Faulkner’s Decision Leaves Many Feeling Disappointed Across The Country, People Express Both Sympathy And Anger For Woman Cadet Who Left The Citadel

At least 30 cadets had dropped out of The Citadel by Friday, acknowledging that they could not withstand the rigors of “hell week.” For all but one, their departures were unremarkable.

No one talked about their weight, or said they had let down their entire sex, or praised them for sticking with it as long as they did.

No one celebrated their leaving.

No one even knew who they were, because their names were kept confidential.

All the attention was on the lone woman, Shannon Faulkner, 20, who had fought for two and a half years to march with the cadets at The Citadel, an all-male military academy in Charleston, S.C.

In Chicago, Teri Hartfelder, 24, the day manager at Kasey’s Tavern, said: “This just leaves the impression of female hysteria, of women saying, ‘Give me this, give me this,’ and they can’t take it. I’m tired of women like her representing my gender.”

In Boston, John Fodera, a high school principal who was visiting from New York City, praised Faulkner.

“She did a great thing,” he said. “She made a pathway for other women. She should go down in history.”

When the male cadets heard the news at The Citadel on Friday, they stripped off their T-shirts, did victory pushups in the rain and surfed on mattresses on their barracks floors.

But The Citadel was the only place where people were openly cheering.

In dozens of interviews with men and women across the country, no one said he or she was happy that Faulkner had quit. Instead, there was a sense of regret, disappointment, sympathy and even anger.

Some people, like Hartfelder, were angry at Faulkner. “She made it look like women can’t compete with men,” said Steve Greystone, 40, of Boston. “She deserved to be there, but she was out of shape.”

A lot of other people were furious at the cadets, whose cheering images they had seen on television and in newspapers.

“She was experiencing so much anguish and stress, and to see the picture of boys cheering and jumping up and down was really immature and sad,” said Karen Rolstad, 57, a high school counselor in Seattle.

Victoria Eslinger, a trial lawyer in Columbus, S.C., said: “Those fancy little boys who were so nasty to her - what are they afraid of, anyway? Are they afraid that some woman’s going to come along that’s going to be faster or smarter?”

In Chicago, David Boyer, an Air Force veteran, said he thought that The Citadel had created a hostile environment that forced Faulkner to quit.

Still, he added, “She should have stuck it out.”

Kathleen Brown, who was defeated in her bid for California governor, said Faulkner had scored a victory. “It’s not unlike a woman running for governor,” she said. “It’s not unlike a woman who breaks through a glass ceiling and gets somewhere no one has gotten before. Even if you run and you lose, you’ve paved the way.”

Faulkner said on Friday that she had dropped out because of stress from her legal battle of two and a half years. Even though she fell short of her goal, her legal battle paves the way for other women to take up the fight.

Brown added that the disappointment being expressed over Faulkner’s withdrawal shows how much of a burden such women bear.

“It’s the additional pressure we put on ourselves that we’re doing this for all women,” she said. “If we fail, we’re failing for all women. No man ever feels that if they fail, they’re failing for all men.”