In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) to admit women to the state-funded school or to

become private. Former Hollins lecturer Abigail Ad ams has studied an important rite of passage at VMI, and says that cadets

have proved themselves to be adaptable over the years—and if necessary, they can do it again.

" B RE A K I N G O U T "

AT VMI

By Leslie Taylor

THE VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE HAS, IN ITS 157-YEAR history, adapted to the changing makeup of its cadet corps—to out-of-state students, to foreign students, to black students.

It can adapt, too, to women students, said Abigail Adams, a cultural anthropologist who spent two years studying the rituals of the all-male, state-supported school, ordered in June by the U.S. Supreme Court to open itself to women or go private.

From 1991 to 1993, Adams studied the rituals of VMI, particularly one rite of passage called "Break Out," in which "rats"—freshmen—become full-fledged cadets. It is a grueling endeavor, in part involving trudging through a rifle range that has been transformed into a very muddy field.

Adams focused her study on Break Out because of her interest in rituals. She was a lecturer in sociology at Hollins from 1990 to 1996, but her professional descriptions include "scholar of ritual." She is also working on a doctorate in cultural anthropology from the University of Virginia.

In the spring of 1991, Adams was teaching an anthropology class at Hollins. There was discussion about a rite of initiation of the Chagga Society in Africa that prepared twelve-to-thirteen-year-old boys for manhood and life away from their village.

"It involved a lot of mud," Adams said. "And one of my students said, 'Well, you know they do something really similar to that at VMI. You might want to look into it."'

Adams was not familiar with VMI'S legal wranglings over its all-male admissions policy when she approached the school about studying Break Out. She wanted only to study the ritual itself.

After learning of VMI'S legal fight, Adams said she'd hoped the ritual could tell her something about the deep values of an all-male institution steeped in traditions that did not include women. How did tradition relate to that exclusion?

She found that the school's rite of passage had evolved over the years. Break Out was only about thirteen years old, she said.

In its early years, VMI had no such ritual. Rats remained rats their entire first year. After World War II, the "Gauntlet" was created, in which upperclassmen lined up in two rows and the rats ran through, enduring various forms of hazing.

"Running the Stoop" followed, in which rats had to move as a class from the ground floor of the barracks to the fourth floor, with upperclassmen doing all they could to prevent the rats from succeeding.

Break Out was created in the early 1980s after the school administration expressed concern about the safety of Running the Stoop, Adams said.

"When you look at who's running across the field right now, who does it include that it didn't include forty years ago?" Adams asked. "It includes non-Virginians, foreigners, and African-Americans."

Adams found that the ritual alone would not answer the question, so she went directly to cadets for answers.

"I said, 'Why can't women come to VMI?' One thing I heard was 'Women couldn't take what we take [physically].' And I was sad to hear that. They really didn't know because they hadn't been exposed to women who could meet the physical challenge. .

"The second comment was that any woman who could, wouldn't be very womanly. And I thought, 'Too bad you're not getting a different impression of women."'

But Adams said that in changing its rite of passage over the years, particularly in changing stoop-running to breaking out, VMI has demonstrated an ability to adapt.

"They had a condition, the condition changed, and these upperclassmen responded—I think pretty creatively—to it," Adams said. "I think cadets have it in them, if it is that women want to go to VMI, to respond to it if they take the right attitude."

She warns, VMI is in for a time of it. But I think as an institution that the students will benefit from learning how to mentor and be mentored by women and how to be colleagues across gender lines.

"They're not getting that experience now."

This is an edited version of the original artir.le, which appeared in the Roanoke Times and was reprinted by permission. Abigail Adams is currently teaching cultural anthropology at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain.

The VMI Board of Visitors was scheduled to vote September 21 on whether the school will go coed or become a private college for men.