Two Female Cadets to Quit Citadel

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Two female Citadel cadets who said they endured freshman hazing that included having their clothes set afire announced Sunday that they will not return to the military college.

“The school’s promises to me and my family that knob life would be rough but safe were critical to me,” Jeanie Mentavlos of Charlotte, N.C., said in a statement released by her attorney. “Because The Citadel broke its promise, I cannot return.” Freshman cadets are referred to as knobs because of their close-cropped hair.

While a federal judge had offered to take steps to ensure the women’s safety, “it is apparent to me . . . that while I might be physically safe on campus, I would not be welcome,” Kim Messer of Clover, S.C., said in a similar statement.

The FBI and state police are investigating allegations that male cadets, among other things, set the clothes of the women on fire, sexually harassed them and put cleanser in their mouths.

Two other female cadets who enrolled last summer, and who have not made any hazing allegations, returned to campus.

The women are among the first four admitted to the college after the school dropped its all-male admissions policy, following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that a similar all-male policy at Virginia Military Institute was unconstitutional.