NATION/WORLD
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, August 16, 1995
17A
Faulkner promises to conquer The Citadel
All-male military school loses three-year battle to keep female cadet out
The Associated Press
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Shannon Faulkner had a glass of ice water to toast the legal victory that cleared the way for her to become the first female cadet to enter The Citadel.
"I am going to be in the corps, and I will graduate as a member of the corps and other women will follow me," said Faulkner, 20, as her parents and lawyers celebrated with champagne.
Earlier Friday, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehquinst rejected an emergency request from the state-run military school to keen Faulkner out.
The Citadel made a last-ditch appeal to Justice Antonin Scalia, but he rejected the request late Friday. Scalia could have granted the request or referred the matter to the full court.
Faulkner reported to campus Saturday with about 600 freshmen. U.S. District Judge C. Weston Houck ordered federal marshals to monitor her entry into the corps.
"I am confident I will be able to meet every standard The Citadel has in place on campus," Faulkner said. "I'm actually going to try to be the best cadet I can possibly be. And I'm not going to be on campus for anyone else but me."
"We intend to comply fully with the orders of the courts," Citade! President Claudius E. Watts III said. "The issue concerning single-gender education is a legal controversy about which there are differing views and attitudes. It is not a fight between The Citadel and Shannon Faulkner."
Rehquist, who studied the case from his vacation home in Vermont, gave no written reason for his decision.
Faulkner has been battling in the courts for 2 1/2 years to become the first woman in the long gray lines of cadets. It hasn't been a smooth journey. Her Powdersville, S.C., home was vandalized, she
has received death threats and she's had to withstand ongoing public scrutiny.
Some cars in Charleston carried bumper stickers reading, "I Support Shannon: No Taxation Without Equal Education." Others read, "Shave Shannon," a reference to an earlier proposal to give her a crecut.
Faulkner was not required to shave her head because the idea behind it is to maintain uniformity, and she already is different from the other cadets.
Also unlike other cadets, Faulkner will have a private room and bathroom in the barracks.
The state is developing a $10 million women's leadership program at private Converse College, but the plan still is in preliminary stages and has not been approved by the courts.
The Citadel was ordered by a federal appeals court in April to admit Faulkner as a cadet if the state did not establish a comparable military program for women at some other school.
It has not been determined whether Faulkner would have to leave The
Citadel if the program were to be approved.
The Citadel and Virginia Military Institute are the nation's only all-male, state-supported military colleges.
The Citadel had asked Rehnquist, who handles emergency matters from South Carolina for the Supreme Court, to delay Faulkner's entrance as a cadet until the full court reviews the case.
"If there is any room at all under the Constitution for public single-sex education, then surely The Citadel's Corps of Cadets qualifies," the school's lawyers argued.
Faulkner was accepted by The Citadel in 1993 after references to her gender were deleted from her high school transcript. The school later withdrew its offer of admission, and she sued, claiming the all-male program was unconstitutional.
She has attended classes at the 2,000-student college since January 1994 under an order from Houck but has not been allowed to take military training or wear a uniform.
Shannon's Struggle
1993
- March 2: Faulter sues, charging The Chadel's all-male mate corres is unconstitutional.
participate in military training until his maiden Nov. 17.The 4th Circuit allows Faulkner to attend day classes.
Aug. 12; U.S. District Judge C. Weston Houck rules
Faulkner may attend day classes but not join the corps of
Law enforcement officers.
Jan. 18. Faukner becomes the first woman to attend her classaue in the college's history.
July 22: Houck orders Fauller into the corps of cadets following a two-week trial of her discrimination suit. The Citadel appeals.
April 1.3; The 4th Circuit rules Faulkner may join the corps unless South Carolina has a court-approved program by August to provide similar leadership education for women
July 28: The Citadel asks the 4th Circuit to block Faukner, from becoming a cadet while it appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Aug. 8: The 4th Circuit refuses to stay its April ruling, and the school asks Chief Justice William Rehnquist to intervene.
It's smarter not to use your head
■ Aug. 11: Rehnquist refuses, clearing the way for Faulkner to become the first female cadet in the school's 152-year history.
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Soccer players who repeatedly use their heads to whack the ball risk losses in mental skills, according to a study that found problems in athletes as young as teen-agers.
Players who said they "headed" the ball more than 10 times a game showed lower average scores than other players on tests of attention, concentration and overall mental functioning.
Evidence of harm from less frequent heading was inconsistent, suggesting that some other influence like proper technique might help protect against the effect, said researcher Adrienne Witol.
The study, which included 60 players from high school, college and a professional team, did not test children younger than 14. But Witol said children may be at risk
because they have smaller bodies, weaker neck muscles and less experience in proper heading technique than older players.
The researchers did not assess what the lower scores on their tests meant for the daily lives of players. They described their study as an initial sign that the effects of heading on the brain must be studied further.
In the meantime, Witol said that parents of young soccer players should not panic.
"This is a preliminary study," she said. "You don't base a huge decision on whether or not soccer play is horribly dangerous and pull kids out based on one study."
She added, however, "If I had a child, I would discourage him from heading the ball until I had more answers."
Witol is a neuropsychology fellow in the department of physical
medicine and rehabilitation at the Medical College of Virginia, which is part of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. She presented the study Saturday at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association.
"I think Dr. Witol alerts us to a potential problem in this country with soccer and in particular, heading," said Jeffrey T. Barth, chief of psychology at the University of Virginia Medical School.
The effect on everyday life, how long the impairments last and even whether they really come from the impact with the ball rather than some other aspect of playing soccer, still must be studied, he said.
He also noted that heading is not as common among children as among high school players. He said he would not be concerned about harm to elementary-school players.
Judge grants abused boy's request
The Associated Press
BOSTON — When Claribel Ventura plunged her son's hands into scalding water, burning them in places to the bone, she called it punishment.
On Friday, she got hers, after a judge followed the advice of the injured 5-year-old boy: "I want to see my mother go to prison."
"I never want to live with her again," Ernesto Lara said in a statement read in court. "She should go to prison because of what she did to my brothers and sisters and me."
Judge Isaac Borenstein sentenced Ventura to 10 to 12 years in prison for her plea to charges of mayhem and assault and battery with a deadly weapon, the weapon being the 130-degree
water that left the boy still needing skin grafts and physical therapy more than a year after the attack.
"Ernesto ... will always be asking, 'How could my mother do this to me?' the judge said. Ernesto now lives in a foster home.
Social workers found Ernesto and his five brothers and sisters living in squalor in Ventura's apartment in February 1994.
Ernesto, then 4, was in a locked room, lying on a mattress soaked in his own blood, urine and feces. His hands were covered with open wounds. Another child had cockroaches crawling over his face.
Prosecutor Michael Uhlarik said the boy had mistakenly eaten food Ventura prepared
for her boyfriend, Reyson Pena. Pena allegedly punished Ernesto by carrying him to a bathroom sink, where Ventura held his hands under the water for several minutes.
Pena is awaiting trial on similar charges.
"What we've seen is Claribel Ventura has not only mutilated the hands of her own child, but has mutilated the very essence of parenthood." Uhlarik said.
Cathleen Bennett, one of Ventura's defense attorneys, blamed Ventura's problems on a cocaine addiction and past sexual and physical abuse.
While free on bail in April 1994, Ventura fled the country and spent six months on the run in the Caribbean, when she had her seventh child.
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