College Students Women

There may be no more idyllic spot in all of higher education than Middlebury College. Students here boast, with little exaggeration, that they select their rooms based on whether they want to gaze upon the Green Mountains to the east or the Adirondacks in the west. Filled with majestic, Colonial buildings of white marble and pale gray limestone, the campus is quintessentially New England--with the exception of its flashy sports facilities.

Slipping away from Harvard for a week last June, a PhD candidate named Rachel, a tall strawberry blond with a creamy complexion and blue-green eyes, jetted to San Francisco for an unusual tryst. Awaiting her was a wealthy Bay Area couple, desperate for a baby, willing to pay Rachel thousands of dollars to help them realize their dream.

A few weeks ago, the Skull and Dagger gang got together at school, to go over what kind of prank to pull on the younger students. Alaina K. Kipps was in on the plot. Don't worry. She's harmless. A member of the Skull and Dagger has no hidden agenda (or weapon) like a Trench Coat Mafia's, nothing radical up its sleeves. It is said to be the oldest society on USC's campus. More than 80 years old, until the '80s it was for men only.

A paroled rapist was convicted Monday of murder, kidnapping and rape in the deaths of two female college students whose bodies were found two years ago, buried on his rural San Luis Obispo property. Rex A. Krebs, 35, will return to a Monterey County courtroom April 17, when jurors will decide whether they should recommend he be put to death.

The first woman to drop out of Virginia Military Institute's torturous "rat line" left after deciding that the regimented lifestyle and constant mental harassment were not for her, school officials said. The woman joins 13 men in dropping out of this year's freshman class of 460 who arrived on Monday. VMI ended its 158-year-old all-male policy this year with the admission of 30 women. The school refused to identify those who left.

A paroled rapist was convicted Monday of murder, kidnapping and rape in the deaths of two female college students whose bodies were found two years ago, buried on his rural San Luis Obispo property. Rex A. Krebs, 35, will return to a Monterey County courtroom April 17, when jurors will decide whether they should recommend he be put to death.

The Virginia Military Institute's first freshman class to include women started its "rat line" initiation Wednesday, hours after 30 dead rats and a sign reading "Save the Males" were found on campus. The white laboratory rats apparently were left by pranksters from a rival school. At VMI, "rats" is the term for first-year cadets. Coming during the week that women first arrived at the school, the incident visibly disturbed Supt. Josiah Bunting.

When Rebecca Elizabeth Marier tossed her white cap into the air at graduation Saturday, she did it as the first woman at the top of the class in the U.S. Military Academy's 193-year history. That puts her in distinguished company, including the likes of Gen. Douglas MacArthur and Confederate Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard. To make it to the top, Marier led the 987 other cadets in academic, military and physical programs, school spokeswoman Andrea Hamburger said.

Naval Academy officials Tuesday issued a general order intended to stop future incidents of hazing or harassment of female midshipmen. Supt. Virgil Hill Jr. issued the four-part plan, saying he wants to reaffirm the rights of all midshipmen at the 145-year-old institution after charges of hazing raised by a female midshipman who quit. The order states that any upper-class midshipman who violates rules governing physical contact with plebes can be thrown out of the academy.

A woman who used a knife to chase her alleged rapist from a college dormitory won't be evicted from San Francisco State housing for having a weapon, a college official said Wednesday. The decision came just hours before a planned demonstration in support of the unidentified 18-year-old resident of Mary Ward Hall. "Possession of weapons violates housing rules.

Three percent of female college students are victims of rape, attempted rape or sexual assault each school year, according to a study released Friday by the U.S. Justice Department. "You start looking at these numbers and you say to yourself, 'Wow,' in terms of what college women are experiencing," said Bonnie Fisher, an associate professor of criminal justice at the University of Cincinnati. "Hopefully campus administrators will take this issue a little more seriously."

Men far outnumber women at top business schools because these schools don't do enough to reach out to women and they create a less-than-friendly environment for those who do enroll, according to a study released Friday.

Erin Claunch is proof that women can do what men can do--sometimes even better. Three years after she and several other women broke gender barriers at Virginia Military Institute, Claunch has risen to battalion commander, the second-highest student military post. "I just wanted to blend in and be a good cadet," said Claunch, 20, who will lead half of the 1,200-member cadet corps during her senior year this fall. The assimilation of women, who first enrolled at VMI in 1997 after the U.S.

It took 158 years to get women admitted to the Virginia Military Institute but virtually no time at all for a female cadet to advance to a top leadership post. Erin Nicole Claunch of Loudoun County, one of the women who broke VMI's gender barrier in 1997, will become one of the college's two battalion commanders this fall, leading half of the 1,200-member cadet corps during her senior year.

Virginia Military Institute handed diplomas to two women, the first time in the school's 160-year history that females have graduated. Female cadets shouted when Chih-Yuan Ho became the first woman to earn a VMI degree. Later in the ceremony in Lexington, Va., Melissa Kay Graham also graduated to cheers. Ho, 23, and Graham, 21, entered VMI in August 1997 as transfer students along with 28 other women who were freshmen. The U.S.

A few weeks ago, the Skull and Dagger gang got together at school, to go over what kind of prank to pull on the younger students. Alaina K. Kipps was in on the plot. Don't worry. She's harmless. A member of the Skull and Dagger has no hidden agenda (or weapon) like a Trench Coat Mafia's, nothing radical up its sleeves. It is said to be the oldest society on USC's campus. More than 80 years old, until the '80s it was for men only.

The two women who plan to enroll in The Citadel next month will likely be roommates and treated like any other cadets--except for the short haircuts, the chairman of the school's board said Saturday. "We think it's important they have support from each other," Jimmy Jones said. "Roommate support is critical." The board agreed at a private meeting Saturday that it would not require the women to wear the close-cropped haircut that male cadets must wear.

Angela Craig, a sophomore at Irvine Valley College, has won a $5,000 scholarship, presented by Gov. Pete Wilson at this month's Conference for Women. Craig, 21, was one of five recipients out of more than 500 applicants. Criteria included grade-point average and community involvement. Craig won the scholarship in the public-service category.

Anaheim Angel player Jim Edmonds will add $25,000 to the reward already offered for information on the whereabouts of a missing Irvine woman, Edmonds' agent said Thursday. Rachel Newhouse, 20, a student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, disappeared Nov. 12. Her family this week offered $10,000 for information about her. Agent Paul Cohen said that, in addition to Edmonds' contribution, sports agent Dwight Manley will add to the reward fund. Manley could not be reached for comment Thursday night.

A young Irvine woman who attends California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo is missing, the second female student there to vanish in just over two years. Rachel Newhouse, 20, a junior studying nutrition, was last seen late Nov. 12 at a fraternity party at a Mexican restaurant and bar, authorities said.