3 Citadel Women Cut Own Hair, Face Discipline

Three female cadets at The Citadel face punishment for giving themselves short, patchy haircuts in violation of rules that forbid cadets to cut their own hair.

“They said they felt like they needed to do this to show that they were as committed as the male cadets,” said Brig. Gen. Clifton Poole, the college’s interim president.

The cadets are among the first four women admitted after the state military college lost its court battle to remain all male.

They emerged from their barracks Thursday with the new haircuts, which Poole called “extreme.”

In August, the college cut the female cadets’ hair short--off the face, off the shoulders, off the collar and with the ears showing--but not as short as the buzz cut that new male cadets get.

“We did not shave their heads because we thought it was humiliation,” Poole said. “They have gone well beyond that with what they have done to themselves.”

For breaking the rules, the cadets face punishment ranging from confinement to quarters to having to march with rifles in their barracks courtyard. The exact punishment will not be revealed.

Kim Messer of Clover, S.C., Petra Lovetinska of Washington, D.C., and Jeanie Mentavlos of Charlotte, N.C., also got a stern lecture and were sent to the barber for “a repair job.”

“Now they have their hair cut like men,” Poole said.

The Citadel agreed to admit women after the all-male admission policy at Virginia Military Institute was ruled unconstitutional.

VMI plans to treat female cadets identically to men, including giving them the same buzz cut.