Collegiate Times

Virginia Military Institute and the Citadel, once all-male schools, have become co-ed after legal action and the influence of state funding.

All-male military institutes were a tradition in the South for years and some feel the values on which such schools were established have been diluted by the admittance of women.

One particular group of people says it feels betrayed and marginalized by the policy changes allowing women to enroll in all-male military institutes in the South. This group, led by VMI graduates, has interests in buying land in Shelbyville, Tenn. in hopes of reviving all-male military schools by establishing The Southern Military Institute.

The group plans to raise more than $1.5 million dollars in the next 18 months to establish the institute and draw upon virtues and ideals associated with Robert E. Lee.

In the opposite corner is the Southern Poverty Law Center identifying the group and potential institution as exclusive and potentially racist.

The SMI supporters have answered both allegations by stating minority enrollment will be encouraged and the all-male environment is essential to the bonding needed at a military institute.

The freedoms this country extends to its citizenry should not fail to protect the opinions and preferred education of those who are invested in the establishment of SMI. Unlike VMI or the Citadel, SMI would be funded privately.

The private nature of the school should further establish the institution?s right to be founded upon the values the investors believe are necessary for educating their sons. The courts cannot fail to protect the freedom to express ideas and to assemble them, regardless of the dissenting opinions of others.

Though its rights should be upheld, the school should be vigilant of the environment of learning it promotes.

It should be careful not to allow its beliefs to be misinterpreted by the students as a form of gender bias. It should make a comfortable environment for minority applicants. It should understand the possible negatives of an all-male environment when educating students who will eventually work in the real world with both women and men.

In all, the group should establish a school based on their beliefs to benefit society ? not create negativity and graduates who are unable to handle an environment that includes women.