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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 26, 1992)
Page 10 The Battalion Monday, October M Corps Continued from Page 1 another senior male cadet who re quested anonymity. He will be called Tom. "We were in the dark," Tom said. "We heard everything — like the Corps is going to be dis banded. This guy beat up this girl at Parsons Mounted Cavalry and that's it. It's all over." With the confusion and lack of information, cadets said the ru mors of disbanding the Corps were unavoidable and predomi nant on the Quadrangle. "There was a rumor mill all over the place," another fifth-year senior who completed four years in the Corps and requested anonymity said. He will be called Gary. "Everybody was saying, 'This needs to quit. If anyone screws up now, we're history.'" Adin Pfeuffer, public affairs of ficer for the Corps, said cadet leaders were well-informed, but cadets at the bottom of the chain of command were not. "When you get down to fresh men and sophomores, a lot of times they don't know what's go ing on in the big picture of the Corps anyway," Pfeuffer said. "That's just the structure of the Corps. It's hard to get every piece of information (to them)." Maj. Gen. Thomas Darling, Corps commandant, said the ap propriate leaders of the Corps were adequately informed, and that many aspects could not be discussed with every cadet be cause they were not public infor mation. "Last year was very misunder stood," he said. "We had two or three cases where we had real sex ual harassment — where you os tracize someone. Physical kinds of things. After those couple of incidents, I don't think you could find many problems in terms of sexual harassment." Maj. Rebecca Ray, executive as sistant to the commandant, was added to the commandant's staff in October 1991. One of her first priorities was assessing the morale and progress of female cadets. "I really didn't have many complaints (about harassment)," Ray said. "Mostly, the women were angry at the ones who were making the fuss: 'Why don't peo ple leave us alone?' I think they felt that more harm was done in some cases by making an issue of it." Despite the controversy, Pfeuf fer said he had faith that the Corps would remain intact, but he believed the presence of the fact finding panel contributed to the rumors. "It (the panel) was like a big mystique," he said. "What exactly is going to happen? I never felt like ihe Corps was going to be dis banded, but I knew there would be some changes." Some cadets said the length of the panel's investigation was also part of the problem. They compared the seven- month investigation to a recent hearing that involved an A&M fraternity accused of racism, cadets pointed out that the ac cused fraternity received a verdict and sanctions within a week. Gary said the fact-finding pan el may have done more harm than good with the 'outdated informa tion.' "(The investigation) dragged on so long that people (cadets) be came apathetic," Gary said. "By the time (the report) came out, it was ancient history. It needed to come out so people would have it fresh on their mind — this is what happened, and this is what we're doing." But Dr. Kenneth Dirks, co-chair of the panel, said the seven months were necessary for a com plete overview and gave the Corps time to make positive changes. The panel did release a preliminary report November 17, 1991 that stated there were harass ment problems within the Corps. "I think we lost a lot more neg ative publicity than we might have had in the intervening time," Dirks said. "It was necessary for the Corps to have an opportunity to examine itself and see what measures they needed to take care of their problem." Darling said the fact-finding panel was helpful as he pursued new policies to avoid harassment. "It (the panel) fulfilled a useful urpose. They did come up with elpful recommendations — not that I agreed with everything," he said. The fact-finding panel reported that women were ostracized, abused verbally and physically, denied respect and excluded from certain groups. The panel also found that male cadets followed discriminatory at titudes. Sexual harassment was not handled confidentially and some cadets expressed a "blame the victim" attitude. Even now, there is disagree ment on how far harassment ex tended in the Corps. Some cadets believe the contro versy resulted from the actions of "a few bad apples," and they are DARRIN HlLl/The Battalion From left to right, John Talley, Federico Lagrange, Heather Young and Kristy Davis support the Aggies at the Baylor game Saturday. 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Gary said harassment a new thing in the Corps la "The problem (harass] has been there for a longt said. "It wasn't really si to me." Gary said when theiss!t first brought up in embarrassing for moslti and they took the accusal® riously and tried to keep: profile" to make certaintfe nothing wrong. "We're trying to repits better image," Gary said majority wasn't outtola women. If we did it, it was joking around /ol. *e: for th "T attenc lating T won't say it (harassa happened daily becais(™ w didn't," he said. "It'slien on this campus. It's there,ls| not open. They (cadets)jus! pened to do somethint weren't thinking about." The fact-finding panei*^"^ eluded that a majorihiolai L e a did not participate in harassa Kahn However, the panel did61"^ - sexual harassment was‘m centlv, widely practiced') the Corps, and there were lems "pervasive enough tale major concern." Again, not all cadetsat with that assessment. "I really don't agree(rt panel's findings)," Pfeuffer! " (Harassment) is not fag the Corps. There's goiiiEi your small incidents,ar: common in every organiaiim Dirks said the fact that organizations are having lems with harassment does lessen the significanceollu ment in the Corps. " The fact that somebodr has the same problem Idoj me no great comfort," Dirks "If 1 have a problem, I net deal with it. I feel the same about our Corps of Cadets anything else." "But it's changing,"Gan 1 "They're changing attitudes, just procedures." Even though the pai tion shed a negative lightoj Corps , Mobley said, it isMd the Corps change for tk " In some ways it isoM the Corps was tainted,’! said. "It's u nfair the fctsi was tainted by some. Onlhet er hand, it's progress. Sometii it takes a pretty dramaticsi tion for a dramati cur Eij ere dan I an in: light Mr fund: dents grant: Fellov descri Th facilit she sa In pectec perie when "V\ Fellov natioi said / the p presti of the G cl Iramatic changed Tuesday: Part II-0* nanci ing Times in the Corps Facts Continued from Pagel DE resign eral lv day, ( mand ^ larges Ste tenurt 11 me: Pu unide said h becau: ly in < tating "Ic tontir umor under forts c make :ient, A s |ohn board By and five juniors were subject!! disciplinary hearings. Some* exonerated, others were give 1 bal or written reprimands. • January 27, 1992-Daii nounced several initiatives^ ing: * Punitive actions . cadets proved guilty of harass'* during the fall semester. * Restructuring of the Ps>® Jp" 1 ' Mounted Cavalry unit F * Addition of a femaj Force officer, Maj. Rebecca^ f$ ,nee the Corps commandant'ss!a ? BS |nce ' * Placing of ROtC staff W den bers in dormitory areas Jpict ' * Improving commurvcyjj joined to emphasize Corps and iff' policies * Revising training ard^ tion programs addressing^ positive leadership, manage' 1 skills and non-discrimination. • April 30, 1992-Fact-Wo: :J released final report Amo?; findings were: * Sexual harassment** dent within the Corps * Many women in that' had experienced verbals- physical abuse, lack of resp#' elusion from groups, and osr * Male freshmen cades ed to adopt the discriminaioi tudes of upperclassmen * Reports of sexual ment had not been treated :: dentially * A "blame the victim’ led to a denial of incidents • April 30, 1992 - Mobley: plan - as developed by Mag Darling, it is based on the-_ fact-finding committee. Abe-' .chan plan: 1 * Cadets are required fc^ zero tolerance policy regard# ual harassment Cadets hav^ signing the policy since FaW '92. * Increased staff supe' 1 - around the quadrangle. * Emphasized recr#i women and minorities Corps. *’ Established leaders?-: ing programs with curriculu' addresses values, ethics a?: man relations. * Establishment of a feu'- son advisory council which*'’ port directly to Mobley's 1 * Established an 8-.. son Commandant’s Advisor, • :> pr ro °' e cil to consult with the comma* dot al ing tl aown, said, ritual; or me mit, ire dy _)e eli J irospr that." Uni foemb mistic drogra hangi addre