e e what
happens next year, 4)-those w h o will
still give no matter what, probablv
Cadets Poll
Rockbridge
Adam Schwar/child '97^-3
Slews Writer
The Intemational Studies Pro-gram
at \'M1 sun ey ed the population of
Rockbridge County t o discover voting
trends in the upcoming election on No-vember
?,
Major Charles Steenburgh. a
member of the Intemational Studies fac-ulty,
organized the activity that not only
serv ed as a realistic idea of w hat t o ex-pect
Nov, 5. but also p r o \ ed to be a leam-ing
tool for Maj. Steenburgh's students.
The pollsters, a c o m p o s i t i o n o f the
Amencan Cioxeniment classes, used ran-dom
sampling to get accurate represen-tations
of how County residents w ould
vote. Students called random telephone
numbers generated "by a compuler hop-ing
there w ould be a voice on the other
end. Most u f t h e p e o p l e polled were en-thusiastic
about participating in t h e sur-
V ey.
Residents v\ ere asked how they
would vote if the election w as held to-day.
(iiven the choiccs of Bill Clinton,
Boh Dole. Ross Perot, Other, Undecided,
or Not Voting for President of the Linited
States, voters fav o r e d Bill Clinton by a
resounding4(i" II compared with t h e 35" c.
received by Dole while I'erot acc^uired
only 5" (I of the Rockbridge County vote.
The margins in the survey of t h e L'.S.
Senate were much slimmer as Republi-can
incumbent, .lohn Wamer defeated his
Democratic challenger, Mark Warner,
39"b to 33"o respectively. Iv^enty per-cent
of the respondents were undecided
about who they would elect lo t h e Sen-ate.
That 20"o c o u l d i n c r e a s e John
V\'amer's margin or could mean victory
for the ehallerger dependmg on which
way the votes sw ing. .As (or the race foi
the House of Representatives. Republi-can
(ioodlatle leads lus Democratic op-ponent.
.IcffCirev, -4.3"„ to 18°
The results of the survey sug-gest
that man) voters abandoned party
lines this eleclion and on Nov 5 w ill
vote for w horn they believ e is best suited
for the oll'ice. "lioth of these margins
were somewhat surprising,"" said Maj.
Steenburuh in response to the survey re-sults.
"(iiven lhearea"s Republican lean-ings
in past Presidential elections.
Clinton"s showing is u strong one.
Though expenence tells us that our sur-veys
lend to under-predict Republican
votes. 1 would still predict that Clinton
will carry Rockbridge County on elec-tion
dav." N'irginia has not given its elec-toral
V otes to a Democratic Presidential
candidate since Lyndon Johnson.
Steenburgh also noted that (irey's pool
showing in the survey was unexpected,
given the general unpopularity of House
SpeakerNevvt (lingnch. Representative
(ioodlatle is an assistant whip, meaning
he is pan of the Republican leadership
in the House and is directly associated
with (iingrich. JelVCirey is also a resi-dent
of Rockbridge County, but that did
not seem to matter to the participants ot
the survey.
VMI students also asked resi-dents
whether they favored or opposed
the building of a general aviation facility
in Rockbridge County, The aviation fa-cility
Wduld be a small airport for public
use. but there would be no eominercial
airlines, l ortv -sev en percent of siirvev
respondenls w ere opposed to the aiiport.
while 35"ii favored construction.
Cadets Give the
Gift of Life
CuJets Chris Copcnhawr and Jake Hughes tap their
John H e r r i n ' 9 7 -3
N e w s Writer
around 20"o, according to Bry an,
Currently, Major (leneral
.losiah Bunting HI, VMl's Superinten-dent,
is visiting major alumni chapters
u p and down the east coast talking with
alumni about the decision and try ing
t o boost moral and support.
Another problem facing \ M I
i s how to deal with scholarships which
specify male recipients. Roberts said,
" I f [a scholarship] says "to a qualified
young man from Chesterfield', I 'm le-gally
bound to give it to a qualified
young M.AN from Chesterfield,"
That may cause legal prob-lems
in the Institute's future, accord-ing
to Roberts.
Roberts also said that because
of the huge back-log on building im-provements,
it would not be fair to take
Ihe money that the state is giving \ Ml
for improvements and use it for the
necessary changes for the inclusion of
women. He stated that the school
would ask for additional funds frotnthe
state to make those changes.
O c t o b e r 29'" and the
Blood Mobile w a s at \'M1 accepting
blood at Cocke Hall from cadets will-ing
to donate. T h e blood donated is de-livered
to R o a n o k e Regional Blood
Center lo be d i s t r i b u t e d to 44 area hos-pitals.
The Semper-Fi society spon-sored
and a s s i s t e d with selling up and
working the d r i v e.
For c a d e t s who donated there
w ere v cry appealing priv ileges; a week-end.
hay down, and limited duty until
080(1 the next day. The Ci. C. C l a s s with
Ihe highest percentage of d o n o r s , the
class of '99, got a day added on t o their
weekend as an extra reward. .Also, if
the corps broke the record number of
donations of 512 pints, set last Blood
Mobile, there w ill be extra rewards for
those who donated.
The corps s h a t t e r e d the
record, as well ov er 500 pints of blood
were received. Ms, Nomia Tomilson,
RN, a representative of the Blood Mo-bile
said, "There was an excellent turn-out,
We are well over our goal of 500
pints."" Several cadets were turned
away because Blood Mobile was un-derslalTed
and did not hav e enough sup-plies
to accommodate all of the willing
cadets. Ms. Tomilson added. "We are
going to try and get the Blood Van here
within the next couple of weeks so the
rest of the cadets can donate their much
needed blood.""
Inside:
Duncan for Fall Break '97 page 2
King of the "Hill" ^ page 5
Jordan recalls Rusted Root page 6
Beef goes Bezerk page 7
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