Citadel Cadets Get A Lesson In Diversity Awareness

The Citadel canceled classes Tuesday so its 1,700 cadets could learn how to get along with the women among them, everything from avoiding demeaning language to not barging in on their barracks doors.

“Diversity Awareness Day,” sensitivity training on the importance of women, was ordered as the formerly all-male military college reels from allegations that two female cadets left because they were hazed and harassed.

“It’s no longer that men are the bosses and the women follow orders,” said Faye Crosby, a professor at all-female Smith College in Northampton, Mass. “You need to learn how to work with people who don’t look exactly like you.”

Sandra Thomas, the president of all-female Converse College in Spartanburg, said boys learn to be competitive while girls learn to be nurturing.

“Women must understand the culture of men, and men must understand the culture of women,” she said.

But as the day wore on, such vast concepts were boiled down to concrete questions: Should female cadets wear skirts? Should sunbathing be allowed outside the barracks?

And should there be latches on barracks doors?

“Oh yes, absolutely,” said Petra Lovetinska, one of two remaining female cadets at the college. “I had several people just walk in without knocking.”