Women embrace sacred VMI traditions
By Abri Nelson
The class ring for cadets at Virginia Military Institute is bigger than any class ring in America, almost as big as a Super Bowl ring. It has to be, to display in gold the dozens of symbols telling the sacred story of the institute, and of each particular class.
For 150 years, only men were part of the Brotherhood of the Ring. In the highly scripted ritual called Ring Figure each November, the cadets’ dates in formal white gowns and long white gloves placed these monster rings on the right ring finger of their cadet-escorts.
In 2000, female cadets had their male dates place rings on much smaller ring fingers.
On Nov. 17, Katie Bopp will be one of 18 female cadets receiving the vaunted VMI ring. She is also the first female cadet, since the bitter 1996 lawsuit that gave women the right to enter VMI, to be head of the Ring Figure Chairman Committee.
The 20-year-old Air Force brat will wear the same Old Corps White Blouse as the male cadets, but with a white skirt instead of pants. The gigantic ring, costing as much as $2,000 and weighing up to 44 pennyweight, in her case has been downsized to 36 pennyweight to fit her tiny hand. She enthusiastically embraces VMI’s traditions, but also conveys the excitement of someone who once helped plan homecoming dances and was a cheerleader at Rockbridge County High School.
“We would love to wear dresses, but we’re proud to wear the uniform,” Bopp says. Civilian male escorts of female cadets wear white tuxedos with a black tie and cummerbund or vest. If they are in the military, they wear their dress uniform.
Ring Figure is a series of events running from Nov. 16 to Nov. 19, but the crux of the spectacles and social gatherings is the Ring Ball on Friday night. This is when cadets and their dates walk through a giant replica of the ring, dressed head to toe in white, and switch the ring from one hand to the other. Cadets officially receive the ring on Friday afternoon, but they cannot wear it until their date places it on their hand later that night.
After every cadet has received his or her ring, the couples dance to the VMI waltz and then are joined by the cadets’ families on the dance floor. Cadets, and as many dates as can get to VMI two weeks prior to Ring Figure, have taken waltzing lessons to prepare for the night.
As a woman, Bopp says, she feels that she can add a classier touch to the event, especially in terms of decorations and other little things that past chairmen may not have thought about. And as a cadet, she feels that it is still important to maintain the tradition of VMI.
Her committee decided to extend the dancing at the Ring Ball an extra hour and moved the Friday afternoon ring presentation ceremony back to Jackson Memorial Hall, the chapel at VMI that was under construction last year.
Bopp’s being chairman isn’t the only sign that gender relations have mellowed for Ring Figure. In past years, there have been only two or three cadet couples, mostly drawing from older and younger classes at VMI and not from other second classmen. This year, Bopp says, 11 of the 18 female cadets in the class of 2008 are taking male cadets as their dates. Bopp herself is taking her first-class boyfriend, Jason Lacerda.
“It’s amazing to see how the relationships between men and women have improved over the past year,” says Bopp.
Some of the female cadets have chosen to bring their father or brother as an escort, or a friend from home.
Some who are dating within the corps choose to bring a father anyway just to avoid questions. Dating within the corps is frowned on, so those who do are very careful about how they relate to one another around other cadets.
Bopp, who has contracted with the Air Force and hopes to go to medical school, decided to go to VMI because she wanted to face the challenge of being a woman in such a male-dominated environment head on. Women at VMI are held to the same physical standards as the men.
“If you don’t come in ready to go, you’ll find a thousand reasons to leave,” she said. “Traditionally you don’t think a woman could go through that.”
Produced by Washington and Lee journalism students.
Lead supervisor: Prof. Claudette Artwick
Reporting supervisor: Prof. Doug Cumming
Technical supervisor: Michael Todd