Citadel’s Plan for Aspiring Women Cadets: Go Elsewhere

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Lawyers for The Citadel on Wednesday presented the state-funded all-male military college’s alternative plan for women hoping to become cadets: Go somewhere else.

The plan was a response to a July federal court order that also called for the admission of Shannon Faulkner, who has sued to join the school’s prestigious Cadet Corps. Her hopes to become The Citadel’s first female cadet were put on hold, however, until the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., can hear the case.

Under the alternative plan, called the South Carolina Women’s Leadership Institute Program, The Citadel would pay for women seeking a single-gender military education to attend either of two schools in the state--Columbia or Converse. The two are private colleges and the women would have to join the ROTC program at the University of South Carolina in Wofford.

Plans are also expected to be provided for those who want military training on a coeducational campus. The alternative plan has to be approved by the federal court.

Aiming to hold on to its 152-year-old tradition, The Citadel has vigorously fought co-education for more than a year. Its all-male status was threatened when Faulkner, who had her sex deleted from her high school transcript, sued the school for rescinding her offer of admission upon learning that she was a woman. Instead of becoming a cadet, she became the first woman to take “day” classes at The Citadel.

Day students are civilians and cannot participate in any cadet activities such as eating in mess halls, sleeping in the barracks and playing in the school band.