Shannon Faulkner

Shannon Faulkner rose to a rap on her barracks door at The Citadel at 6:10 a.m. Sunday and spent her first full day on campus taking personality and writing tests and attending chapel. Federal marshals shadowed her movements, and video cameras monitored the hallway outside her third-floor barracks room. Faulkner is the first female cadet in the history of the 152-year-old publicly funded military college, which fought to keep her out.

"In Glory's Shadow" is a powerful book that, like a hurricane, grows in force as it proceeds. It is ostensibly about Shannon Faulkner's attempt to become the first female student at the all-male Citadel, the old military college in Charleston, S.C. But it soon turns out that Faulkner is almost incidental to the story that Catherine Manegold, who covered the story for the New York Times, develops in all its Southern gothic intensity.

The sound of tradition crumbling echoed across the Deep South on Saturday as Shannon Faulkner took her place among the corps of cadets at The Citadel, an all-male bastion for 152 years. In the wake of death threats, Faulkner, the first female admitted to the state-supported military school, was accompanied by four U.S. marshals as well as her parents as she pulled up to the walled campus about 7:30 a.m.

Shannon Faulkner, who fought a legal battle to open the all-male military academy The Citadel to women, has graduated from a college 200 miles across the state and plans to become a teacher. Faulkner earned a bachelor's degree in secondary education of English this month at Anderson College, one of two schools she attended after dropping out of The Citadel. Faulkner made national headlines when she sued The Citadel in 1993 seeking admission.

A week after winning her two-year fight to gain entrance to The Citadel, Shannon Faulkner on Friday said she was dropping out of the all-male military college, the victim of stress. "I do not think there's any dishonor in leaving," Faulkner told reporters outside The Citadel, the 152-year-old state-funded academy in Charleston, S.C. "I think there's [no] justice in my staying and killing myself just for the political point."

"In Glory's Shadow" is a powerful book that, like a hurricane, grows in force as it proceeds. It is ostensibly about Shannon Faulkner's attempt to become the first female student at the all-male Citadel, the old military college in Charleston, S.C. But it soon turns out that Faulkner is almost incidental to the story that Catherine Manegold, who covered the story for the New York Times, develops in all its Southern gothic intensity.

"The success of Citadel men is no surprise. . .This experience builds character and self-confidence, instills integrity and honor. The Citadel refers to it as developing the 'Whole Man,' that which you will become if you complete the challenge before you . . . a 'Citadel Man.' " --Lt. Gen. Claudius E. Watts III, president, the Citadel, in a message to 1993 freshman * The first question Shannon Faulkner usually gets is: Why?

Redefining women's suffrage: Shannon Faulkner's one week at The Citadel. HUGH GLENN Irvine

The first four women to take the Citadel's oath in the school's 153-year history were sworn in along with 572 men. Wearing gray duty uniforms and black caps, the Class of 2000 marched onto the school's parade grounds for the ceremony, which was attended by parents, school officials and residents. Although the Charleston, S.C., academy was forced by court order to admit Shannon Faulkner last year, she became ill and missed the swearing-in ceremony.

A private women's college voted Thursday to go along with a plan to keep women out of the all-male Citadel, agreeing to sponsor an alternative program for women seeking to become cadets. Converse College trustees approved by voice vote the state's proposal to create a women's leadership program, President Sandra Thomas said. The $10-million program could begin by August, the deadline the courts have set for The Citadel to admit Shannon Faulkner as a cadet or provide her with an alternative.

Re "The Predictable Citadel," editorial, Jan. 14: It is abundantly clear that the anti-military media, including The Times, are willing to tolerate the continued existence of The Citadel only if it becomes a bastion of gender sensitivity. That is not going to happen. War is hell, and The Citadel has the mission of preparing its students for war. That is not quite the same as attending a seminar hosted by Gloria Allred or Anita Hill. At The Citadel, some students can take it. Others can't, and drop out. Some of these dropouts hire lawyers and stage press conferences.

The first four women to take the Citadel's oath in the school's 153-year history were sworn in along with 572 men. Wearing gray duty uniforms and black caps, the Class of 2000 marched onto the school's parade grounds for the ceremony, which was attended by parents, school officials and residents. Although the Charleston, S.C., academy was forced by court order to admit Shannon Faulkner last year, she became ill and missed the swearing-in ceremony.

Redefining women's suffrage: Shannon Faulkner's one week at The Citadel. HUGH GLENN Irvine

I'm writing this on Friday evening, about 24 hours before Mike Tyson's celebrated return to Las Vegas and several hours after Shannon Faulkner's celebrated departure from the Citadel. Not that the two events have anything in common or say anything about America in 1995, but let's juxtapose a few developments from each case . . . * * Tyson, 29, spent three years in prison and returns as something of a hero to millions of people.

Shannon Faulkner has stepped aside, but now her lawyers are trying to assemble new female recruits to storm the walls of The Citadel, South Carolina's all-male military college. Faulkner has been hailed as a heroine by feminist groups for temporarily integrating the school. But the court ruling that opened The Citadel's doors specifically benefited her--it did not require that other women be admitted. The U.S.

I'm writing this on Friday evening, about 24 hours before Mike Tyson's celebrated return to Las Vegas and several hours after Shannon Faulkner's celebrated departure from the Citadel. Not that the two events have anything in common or say anything about America in 1995, but let's juxtapose a few developments from each case . . . * Tyson, 29, spent three years in prison and returns as something of a hero to millions of people.

If Shannon Faulkner wants to be the first woman to march with The Citadel's all-male corps of cadets she should have to look like one, crew cut and all, the college told a judge. Her lawyers, however, said the requirement would be punitive and inconsistent with the way the military treats women. The state-supported military school in South Carolina originally accepted Faulkner but changed its mind when it discovered that she is a woman. U.S. District Judge C.

The Citadel may shave Shannon Faulkner's head when she becomes the first woman to join the school's corps of cadets, a judge ruled Monday. U.S. District Judge C. Weston Houck also ordered Faulkner to stay in a private room in the college's infirmary instead of its barracks. And he rejected her request for a sexual harassment committee to monitor her progress in the corps. Faulkner's attorneys argued that she should not be subjected to the humiliation of having her head shaved.

It was perhaps inevitable that the saga at The Citadel would end this way, with the young woman who shattered more than a century and a half of tradition feeling shattered herself, facing reporters in the gray afternoon to wipe away rain and tears and dreams, not only her own but those of so many others who had been rooting for her. And so it was that 20-year-old Shannon Faulkner took her place beside Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D-Colo.