CHARLESTON, S.C. — The kind of hazing that allegedly happened to
two female cadets at The Citadel in recent months is nothing new.
Jeanie Mentavlos of Charlotte, N.C., and Kim Messer of Clover,
S.C., alleged that they were physically and verbally hazed by
upperclassmen after suffering stress fractures that exempted them from
rigorous marching and other military training. The alleged hazings were
made public December 13 and college administrators asked the State Law
Enforcement Division and the FBI to investigate.
Although school regulations and state law prohibit the practice,
allegations of hazing incidents have persisted. Some cases have been
reported, but others have taken years to be told. Thirty years ago, The
Citadel’s first Black cadet, Charles D. Foster, was the alleged victim
of abuse but only a few of his classmates would say it publicly.
Messer’s father reported that a Citadel upperclassman used a rifle
to shove the two female freshmen against a barracks wall. There were
also allegations that someone squirted liquid nail polish remover on
their clothing and ignited it. Two male cadets were suspended and five
others were relieved of their duties because of the incidents.
The other two female cadets, Petra Lovetinska, a Czech national
from Washington, D.C., and Nancy Mace of Goose Creek, S.C. have not
reported any hazing incidents.
The four females were admitted to The Citadel last fall after the
U.S. Supreme Court ruled last summer that Virginia Military Institute’s
all-male admissions policy was unconstitutional. The Citadel and
Virginia Military Institute were the last two state-supported all-male
colleges.
The first year for freshmen — or knobs, as they are called at the
academy — has been traditionally tough, combining intense physical
training and psychological confrontation along with the daily class
work. However, some upperclassmen have taken the confrontational aspect
to the extreme. As a result, the fourth-class system has been
scrutinized a number of times in the past two decades — including in
1968, two years after Foster’s arrival.
