Faulkner Keeps Options Open She Says She Felt ‘Hated’ At Citadel, But Would Return If Another Female Enrolls

Shannon Faulkner, saying she was battling an “emotional catastrophe” when she withdrew from The Citadel, said in court papers Thursday she might want to return to the military college.

“I do not believe the gates of The Citadel should be shut on me for trying to accomplish the impossible,” she said in an affidavit. In the document, she asked to remain as a plaintiff in the lawsuit she filed 2-1/2 years ago.

In other filings, attorneys for The Citadel argued it’s too late for Nancy Mellette to take her place.

Mellette is a senior at a North Carolina military prep academy who wants to intervene in the case.

The motion said the case is now between the state and the federal government and that the U.S. Justice Department will adequately represent her.

Faulkner became the first female Citadel cadet last month but left school after a week because of the stress of the court fight and her isolation on campus. She spent most of her time on campus in the infirmary.

“I recognize now that it was an impossible task to require myself to perform under the world’s spotlight in surroundings where I did not even have a person to confide in,” she said in the document. “I felt stranded, isolated and hated.”

But she said if other women were present “I would definitely consider reapplying to finish my degree,” she said. “I do not want to be alone again.”

Her father, Ed, in an accompanying affidavit, said he had never seen his daughter “as emotional and irrational” as she was in the infirmary before she left.

He said the school would not allow her medical leave to consult another doctor about stomach pains. And he said Clifton Poole, the dean of the college, kept asking what they wanted to do while his daughter was “hysterical.”

Faulkner refused an Associated Press request for an interview on Thursday.

But Poole saw things differently. After almost four days in the infirmary, the college doctor cleared Faulkner to return to her company but she didn’t want to go, Poole said. Instead, she called her family to take her home.

Poole said her father and attorney Suzanne Coe tried to convince her to stay. At one point Ed Faulkner told him his daughter was ready to return to her company, but Shannon Faulkner stood behind him nodding her head “No,” Poole said.

The college sent Faulkner to Roper Hospital the previous day for tests on the stomach pains. The tests turned up nothing.

“She was under stress, there’s no doubt about it,” Poole said. But after the decision to leave “I saw her physical condition improve precipitously. I saw a lot of relief on her face and her eyes.”

The other motion said if Mellette enters the case, it will only cost more time and money. A November trial is already set on whether a women’s leadership program at Converse College is an acceptable alternative to women at The Citadel.

The motion said the case should not be made a class action because only two women have wanted to get involved.

And it questioned whether Faulkner’s attorneys should represent Mellette or any other women.

It cited recent press statements by Faulkner and her mother “criticizing Faulkner’s former counsel publicly for using Faulkner to achieve their litigation objectives without regard to her educational or emotional needs.”