Newly Liberated Vmi Punishes Its Kissing Cadets

Beneath a desk in a darkened room, two Virginia Military Institute cadets stole a forbidden kiss in the barracks one night.

But a guard stumbled upon them, and now the freshmen, a man and a woman, must face their punishment.

VMI put the cadets on campus confinement for a month and gave them additional marching duty.

The kissing cadets, who were not identified, were caught in the barracks on Sept. 20.

They were the first known violators of the school’s new anti-fraternization rules developed when the school enrolled women for the first time in August.

The rules, among other things, forbid public displays of affection and relationships within the chain of command. Cadets must also have lights on and door shades up when members of the opposite sex are in a room.

“We’re going to have these problems,” said Col. Mike Bissell, the director of VMI’s plan to assimilate women. “We just have to make sure they are minor and not severe.”