22 Women Start Course in Lieu of The Citadel

A group of 22 women Wednesday began a new South Carolina “leadership program” created in an effort to keep the state’s famous military college, The Citadel, all male.

The South Carolina Institute of Leadership for Women at Converse College, a private school for women, received $10 million from the state and The Citadel to get started. Only 22 students were selected from 54 applicants for the competitive program.

“These are people who have been very successful in their high school careers, so these women have been leaders all along,” said Stephen Parris, a spokesman for Converse College.

The leadership program took root in May after Citadel applicant Shannon Faulkner filed a sex-discrimination lawsuit against the elite military-style institute for rescinding its acceptance of her after learning that she is female.

After a lengthy legal battle, Faulkner this month became the first female cadet at the military college, but she dropped out after less than a week of training, citing stress and isolation.

She flatly rejected the Converse College program as an alternative, saying she had the right to attend The Citadel, despite its 152-year tradition of all-male education, because it receives state funds.

A federal judge is due to rule in November on whether the leadership program is the constitutional equivalent of The Citadel, which is based in Charleston. The program, which starts classes Sept. 12, is modeled after one created at Virginia’s Mary Baldwin College so the state-funded Virginia Military Institute could retain its 156-year tradition of accepting only males.