Racial Slurs At VMI 'Common Experience' Among Cadets: Report

VIRGINIA — Racial slurs have been a “common experience” among cadets at Virginia Military Institute, according to an interim report conducted by an independent law firm.

The interim report, published by Barnes & Thornburg on March 8, details the climate that current and former cadets experienced at VMI, a public college in Lexington. The full report is expected to be released by June 1.

Investigators interviewed current cadets and cadets that have graduated within the past 25 years and found that it “was and is” a common experience to hear racial slurs among cadets, including the n-word.

Officials with VMI and VMI Alumni Associations were not permitted to be present during the investigating team's interviews with current cadets or VMI alumni. The current cadet population at VMI has been the most reluctant to speak with investigators, according to the report. As of March 5, its investigators have interviewed only five cadets out of 12 who have agreed to talk.

As of March 1, the investigators had interviewed 46 alumni. “VMI has a proud and extremely loyal alumni base,” the report said. “Even those alumni who criticized certain elements of the VMI experience often expressed their love of and appreciation for VMI and its traditions.”

Barnes & Thornburg is being paid $1 million to conduct the state-ordered probe, according to The Washington Post.

The law firm also distributed an online survey about the racial climate on VMI's campus to cadets, faculty, administrators and graduates. By last week, 661 people had completed the survey, which was sent to more than 1,600 cadets and 700 VMI employees, the Post reported.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, a 1981 graduate of VMI, addressed the interim report Tuesday afternoon at a news conference in Richmond.

"I think a lot of the findings, while they're preliminary, they are very disturbing and the investigation needs to continue, it needs to continue unencumbered, and I urge the folks at VMI to cooperate and allow the firm that we retained to do an open and independent investigation," Northam said.

Founded in 1839, cadets from the state-funded college fought in the Battle of New Market during the U.S. Civil War, contributing to the Confederate victory on May 15, 1864. Each year, cadets march from the school in Lexington to New Market, honoring the school's role in helping the Confederacy win the battle.

In 1996, after defying a Supreme Court order for three months, VMI's governing board narrowly voted to admit women to the public school.