WOULD Scarlett O’Hara have wanted to attend The Citadel? Anyone who remembers Scarlett sitting amidst a throng of adoring young men at the barbecue at Twelve Oaks knows the answer to that question. How could she not have delighted in the idea of being the only woman among two thousand cadets—provided she did not have to shave her head, do pushups, and run two miles in 15 minutes? But then Scarlett’s interest would have depended precisely upon The Citadel’s remaining—except for herself—a single-sex school. For Scarlett, you will recall, did not much like other women.
The reader may wonder, as others none too politely have done, how a feminist was drawn into supporting the Virginia Military Institute and The Citadel against those attempting to use the courts to force them to admit women. Having attended a women’s college, I had no principled difficulty with supporting single-sex education. I believe in it, and I believe it should remain an option for those who choose to benefit from it. As a result, my initial support for VMI derived as much from my conviction that I was defending an option for women as from any special predisposition to defend a military-style, single-sex education for men. During the months I have worked on these cases, I have become converted to the value of such an education for some men, but that strong commitment does not conflict with my fundamental concern for the way in which women’s issues will be played out during the coming years, and especially the way in which they will be understood in the Republican Party.
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