Bad Hair Day For Citadel’s Female Cadets

Trying to fit in where they were once not welcome, three female cadets at The Citadel shaved one another’s heads to try to make their hair as short as the men’s. But they ended up being punished for breaking the military college’s rules.

The Citadel, in Charleston, S.C., requires male cadets to keep their hair very closely cropped, while the prescribed haircut for women has more on top and on the sides. Cadets are prohibited from cutting their own hair.

The three women gave one another patchy haircuts in what Citadel officials said the cadets called an effort to demonstrate the same commitment to the college as their male classmates.

“Haircutting is like brain surgery: it is not a job for amateurs,” said The Citadel’s spokesman, Col. Terry E. Leedom.

“Whoever did this haircutting was apparently not well-experienced or skillful, and the product reflected that. The haircuts hardly met standards, so the women had to be shipped over to the barbershop for a repair job.”

The women will be formally disciplined, Leedom said, most likely by being confined to barracks.

Four women entered The Citadel after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that state-financed military colleges could not remain all male.

Freshmen at The Citadel are known as “knobs” because the men’s severe haircuts make their heads look like doorknobs.

The haircutting by the three women occurred on Wednesday night.

The women could not be reached for interviews Friday. “Knobs don’t give interviews,” the spokesman said.