By Simona Radeva, Avalon Pernell and Tyler Palicia
In May 2021, Cadet Kasey Meredith became VMI’s first female regimental commander (RCO), the highest ranking position a cadet can earn.
But in the ensuing weeks, Meredith became an object of contempt on the anonymous social media app Jodel, which is popular among VMI cadets.
“This is the most unpopular RCO choice in VMI history,” a cadet posted on Jodel, according to a July 12, 2021, story in the Washington Post. “Literally can’t think of anyone that wanted her or anyone that ever interacts with her besides other sheeds,” the cadet wrote using one of several slurs to refer to female cadets.
In early 2023, cadet Madison Cappellano faced similar treatment when she was being considered for the RCO position.
“Not so fast Cappellano, we already had a female RCO,” a cadet said on Jodel in March.
“We don’t need to put people in positions just because their (sic) women, it’s destroying this country,” another cadet commented on a different thread around the same time.
Cappellano didn’t get the promotion. She did not respond to several requests for comment.
Ellie Pickford, a member of the class of 2024, says it’s tough for women to be taken seriously enough to be elected or appointed to top positions.
“When women get appointed to leadership roles, they get told they’re a diversity pick and they couldn’t have earned it, or maybe they weren’t more deserving than the man who applied. And the same thing happens with people of color,” said Pickford, who serves as a DOI training facilitator and is a member of the Cadet Equity Association.
In 1996, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that VMI could no longer justify refusing to admit women because of perceived differences in physical abilities between the sexes.
“‘Inherent differences’ between men and women, we have come to appreciate, remain cause for celebration, but not for denigration of the members of either sex or for artificial constraints on an individual’s opportunity,” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote in her majority opinion in United States v. Virginia on June 26, 1996.
Shah Rahman, who graduated in 1997, said he understands why VMI has been criticized for fostering a sexist environment. “It was a bunch of dudes,” he said. “And, you know, we got beat up. We wrestled, we got away with anything and everything: Bad language, bad behavior, excessive drinking. That kind of behavior was almost encouraged in some ways.”
A female VMI graduate in the 2000s said male cadets tend to forget that women are present on post. “It was kind of constant locker room talk, you know, the guys objectifying women, that kind of thing that they typically do amongst themselves,” she said. “It’s easy to forget that there’s a woman present sometimes.”
At VMI, female and male cadets must pass fitness tests twice a semester. The physical requirements include pull-ups, sit-ups and a 2,400-meter run. Women are required to do at least one pull-up while men must complete a minimum of five. Women must complete the run in 14 minutes and 20 seconds. Men must finish in 12 minutes and 30 seconds. Both men and women must do at least 60 sit-ups in 2 minutes.
“Whenever I came, I was like, I want to meet the male standard so that no one can look down on me,” said a female cadet, who asked that her identity not be revealed because she fears retaliation. “But realizing that you don’t need to meet these standards because everyone has their own special traits is something that you slowly figure out. But whenever you first come in you don’t really feel like you fit in.”
Joseph D. Elie, who graduated in 1988, said he initially opposed admitting women to VMI because he believed in the value of a single-sex education. And, he said, he didn’t want VMI to change.
“I would say there’s more grace at VMI now because there are women,” he said. “I think overall it’s been a good thing.”
In 2023, there were 1,512 cadets at VMI, including 202 women, who represented a little over 13% of the student body, according to VMI statistics.
VMI made headlines in late 2020 when the Washington Post reported that the Institute’s student-run honor court had expelled Black cadets at a disproportionately higher rate than white cadets. In response, then-Gov. Ralph Northam, a 1981 graduate of VMI, ordered an investigation of the Institute.
An Indianapolis-based law firm, Barnes & Thornburg, was selected to conduct the investigation and found that “sexual assault is prevalent” on VMI’s campus, “yet it is inadequately addressed by the Institute.” About 14% of female cadets surveyed said they’d been sexually assaulted at VMI, and 63% said that another student had confided to them they’d been sexually assaulted or harassed at VMI.
“When women get appointed to leadership roles, they get told they’re a diversity pick and they couldn’t have earned it, or maybe they weren’t more deserving than the man who applied. And the same thing happens with people of color.”
– Ellie pickford, VMI Class of 2024
“Many female cadets reported a consistent fear of assault or harassment by their fellow male cadets,” the report said. “Many female cadets also feel that assault complaints are not or will not be taken seriously by the VMI administration or that a cadet will suffer retaliatory consequences for reporting them.”
But Lt. Col. Jamica Love, VMI’s chief diversity officer, said she’s never heard of anyone being punished for reporting assault or harassment at the Institute. “I have had employees and cadets say, ‘I just don’t feel like I’m treated the same,’ or ‘I feel like if I say something, it will cause problems or there will be retaliation,’” she said. “So, I think more of the problem is how do we get people to speak up without the fear of retaliation.”
The Barnes & Thornburg report found that VMI’s policies relating to discrimination, harassment, sexual misconduct and retaliation are “well written and easy to understand.” The report also said VMI’s Title IX records “reflected a competent and compliant investigation and adjudication process.”
Title IX is part of a federal civil rights law passed in 1972 that prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other education program that receives federal funding. Bill Wyatt, VMI’s spokesman, said the Institute’s Title IX office is “fully functioning.”
But some students still think the administration doesn’t always have their backs.
The student who requested anonymity said she’s heard administrators pressure women who have been assaulted to think twice about the impact of their accusations against male cadets. “Think about their career,” she said female cadets are told. “They’re trying to be an Army officer. Do you really think they would have done that on purpose?”
There are other obstacles at VMI for male and female cadets who say they’ve been sexually assaulted. For years, cadets faced punishment if they revealed that they were under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of an assault.
VMI has had a policy since at least 2015 that provides “amnesty to cadets who report sexual assaults for minor offenses including alcohol,” according to VMI’s website. “However, in practice, no cadet who has reported a sexual assault or cooperated in the investigation of a sexual assault has has been disciplined for an infraction.”
In February 2023, the General Assembly passed legislation that would require VMI to give cadets immunity if they report sexual assaults that occurred when they were drinking or doing drugs. VMI has been the only college in Virginia exempt from a state law that gives students at other institutions such immunity.
Wyatt said drug and alcohol abuse among students has a different meaning at a military college.
“The experience here at VMI is very different,” he said. “We have cadets who are walking around with weapons. We have cadets who are participating in training that doesn’t happen at any other state institution outside of the corps of cadets at Virginia Tech. In practice we have never punished anyone for reporting sexual misconduct regardless of the circumstances, but the fact of the matter is that some of the things that we do here are dangerous for our cadets and we need to ensure to the best of our ability that everybody has all their faculties about them.”
Wyatt said the bill would give VMI’s superintendent the power to require a cadet with alcohol or drug abuse issues to undergo counseling. He said the provision was a key reason that the bill was approved by lawmakers. But it is still waiting for Gov. Youngkin to sign it into law.