The Citadel is a military college, but not one of the Service Academies operated by the US government. Military service is not a requirement, though about 1/3 of graduates join the military. It's just another state college, though with a military training focus. At the time she enrolled her dad wasn't the commandant, or even on the faculty- he came in halfway through her sophomore year. At the time she enrolled, it was also all male, and even today only about 20% of the student body is female.
Hate Nancy Mace all you like - and there's plenty about her to hate- but I personally have to respect her role in desegregating the Citadel (for women), even if Shannon Faulkner laid the groundwork.
If by laying the groundwork you mean she had to fight a legal battle to get enrolled and after her legal battle forced them to let her enroll, that Nancy Mace did nothing to desegregate a place that was already desegregated? Then sure.
If by "already desegregated" you mean there were ZERO women enrolled at the Citadel because Shannon Faulkner, the woman who's legal battle forced them to let her enroll, dropped out after her first week, then sure.
I was in college in South Carolina when all this was going on. I read the papers, and the letters to the editor, and there were a LOT of stories and letters to the editor. The levels of hate directed at Shannon Faulkner were absolutely insane, and I say that based only on what I read that people were willing to sign their names to. When Faulkner dropped out these people were ecstatic, gloating, overjoyed that they had forced her out.
What Nancy Mace did was enroll the following year. I'm sure she had it a little bit easier. People had another year to get used to the idea. She had female classmates who enrolled when she did, to commiserate with (though half of them dropped out), so the hate wasn't focused all on one person. The school itself made adjustments so things would go more smoothly. But that hate did not go away. And she was the first to graduate.
You can say Shannon Faulkner's role was more important, and I'll agree with you. You can despise Nancy Mace, and I'll agree with you. But she was one of the first two women to last a full year at the Citadel, and the first woman to graduate from a state supported school that, previously, half the state couldn't attend...and I don't think that's nothing.
Faulkner said that what precipitated her leaving so abruptly was a threat to kill her parents by a person present when she entered.[24] Her parents' home was vandalized.[7]
Yeah, she had it just a little bit easier, no one was threatening to murder her father especially when he took over at the head of the college.
She had an immense amount of protection due to who her father was even before he took over the college, because when they vandalised Shannon's parents home they didn't care who they were and when they made threats they didn't care who she or her family were. With Mace they did.
And as we all know, once the first person gets it, they’re have defeated discrimination forever and everyone who follows in their footsteps has an easy time.
didn't say that, but she wasn't having her home vandalised during her court fight to get admitted nor having her parents lives threatened if she didn't quit.
Also students are less intent on beating you up or showing you a lesson when her dad is the guy in charge of the college and can expel you easily.
There are levels to things, she was at a 2 or 3/10 while the person who was actually first to attend there was at a 13/10.
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u/Fan_of_Clio 2d ago
Just another Nepo baby. Went to a military academy, where her dad was in charge, for college, but didn't join any armed service after graduation.
All talk, no follow through