Virginia Military Institute

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Image:Vmi.jpg

School Name Virginia Military Institute
Established 1839
School type Public University
Address Lexington, VA 24450-0304
Superintendent J.H. Binford Peay III
Enrollment 1,300 undergraduates[1]
Endowment $290 million
Carnegie Classification Baccalaureate Colleges – Liberal Arts
Type four-year college [awards bachelor's of science and arts degrees]
ROTC Programs Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy
Nickname Keydets
Mascot Moe the Kangaroo
Website VMI.edu

The Virginia Military Institute (VMI), located in Lexington, Virginia, is the Nation's oldest state military college. VMI offers cadets a spartan, physically demanding environment combined with strict military discipline. VMI cadets pursue Bachelor's degrees in 14 disciplines in the fields of engineering, science, and liberal arts. For the past five years, VMI has been ranked the #1 public liberal arts college in the United States by U.S. News and World Report. US News also ranked VMI's Engineering program 21st and its Civil Engineering program ninth in the United States among colleges offering up to a Masters degree. In remaining faithful to its founding principles, and unlike any other state military college in the United States, all students at the Virginia Military Institute are military cadets pursuing undergraduate degrees.

VMI is famous for the discipline and loyalty of its Alumni and VMI's $290 million endowment is the largest per-capita endowment of any public college or university in the United States. VMI was called the "West Point of the South" by President Abraham Lincoln and General John J. Pershing.

VMI's Mission Statement:

It is the mission of the Virginia Military Institute to produce educated and honorable men and women, prepared for the varied work of civil life, imbued with love of learning, confident in the functions and attitudes of leadership, possessing a high sense of public service, advocates of the American Democracy and free enterprise system, and ready as citizen-soldiers to defend their country in time of national peril.

Contents

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Early history

On November 11, 1839, the Virginia Military Institute was founded on the site of the Lexington state arsenal, and the first Cadets relieved personnel on duty. Under Major General Francis H. Smith, superintendent, and Colonel Claudius Crozet, president of the Board of Visitors, the corps was imbued with the discipline and the spirit for which it is famous. The first cadet to march a sentinel post was Private John Strange in the early 1800s. Since Private Strange's posting nearly 200 years ago, there have been sentinels posted at VMI 24 hours a day, seven days a week, during every school year.

The Class of 1842 graduated 16 Cadets into the ranks of the first alumni. Living conditions were poor until 1850 when the cornerstone of the new barracks was laid. In 1851 Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson became a member of the faculty and professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy. Under then-Major Stonewall Jackson and Major William Gilham, VMI infantry and artillery units were present at the execution by hanging of John Brown at Charles Town, Virginia (now West Virginia) in 1859.

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Civil War period

The Institute played a valuable part in the training of the Southern armies as well as participating in actual battle. VMI Cadets were called into active military service on 14 different occasions during the American Civil War and many Cadets, under the leadership of General Stonewall Jackson, were sent to Camp Lee, at Richmond, to train recruits. VMI alumni were regarded the best officers of the South and several distinguished themselves in the Union forces as well.

Fifteen graduates rose to the rank of general in the Confederate Army.[2] At the Battle of Chancellorsville, Stonewall Jackson was reported to say, "The Institute will be heard from today," commenting on the leadership provided by VMI alumni during the battle.

On May 15, 1864, all 257 cadets at VMI fought as an independent unit at the Battle of New Market.[3] VMI is the only military college or academy in the nation that holds this distinction and is therefore the only school authorized to "fix bayonets" during parade. General John C. Breckinridge, the commanding southern general, held the cadets in reserve and did not use them until union troops broke through the confederate lines. Upon seeing the tide of battle turning in favor of the union forces, Breckinridge stated, "Put the boys in...and may God forgive me for the order." With that order, history was made and the entire cadet corps from VMI charged into battle. Because of the heroic and unprecedented actions of the VMI cadets, the union troops were defeated and confederate troops under General Breckinridge held the Shenandoah Valley. In the end, VMI lost ten cadets and many more were injured. Today the ten fallen cadets are buried on VMI grounds under Moses Ezekiel's famous statue, "Virginia Mourning Her Dead." (Moses Ezekiel was a VMI graduate and was injured in the Battle of New Market). Every year, VMI honors its fallen heroes during the New Market Day parade and ceremony. During this ceremony, roll is called for the fallen cadets who "Died on the Field of Honor" and wreaths are placed on their graves. World-wide, students at only three military schools have ever fought as a unit in war: École polytechnique in France under Napoleon, Chapultepec in Mexico, and the Virginia Military Institute.

Image:Color Guard 2.jpg The Institute was shelled and burned on June 12, 1864, by Union forces under the command of General David Hunter, as part of the Valley Campaigns of 1864. The destruction was almost complete and the Institute had to temporarily hold classes at the Alms house in Richmond, Virginia. In April 1865, Richmond was evacuated due to the impending fall of Petersburg and the VMI Corps was disbanded.

The Lexington campus reopened for classes on October 17, 1865.[4] It is said that Confederate General Jubal A. Early burned the town of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, in retaliation for the shelling of VMI.

Following the war, Matthew Fontaine Maury, "Pathfinder of the Seas", accepted a teaching position at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, holding the chair of physics. He was a pioneering oceanographer who made important contributions to charting wind and ocean currents.

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World War I and II

During World War II, VMI participated in the War Department's Army Specialized Training Program from 1943 to 1946. The program provided training in engineering and related subjects to enlisted men at colleges across the United States. Over 2,100 ASTP members studied at VMI during the war.

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New Construction

Today, VMI's Post is alive with construction preparing VMI for "Vision 2039." Under this capital campaign, VMI's Alumni and supporters raised over $275 million over the last three years in order to maintain VMI's standing as America's premier state military college. This funding provides new and exciting opportunities for students to participate in "study abroad" programs including joint ventures with Oxford and Cambridge Universities in England and many other universities throughout the world. In addition to these programs, the VMI Barracks is expanding to house 1,500 cadets, all academic buildings are being renovated and modernized, and VMI is spending an additional $200 million to build the VMI Center for Leadership and Ethics. The Center for Leadership and Ethics will be used by VMI cadets, Washington and Lee University students, and other students throughout the country and abroad to advance and develop leadership abilities combined with a focus on integrity and honor to benefit tomorrow's world. The Center will also be home to VMI's Distinguished Speaker Series and Leadership Symposiums, which has featured distinguished leaders such as Ronald Reagan, Colin Powell, Margaret Thatcher, George H. Bush, George W. Bush, and most recently, J.C. Watts, to name only a few.

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Student life

Known as one of the toughest military colleges in the country, both physically and academically, life at VMI is spartan and demanding. In many regards, VMI is one of the most traditional and old-fashioned military colleges. Today, as nearly 200 years ago, cadets at VMI sleep on cots for their entire cadetship. Additionally, telephones, televisions, posters, and civilian clothes are never allowed in cadets' rooms. VMI cadets wear uniforms every day and eat their meals together in a mess hall. In many ways, life at VMI today is little changed from life at VMI in 1839. This similarity in experience and scope is what binds all the alumni of VMI so tightly and what keeps them so supportive of their beloved Institute.

The VMI campus covers 134 acres, 12 of which are designated as a National Historic District. The campus is referred to as the "Post." All cadets are housed on campus in a large five story building, called the "barracks." The Old Barracks, which has been designated a National Historic Landmark, stands on the site of the old arsenal. The new wing of the barracks ("New Barracks") was completed in 1949. The two wings surround two quadrangles connected by a sally port. All rooms open onto porch-like stoops facing one of the quadrangles. The four arched entries into the barracks are named for George Washington, Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, George Marshall and Jonathan Daniels.

Potential students must be between 16 to 22 years of age. They must be unmarried, physically fit for enrollment in the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) and be graduates of an accredited secondary school or have completed an approved homeschool curriculum. New cadets at VMI have an average SAT score of nearly 1200 and an average high school GPA of 3.39.[5] Eligibility is not restricted to Virginia residents, although it is more difficult to gain an appointment as a non-resident as VMI has a goal that no more than 45 percent of cadets come from outside Virginia.[6] VMI has graduated students from across the U.S. and from many other countries. Virginia residents receive a discount in tuition, as is common at most state-sponsored schools. Tuition for the 2005-2006 school year is approximately $15,000 for Virginia residents and $28,000 for all others. These fees can be misleading, because VMI's endowment enables VMI to meet a substantial amount of a cadets's financial need before the cadet needs loans. It is common for in-state cadets to have their last two years at VMI paid for by alumni.

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Ratline

The new cadet, known as a "Rat", walks a prescribed line in barracks while in an exaggerated, painful form of attention known as "straining." The Rat experience, called the Ratline, is intended to instill pride, discipline, brotherhood, and a sense of honor in the students. A Rat faces many physical and mental challenges and must memorize rules, school songs, and facts about the school and its history. The Ratline is among the toughest and most grueling initiation programs in the country. It is best described as a longer version of the Marine Corps boot camp combined with rigorous academics.

After having their heads shaved bald (or cut very short for female cadets who so choose), the Rats undergo their first week in a long year of intense military and physical training. The initial week is a crash course in everything VMI: how to wear every uniform, how to march, how to clean a rifle, etc.

Once the first week is complete, life continues to get tougher as Rats await the arrival of the returning students, the "Old Corps". Each Rat is paired with a first classman (senior) who serves as a mentor for the rest of the first year. This pairing is integral to cadet life at VMI. The first classman is called a "Dyke", reference to an older phrase "to dyke out", or to get into a uniform. This arose from a pair of cadets helping each other get into the full parade dress uniform, which includes white pants or ducks, a full dress coatee, belt and leather cartridge box, a military dress shako, and several large web belts, or "cross dykes", that are extremely difficult to don alone, along with a school-issued M-14 rifle. Cadet officers and noncommissioned officers have the privilege of bearing a sash and sabre, while the Institute's regimental band carries instruments for parades and formal functions.

During the freshman year, Rats continue to undergo training from the most highly skilled cadets at VMI, known as "the Cadre". The Cadre enforces all rules as the Rats live a life of "sweat parties," early morning runs, late night runs, and countless push-ups. It is hoped they will learn to think under pressure and focus on a team approach to solving challenges.

The Ratline experience culminates in a "Breakout" event during the second semester where the Rats are formally welcomed to the VMI community. After break out, rats are officially fourth class students and no longer have to strain in the barracks or eat "square meals" at attention. Many versions of the Break Out ceremony have been conducted. In the 1950s, Rats from each company would be packed into a corner room in the barracks and brawl their way out through the upperclassmen. From the late 1960s through the early 1980s, the Rats had to fight their way up to the fourth level of the barracks through three other classes of cadets determined not to let them get to the top. The stoops would often be slick with motor oil, grease or water. A more recent version had the Rats climbing a muddy hill on their stomachs while the upper classes dragged them back down. Most recently, in the Class of 2009, Rats were awoken to machine guns firing blanks in the courtyards of barracks to day long "sweat parties" given by every class in barracks, then onto rigorous excersises and runs with 30 pound sandbags.

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Honor System

VMI is known for its strict Honor System. Under the VMI Honor Code, "a cadet does not lie, cheat, steal, nor tolerate those who do." [7] There is only one punishment for breaking the Honor Code: immediate expulsion in the form of a "Drumming Out" ceremony. During a Drumming Out, cadets are awakened in barracks late in the night by the sound of a long snare drum roll followed by a repeated bass drum beat. They then listen in the darkness to an announcement from the president of the Honor Court that a cadet has "placed personal gain above personal honor, and has left the Institute in shame. The name of the cadet is never to be mentioned inside the four walls of VMI again."[8]

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Minority and female students

Of the 1,251 students enrolled in 2005, 66 were African-American, 39 were Asian, 34 were Hispanic and 71 were women.

The first Jewish cadet, Moses Jacob Ezekiel, graduated in 1866. While at VMI, Ezekiel fought with the VMI cadets at the Battle of New Market. He became a sculptor and several of his works are on display throughout the world and some are on post at VMI.

One of the first Asian cadets was Li-Jen Sun, the Chinese National Revolutionary Army general, who graduated in 1927.

The first black cadets were admitted in 1968. The first black regimental commander was Derren McDew, class of 1982. McDew is currently a U.S. Air Force brigadier general and the wing commander at Pope AFB.

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Admission of women

VMI was the last state military college to admit women. VMI excluded women from the Corps of Cadets until 1997. In 1990, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a discrimination lawsuit against VMI for its all-male admissions policy.

While the court challenge was pending, a state-sponsored Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership (VWIL) was opened at Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Virginia, as a parallel program for women. The VWIL continues today at Mary Baldwin, even after VMI's admission of women.

After VMI won its case in U.S. District Court, the case went through several appeals until June 26 1996 when the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 7-1 decision in United States v. Virginia, found that it was illegal for a school supported by public funds to exclude women. (Justice Clarence Thomas did not vote because his son was attending VMI.) On September 21 1996, the VMI Board of Visitors voted 8-7 to admit women after the Assistant Secretary of Defense Frederick F.Y. Pang threatened to remove all ROTC programs at the Institute if VMI's alumni bought and privatized the school.

In August 1997, VMI enrolled its first female cadets, 31 women who would be held to the same strict physical courses and technical training as the male cadets. Unlike any other state military college or academy, VMI has not adopted overt "gender-normed" physical training standards. Female rats and male rats adhere to the same physical fitness standards. VMI cadets believe firmly in "one corps, one standard." Female "Rats" are required to maintain a short haircut of approximately four inches or less. Female cadets are also forbidden to wear makeup or jewelry as Rats.

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Military service

The Virginia Military Institute supports ROTC divisions of all four U.S. military branches.[9] While four years of ROTC is a requirement for all cadets, accepting a commission in the armed forces is optional. The VMI Board of Visitors has set a goal of having 70 percent of VMI cadets take a commission by 2015. The VMI class of 2005 achieved a 50 percent commissioning rate.

VMI has graduated 265 General and Flag Officers, more than any other state military college in the United States.[10] Six graduates have received the Medal of Honor, the highest award of the U.S. military.[11]

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Athletics

VMI fields 15 teams on the NCAA Division I-A (for football) and I (for other sports) levels. Varsity sports include baseball, basketball, men's and women's cross-country, football, lacrosse, men's and women's rifle, men and women's soccer, swimming, men's and women's indoor and outdoor track, and wrestling. VMI is a member of the Big South, the Southern (for wrestling), and the Metro Atlantic Athletic (for men's lacrosse) conferences.

Perhaps the most famous athletic story in VMI history was the two-year run of the 1976 and 1977 basketball teams. The 1976 squad advanced within one game of the Final Four before bowing to undefeated Rutgers in the East Regional Final, and in 1977 VMI finished with 26 wins and just four losses, still a school record, and reached the "Sweet 16" round of the NCAA tournament.

VMI has the smallest enrollment among NCAA Division I football schools. Approximately one-third of the Corps of Cadets plays on at least one of VMI's intercollegiate athletic teams, making it one of the most active athletic programs in the country. Of the VMI athletes who complete their eligibility, 92 percent receive their VMI diplomas. The VMI team name is the Keydets, possibly a Southern style slang for the word "cadets".

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Notable graduates

Image:Graduate looking at his diploma.jpg VMI's graduates include a Secretary of State, Nobel Prize winners, Pulitzer Prize winners, Rhodes Scholars, U.S. Senators and Representatives, College and University Presidents, and many CEOs. Some examples:

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VMI trivia

  • James A. Walker was expelled in 1852 just before his graduation for "disobedience" in Stonewall Jackson's classroom. Cadet Walker had challenged Jackson to a duel over a perceived insult. VMI granted him an honorary degree in 1872 in recognition of his Civil War service, where he rose to the rank of brigadier general.[12]
  • Although VMI prohibited cadet membership in fraternal organizations in 1885, VMI cadets were instrumental in starting several fraternities.
    • Alpha Tau Omega fraternity was founded by VMI cadets at Richmond, Virginia on September 11, 1865 while the school was closed for reconstruction. After the re-opening, Kappa Sigma Kappa fraternity was founded by cadets on September 28, 1867, and Sigma Nu fraternity was founded by cadets on January 1, 1869.[13]
    • VMI cadets formed the second chapter of the Kappa Alpha Order fraternity. In a special arrangement, some cadets may be nominated by Kappa Alpha alumni and inducted into the fraternity following graduation, becoming part of Kappa Alpha Order's Beta Commission (a commission as opposed to an active chapter). This usually occurs on graduation day, and the newly-initiated VMI alumni are accepted as full brothers of the fraternity.
  • The New Mexico Military Institute is the nation's oldest state-supported co-educational college preparatory military high school and junior college, founded in 1891 in Roswell, New Mexico. It was inspired by VMI.
  • The Cadet, the institute's student newspaper, has been run independently by cadets since 1907.
  • Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller resigned from VMI after his freshman year to enlist as a Private in the United States Marine Corps in August 1918. He retired as a Lieutenant General as the most decorated Marine in U.S. history.
  • George Patton, like his father and grandfather who were both VMI graduates and later general officers, studied at VMI for one year before attending West Point.
  • Richard E. Byrd, the U.S. Navy rear admiral and polar explorer, studied at VMI for two years, from 1904 to 1906.[14]
  • Ronald Reagan starred in the film, "Brother Rat", which was filmed at VMI. Originally a Broadway hit, the play was written by John Monks Jr. and Fred F. Finklehoffe, both 1932 graduates of VMI.[15]
  • VMI class rings are the largest class rings in the world and weigh more than Super Bowl rings.
    • Actor Dabney Coleman wears a VMI class ring but was expelled during his second class year for hazing an underclassman.
    • The Honorable Steve McAuliffe, a federal judge in Florida, class of 1971, was the husband of Christa McAuliffe, the teacher who died in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. She had his VMI ring with her on the shuttle. All VMI graduates are given a new ring if their original is ever lost or stolen.
  • Matthew Fontaine Maury, the Pathfinder of the Seas, was an instructor at VMI.
  • John Mercer Brooke, inventor of the Brooke Rifled Gun and worked on building the CSS Virginia ironclad. The Maury-Brooke Hall at VMI is named after him.
  • Major General John A. Lejeune, 13th Commandant of the Marine Corps, was Superintendent of VMI from 1929 to 1937.
  • Southern Military Institute is an all-male military college proposed by a VMI graduate to protest the 1997 court decision allowing women to enroll.
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References

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External links

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