Dating at West Point

Punishment: vile abuse

"West Point offers an example to the rest of the country. We're teaching young men how to work with young women as equals, and with women as their superiors and subordinates." --Lieut. General Andrew Goodpaster

With less than complete success, however, as General Goodpaster learned to his chagrin just two weeks after making that statement. The silver-haired, 35-year veteran of the Army, who came out of retirement in 1977 to become West Point's highly regarded superintendent a year after the cheating scandal that resulted in the expulsion of 152 cadets, was summoned to Washington last week for a grilling by Army brass about a second scandal. This one involved an incident in which a squeamish woman cadet was forced by male classmates to bite off the head of a live chicken as punishment for too conspicuously dating a male cadet, who in turn was subjected to verbal abuse by his fellow students. One of them remarked loudly: "If I had a woman leader in combat and she proved incompetent, I'd shoot her in the back."

The harassment, which took place at a training camp last summer, came to light in a report to Goodpaster after a two-month investigation by the Academy's inspector general. He found that in another case, a cadet was forced by male classmates to strip; then he was tied up and his genitals were sprayed with shaving cream. Some hazers dressed up in mock Ku Klux Klan robes and hoods fashioned out of bed sheets. Academy authorities denied that the cadets were being racist, and in fact at least one black cadet donned a K.K.K. costume. Said Goodpaster: "These aren't bad cadets, but they got carried away."

But while hazing is an ancient West Point tradition,* the problem of fitting women into the corps of cadets is new. It was one of the most important tasks that faced Goodpaster when he became superintendent. A year earlier, the Academy had admitted its first female cadets (now 334, out of a total corps of 4,338).

One immediate problem was how to regulate dating. West Point decided to permit it, but only under Victorian restrictions. The Academy prohibits "P.D.A.s" public displays of affection), such as holding hands or kissing. One exception is formal dances, where the women change from their uniforms into regulation floor-length gowns, and some discreet touching goes on. Despite the best efforts of military misogynists, romance nonetheless has triumphed. TIME Reporter-Researcher Barbara Dolan, who has been interviewing cadets at West Point, reports that about half of the 62 women who expect to graduate next May plan to marry male graduates of the Academy, even though the Army makes no promises about whether they will be sent to the same duty stations or to ones on opposite sides of the globe. Still, women in general have had a hard time in adjusting to West Point; of the 119 who entered as plebes in 1976, 57 have dropped out.

The clash between military regulations and human nature has produced inevitable problems. An upper-class male was suspended for two years recently by the cadet honor committee on charges of telling a female cadet that he would like to know her better, then denying to his company executive officer that he had made the statement, which he wrongly thought violated a regulation against "fraternizing" with a plebe. His denial of the incident broke the honor code. If he decides to return to West Point, some cadets say that he will be "silenced," meaning that classmates will not speak to him.

That kind of incident points to a major headache that Goodpaster has been unable to solve: male cadets enforce an informal dating code even stricter than the official rules. Many seem to feel that the mere presence of women is an offense against the military's macho spirit; in addition, some cadets seem to be frustrated at not being able to get dates of their own.

Sums up Jim Henderson, who is steadily dating fellow Cadet Debbie Widick: "A few of the guys are jealous."

Male students are quick to troop past the open door of a woman's room when a man is visiting (West Point policy requires an open door on such occasions).

Says Cadet Denise Dawson, in her fourth year at the Point: "As soon as a guy is in the room it's like a little alarm sounds, and everybody has to walk past the door."

In a similar spirit, male cadets have formulated an unwritten rule prohibiting serious dating by cadets in the same basic unit, the company, which numbers about 100. The cadets are taught that each company is supposed to function as a whole, just as it would under combat conditions. This was the rule that was violated by the female cadet who was forced to bite off a chicken's head. She and her boyfriend, the son and daughter of military officers, had dated as plebes, and when they wound up by chance in the same company at summer camp, they began going off alone as often as possible.

Because of the severe harassment from other cadets, both resigned from the corps at the end of the summer camp and are now enrolled at a private college; the young man, however, is still determined on an Army career. There the matter rested, until the inspector general began his investigation, prompted by a complaint from the male cadet.

Goodpaster is determined to end any remaining prejudice against women. Says he: "Revised attitudes have to come. Anyone who won't accept women at West Point shouldn't be here."

*Douglas MacArthur told a congressional investigating committee in 1901 that while being hazed as a cadet at West Point, he was forced to do deep-knee bends over broken glass until he fainted.

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