Citadel Punishes 10 in Hazing of Female Cadets

A male cadet at The Citadel was dismissed and nine others were given lesser punishments in the hazing and harassment of two female cadets, the military school reported Monday.

One cadet was cleared, and the FBI and state investigators continue to look into the women’s allegations for possible criminal charges.

“The college made mistakes and individuals broke rules,” interim President Clifton Poole said. “We have gotten the facts. We have heard the evidence and we have punished those cadets who have violated regulations.”

Fifteen male cadets faced discipline. In addition to the dismissal, one cadet received the next most severe punishment, restriction to campus for the rest of the semester and 120 hours of marching carrying an unloaded rifle in the barracks courtyard.

Eight cadets received punishments ranging from marching requirements and demerits to confinement to barracks.

Previously, three implicated cadets left school and one received marching and demerits.

Cadets Jeanie Mentavlos of Charlotte, N.C., and Kim Messer of Clover, N.C., said their clothes were set on fire and cleanser was put on their heads. They also said they were forced to drink tea until they became ill, made to drink alcohol and forced to stand in a closet while being shoved and kicked last semester.

They didn’t return to the state military school for the spring semester. The Citadel still has two female cadets. It began accepting women in June after a court battle.

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“Hopefully this will bring to a conclusion a most painful chapter in our history,” Poole said. “With these punishments, the Citadel has exhausted the remedies available to it under the college’s published rules.”

The school did not identify the punished cadets. The dismissed cadet can apply for readmission after a year. Had he been expelled he would not have been allowed to reapply.

The disciplining of the 10 cadets came after school officials held private hearings on March 1.

Paul Gibson, Messer’s attorney, said the discipline “substantiates the allegations that have been made by our clients and shows that they are true.”