VMI Cadet. April 25, 1997

              NEWS
OPINION/EDITORIAL
Dunoin returns. I pg 2
Publications
Board Awards
Banquet. I Pg4
ARTS & LEI
Jordan's Four Years o1 S
Caiict v\«yuet iracl(
& Field takes
it all. /pg5
VOLUME LXXXIX Friday, 25 April 1997
50<T
Number 23
News Briefs
O ^orld
Peru's lop notch commandoes
retook the Japanese ambassador's resi-dence
from rebels in Lima by force on
Tuesday to end a four-month standotT
The troops freed 71 of 72 hostages; 1
hostage. 2 troops and all 14 rebels
were killed. The rescue is being hailed
as the most successful such operation
ince Israel's famed 1976 raid on
Entebbe.
Russian President, Boris
Yeltsin, successfully completed quin-uple
bypass surgery performed by
[Russian surgeons advised by the
American heart surgeon. Dr. Mk-havl
DeBakey, who said Yeltsin is "in cx-ellent
condition."
First it was cops on bikes, now
it's cops on skates. A test force of six
police officers in the Dutch capitol of
Amsterdam will patrol streets and
have the ability to quickly pursue
riminals preying on tourists in the
ity.
Iran is in the middle of its larg
est ever war games near the Straights
of Hormuz. Nicknamed Tariq-ol
Qods, or "The Road to Jerusalem", is
being over seen by Khamenei in his
role as commander-in-chief of Iran's
armed forces. These maneuvers arc
being used to increase the range ol
Tahran's missiles and deinonstratc its
military prowess.
Despite U.S. warnings, Iraqi he-licopters
flew through the U.S.-pa-trolled
no-fly zone. President Clinton
gave no indication of a threatened U.S
response.. The birds were sent to pick
up Iraqis returning from their annual
pilgrimage to Mecca.
National
• • • • • • • • • •
Assimilation Process At VMI Comes to a Close
Lt. General Winfleld Scott addresses the VMI community
President Clinton has pledged
$488 million in emergency assistance
to those affected by the mass Hooding
af the Red and North Rivers in the
Grand Rapids, N.D./ Minn. area.
Meanwhile, National (iuard troops
were stepping up the fight to keep
damage to a miniinuni to those areas
still expecting floods waters to crest.
Witnesses testified in the court
martial of Army Staff Sgt. Delniar
Simpson that the 6 trainees he alleg-edly
raped wanted to have sexual re-lations
with him. Simpson, 32, who
has pleaded guilty to having consen-sual
sex with 11 trainees, faces up to
32 years in prison for his acknowl
edged otTenses.
Fuzzy Zoelier, longtime prank-ster
of the I'CiA, tearfully withdrew
from the Greater Greensboro C'hry Iser
Classic. He made comments, in jest,
about Tiger Woods' racial makeup. K-MaH
dropped its longtime sponsorship
of Zoelier also this week. He says he
won't be able to play until he talks w iih
Tiger.
Twelve jurors and six alternates
were sworn in Thursday in Denver
The 12 will decide the fate of i'imo-lliy
McViegh, accused for the Okla-homa
City bombing two years ago.
Several hundred black farm
jrs, many from Virginia, rallied
Wednesday in front of the Agricul
ure Department, charging that the
USD A discriminates against both
black farmers and employees. I he
Department has foreclosed on 1,1)00
black farms in the past eight months
USDA official are working hard to
^radicate discrimination and had a
Hearing with the Congressional
black Caucus.
Senate Majority Leader i'rtiil
Lo« (R-Miss.) wants to press on with
the current budget talks, even though 10
vonservative senators say they may op
pose the deal if it fails to trim spending
and taxes to their taste. A bipartisan bud
get plan is still in the works.
News Brujs an cullmieJ from USA I'uJ )
on-line and Hoinli oil newi sen u e
Bill fltiffinan
News Writer
On lucsday, April 22. VMI
capped off its orientation program
designed to prepare the entire VMI
community Ibr the assimilation of
women next year.
I h c program began last
month and consisted of a series of
four meetings ranging from large
media events to small-group dis-cussion
sessions. I he program ad-dressed
the plans that arc being
made for Ihc inclusion of women
and it briefed cadets and faculty
alike on issues of sexual harass-ment
and ha/ing.
The featured speaker for
VMI's final assimilation meeting
on luesday was the distinguished
Lt. (icn. Winficld \V. Scott, (icn.
Scott graduated from the U.S. Mili-tary
.Academy al West Point in
I''46. Since then he has held such
positions in the U.S. .Xir force as
C'ommaiulcr of the .Maskan Air
Coinitiand and Dcpiilv Commander
of the r S. forces in Korea.
In 1^83 Scott was appointed
the leiilh Superintendent of the
U.S. .Air f orce Academy. .M'ter re-tiring
from the .Air f o r c e in l<)S7,
Scott was selected to be the Super-intendent
of the New Mexico Mili-tary
Academy, which plans to send
three female transfer students to
VMI next semester.
Scott is a command pilot with
more' than 6.000 flying hours and
experience in twenty-five different
planes. He has been awarded with
a number of distinguished honors
i n c l u d i n g the Defense Distin-guished
Service medal. Legion of
"As you bring
women in, tlie
soul, the essence,
of VMI doesn't
have to change."
Merit, and the Distinguished Fly-ing
Cross with two oak leaf clus-ters.
(icn. Scott sees the admis-sion
of women at VMI as a great
opportunity for the school. He says
he understands how the VMI com-munity
feels but he believes that in
ten years most people will say that
the integration of women into the
Corps has only made VMI better.
Scott believes that VMI
will not have to change too much
as a result of coeducation. He said
"As you bring women in, the soul,
the essence of VMI doesn't have
to change. There's no reason why
you can't continue all those pro-cedures,
policies, and traditions
when the women come in. You
broaden your education."
According to Scott VMI is
better prepared for the challenge of
assimilating women than any other
service academy has previously
been. "I know that it's going to be
a success because of the hard work
that went into it." He believes that
its success lies in the hands of the
Corps of Cadets.
Overall the assimilation
program has laid a strong founda-tion
of what to expect next year.
It has informed the VMI commu-nity
of the new plans that are be-ing
made and warned cadets of the
dangers of sexual harassment and
hazing.
Near the end of Gen. Scott's
speech he offers a piece of advice.
"This school has a tremendous repu-tation.
You don't want to put a blot on
it because of one incident."
Class Of 98>s RDC and OGA
Committees Plan for Upcoming School Year
Steve Nichols
News Writer
With the advent of a changing era
at V.VII, the Rat Disciplinary Conuiiit-tce
and the Ollicci ol the (iuard Asso-ciation
tace new challenges for the new
assimilation plan. With several meet-ings
debating over the policies and
s o l ' s for next year, the two organiza-tions
face a whole new ball game with
the admission of w omen for the 97-')8
term
Many in the Corps feel that both
committees' new leadership and mem-bers
are well prepared to face these
challenge's. President ol the OCiA, Urad
Cooke, had this to say on the new poli-cies,
•'One of our goals for next year is
to eliminale the communication prob-lem
that currently exists within the
conis." 1 he()(i.\lu)pesloachie\ethis
by making it w idely publicized that they
are not only nnestigators, but also rep-resentatives
of the corps.
"Next year the corjis will see the
()(1A in a much more public role than
in years past." ( ookc said. ()(iA mem-bers
will be present at .ill Rat functions
to act as a checks and balance for the
RDl , to make sure there arc no in-stances
ol niisconduci
.Also, the 0 ( iA will take on a
more active role on Ihc company level
w ith all classes, ulili/ing company lime
lo disseminate inrornialion to and from
the corps w ith the Administration.
"\\ c want the corps to realize that
the ()(i A also scr\ cs as the voice ol the
coips I don't think that many people
have e\er been awaie of that," Cooke
went on lo say, do more than just
investigate cases ol lia/ing, sexual ha-rassment,
and gloss misconduct, just
The IW7-IWH Rat Disciplimin' CommUh-e
like the RDC does more than just screw-
Rats." Cooke said.
Although there are new guide-lines
still being fine tuned such as
sexual harassment and discrimination
in the (KJA charter, the RDC faces
some of the most changes.
W ith these changes in mind-such
as how to handle sweat-parties lo ac-commodate
both female and male rats,
there are several minor dilliculties that
if let! ignored, could pose a threat to an
elfective Ral Line for next year Presi-dent
of the RDC, John Spit/er, com-mented,
"It w ill be a dilTicult challenge
for all of the new things we have lo pre-pare
for, but with all of the work we
have done with the administration it
shouUl be very successful."
Insui ing that professionalism and
"training to st.indard" will be carried out
to ihe letter, many in the new commit-tees
are confident that the Rat i.ine w ill
keep its tradition in being one of the
greatest challenges the Institute olfers.
Some of these new changes will
concern dealing w ith dyke relations and
fraternization policies, accepted work-outs
during sweat-parties including
push-ups, flutter kicks, crunches, moun-tain
climbers, and high knees.
Other changes will include a new
SOP i»n force marches and "gim" sta-tus
for w omen during periods of men-struation.
This will pt)se a dittlculty due
to high stress, a female's cycle can be-come
olf balance, posing a health prob-lem
that could prove dilTicult for sweat
parlies and other physical activities.
For both committees, closer con-tact
internally and with the Corps will
be maintained as well as more meetings
with Ihe Commandant's stafi'so that all
parties are kept well infomied.
Though many of these new
changes pose a great challenge all new
members on the committees are sure
that a successful year will be obtained
Assimilation Plan Number Six
C oloiiel N. M. Kissell
Chairman of E~Bcutive Committe
Aoiniilation Plan
.Vdmission Status Ol the 1083
applications rcccucd so l;u, 88 luc women.
Itiis IS a 17" u incivase liom llic s;une lime
last year A)i|xiiiiimenis lia\e Ixvii ollercd
to 793 |K-ople, 59ol which;ucwomen. 1 .S
wiimen ha\e nuulc de|iosits and lx;giui llie
ivser\alion piKoss
Areas Kesearcliid \\c lia\c a ti)-
tal ol 48 ;uea.s ivsearched. 44 ol w Inch h.i\ e
been ai^piov cd. I ln-se aieas ix-sc;in.lKil w ill
be lorwaided to ijie Unaid ol Visitor, lor
llieir iiilonuaiion and K'\iew prior lo llie
Biuidmtvliiigon H-U M.i>
Orii-nlatiuii: flK-entiivV Mlcom-muiiily
iwrtitiiwted in over 60 two hour
ses.sioas nuKlemu-d by consuluiil.s Ihe
ses.sioiLsaxci\cdmixed icacUons. hut were
o\ nail lielpful in pfo\t>l,ingdis(.usMoiLs and
U) make sua- all panici|unLs wciv w cll aw aiv
of tlie definition and a-gulalioiis on such
issi les as sexual liamxsment, liazing and tral-emizalion
follow up sessuMis w ill be Ik-UI
diunng the liiM lew diiys ol tlic next schix)l
yeai w il)i I itie IX ()llicei>i to msua- closure
luLs Iven a-achetl i)n all issues.
Major liecky Ra> and twi) female
cailets from le.\a.s A&M will msH VMI
from 29 April to I May lo answer cadet
questions involv ing hi>w wiimen slKwId be
uealed and how tliey w ill deal w ith llie Ral
I me fliese functions will be iK-ld in the
I ruman Rikhii ol tlic l»ivsu>n 1 ibrar> from
l-2:.10PM,4-5:.^0PM,and7-8:.M)PM. Ca-ik'ts
wishing lo attend should sec eillier
Kevin I mjillo, .Mike Meads, Cliris I lobbs,
i)r I zra Clark to be stheduleil
Assiniilatiuii Sessions FoUow-l'p
Sexual I lamssineiit Re|x)ning t oiitacb se-lected
f(M next year weiv caivtully chosen
ui ULsua- we lu\e a(ij>ii)acliable and cred-ible
lepivseiilalives I nloilunalely.ourco-oixliiuUion
system tailed and didn't reach
Lt. General Scott xpeaks to the audience in Cameron Hall
CIG Closes the Year
Adam Schwarzschild
News Writer
T uesday night the Cadet Invest-ment
Group (Cl(j) held its annual din-ner
in Moody Hall officially closing the
club's activities for the year.
The CIG is a group that was
founded by Robert W. Wentz,, Jr who
was Chief Financial OlTicerofthe VMI
Foundation. Mr. Wentz envisioned a
society where cadets interested in the
investment process could learn by us-ing
actual money and participating in
that process.
fhe CKj is allotted a certain
amount of money each year by the
Foundation and uses this money to in-vest
in the stock market, fhe group is
highly selective in choosing its mem-bers,
and every member must contrib-ute
in order to remain part of the club.
fhe ClCi is divided into an A and
H group so that more people wouUI gel
a chance lo participate in selecting
stiK-ks. fhis also allowed for greater
diversification of stock picks.
fhis year, each group was given
$ 100,000 lo buy stocks, but they ended
the year with a S15,000 loss due lo the
recent downw ard cycle of the market
fhe dinner Tuesday evening
honored those cadets in the group who
showed outstanding perfomv.mcc 1 he
keynote speaker was Bill Knight, who
was the east coast regional director ol
Dollar Ciencral Dollar Cieneial, a 1
billion business, was the highest per
fonning stock of the CIG's portfolio.
Cadet Kenny Pierce was given an
award for choosing Dollar (iencral
w hich is a retail company of low priced
consumer goods.
The highest aw ard of the evening,
the "Future Captain of Industry", was
given to the president of the club, fnsl
classman Stuart Wallers. The ilinncr w a •
concluded with the naming of next years
olllcers.
Next Ye.tr's ChainiiaiTof Ihe Ca-det
InveslmenI (iroup will be Michael
Bauingm-dner, and the presidem of group
H will be f.dward Niebert.
Last year's Future Captain ol
Industry relumed for the ceremony and
added how much the CIG had helped in
his career in the financial ser\ ice indus-try.
Beethoven's 9th at VMI
Roanoke Symphony Orchestra to play Cameron Hall
Brad Cooke
the reps in a timely maiUK-r All 20 contacts
will receive a briefing and orientation on
the procedua's and investigative process
before clas.ses begin next tiill.
Alleged sexual liara.ssinait chaiges
w ill be in\ L'Sligaled in the same nuuuier as
any other alleged violation al VMI. Inves-tigators
w ill he ap|x)intcd to acquire state-ments
from all sides involved, guilt or in-mx-
ciKC will be ilelemiincd diix;ndmg on
llie a-sults of the in\ c-stigation. I he naiue
of Ihe I ille l.\ olTicer will be aimounced
prior to 15 May
Reixxts ofsexiiiil liants-smenl w itlun
the corps should be liandled by llie class
system (tXi.A), regimental system,
t ommandant's ()Hice or Institute Counse-lors.
Sexual I larassmeiit w itlun the teach-ing
conuiiunity w ill be handled tluough the
IX-anoflhe Faculty I'he contact for classi-fied
tniiployecs is live Persoiuiel ollicer The
ciMitact Ibr conU'act [vrMMuiel is tlie Con-tracting
()Hicer
News Editor
On fuesday, 29 April, at 7:30
PM, the Roanoke Symphony Orches-tra
in conjunction with the Roanoke
Valley Choral Society will present
Beethoven's Sinlh "choral " Sym-
/)/i()/irand Rossini's Willium IcllOvcr-lioc
111 I'ameron Hall. 1 he concert is
free, compliments of the Department
of iinglish and Fine Arts as w ell as Ihe
Timmins Musie Societ>.
Beethoven's Mnlh Sym/ihonv
has always been the exception lo the
criticism thai sometimes follows his
later works. I he finale of the piece
has taken on a roll of an anihem of
peace, and w as recently perlormed al
the opening ceremony of the Mlanla
Olympics.
Accompanying the symphony
orchestm will be the 250 voice Ro;uioke
Valley Choir Society, fhis choir is made
up of voices from many dilTereni orga
nizations and area college glee eluh>
f h e symphony will be con
ducted by David Wylie, a new direc
tor with the Roanoke based orches-tra
Throughout his career Wylie ha-received
standing ovations and soU
out crowds from Savannah, (icoigia
lo I lonolulu, Hawaii.
Solos will be performed b> so-prano
Rochelle l llis, mezzo sopiain
Bonila I lynian, tenor Philip Webb, anil
baritone Philip Kraus.
I adets w ho attend the entire one
and a half hour pertbrnianee will be
aw aided two hours extra late lights and
hay dow n the follow ing day
l.l.( ol. William 1) Badgcti
Associale Professor of F.nglish and
fine .-Xrls urges all cadets to attend
this historic event "It is historic in
the sense that this has never hap
pened before and probably will ne\ei
happen again," Badgett said
Contents:
Opinon/ Editorial page 2 Sports
News & Keatures page 4 Arts »& Leisure
liuinur page 4
page 5
page 7
Locai Weekend Weatiier Forecast:
Friday will be partly cloudy,
w ith some much-welcome
sun oil Saturday. Cloudy
w ealher has been forecasted
lor Sunday.
HI: LOW:
Friday 66 3S
Saturday 68 41
Sunday 68 46