Citadel ready to graduate first woman cadet

The Associated Press

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- The bitter fight about admitting women to the Citadel now long past, Nancy Mace is about to become the 156-year- old South Carolina state military school's first female cadet to graduate.

Mace, who entered in the fall of 1996 after the college dropped its all-male admissions policy, is to receive her degree with about 400 male cadets at commencement ceremonies on Saturday. The business major transferred credits from a community college to graduate a year early. "She's done it all on her own with no help from daddy," said her father, retired Army Brig. Gen. J. Emory Mace, who became the school's commandant of cadets during his daughter's first year there. "I would make an effort not to associate with her," he said. "You need to make it on your own and blend in." Mace, 21, who is taking an analyst job with a business consulting firm in Charlotte, N.C., leaves the Citadel with a mixture of pride and humility. "I still don't think of it in an historic context," she said in Sunday's issue of the (Charleston) Post and Courier. "I just wanted an opportunity to join the long, gray line. I think I am paving the way for other women but I don't think of myself as a pioneer." The Citadel now has 42 female cadets, a number expected to increase to about 90 next year, said Bonnie Jo Houchen, who graduated with the first women at the U.S. Air Force Academy and now serves as the Citadel's assistant commandant helping oversee the assimilation of women. "You have to give everyone time to accept the reality," Houchen said. "Some men in the corps still don't like women here." Shannon Faulkner sued over the all-male admissions policy and became the first woman cadet under a federal court order in 1995, but she dropped out after less than a week, citing the loneliness and stress. The legal fight continued with other women while the state and Citadel supporters contended that all-male schools promoted diversity in education. Before the case could reach the U.S. Supreme Court, however, the justices ruled that Virginia Military Institute's all-male policy was unconstitutional. Faced with that decision, Citadel officials decided to open the school's gates to women. Two women will graduate from VMI this year as well. Mace entered the Citadel in 1996 with four other women, two of whom left after a semester, saying they had been hazed and harassed. The fourth was Petra Lovetinska, who will oversee military training for freshmen athletes this summer. "In my company, guys will tell me, 'I didn't like women coming here and I still don't like women here but I respect what you do and I respect you,' " said Lovetinska. "Some of my biggest supporters did fight the fight and they didn't want women at The Citadel." Regimental Commander Reed Wilson, the school's highest-ranking cadet, said women will be more accepted with each passing year. "When you see the class of '99 leave you will see a change in the air here," Wilson said. Mace told the Charleston newspaper her graduation has more meaning because of the hardships she endured. "Separating your emotions all the time is very tiring and I have broken down in tears," she said. "But I have never said I wanted to quit."

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