Female VMI Cadet Alleges Harassment

At least one of the women in Virginia Military Institute’s first coed class has complained about being singled out for unfair treatment. Senior Class President Kevin Trujillo said the woman felt she was being picked on by the cadre, the upperclassmen who train the freshman class, known as “rats.” The woman, who was not identified, plans to stay at VMI, Trujillo said. The 158-year-old school went coed after a 1996 Supreme Court ruling that it could not be both state-supported and all-male. Two of 30 women, along with 27 men, have dropped out.