There is an obvious split at the Virginia Military Institute between NCAA athletes and non-athletes. The situation is causing a major rift in the corps of cadets. Years of military tradition cause confliction with games, practices, road trips, and team lifts. These have, in turn, contributed to the problem at hand. Division of the corps of cadets effects the entirety of the institute and the morale in general. Students, faculty, staff, and even alumni are all witnesses to this problem. More combined activities, events, and further integration of the two groups could potentially lead to harmony among the corps. Jack Meyers, a fourth classmen (rat) at VMI, and a member of the men’s lacrosse team, disagrees. Meyers believes that the miscommunication between schedules and the way the Institute operates will always create animosity among NCAA athletes and non-athletes. Constant disagreement between the two sides will continue to increase if a solution is not found. The divide between NCAA athletes and non-athletes will always be present at VMI for many reasons. However, there is one over looming aspect, the scars of the ratline and the misleading information upperclassmen place on rats during the ratline.  

This problem is deeply rooted within the system at VMI. It starts at the top with leadership within the Institute. Commonly referred to as “permits,” by the rest of the corps, athletes are found to be ostracized often. Athletes are more commonly found to be expelled from the school, marching penalty tours, and facing punishment from the General Committee. Cadre, who are supposed to educate the new cadets (rats), are supposed to be the model cadets. The cadre engrain into the minds of non-athletes that their brother rats are not struggling the way they are.  

The ratline at VMI is a “a six-month tribulation that tests the limits of physical, emotional and mental endurance of every new incoming cadet.” The rigors of the ratline have caused enrolled students year after year to drop out. Finding time to manage schoolwork, the ratline, and the physical fitness is no easy task. Members of athletic teams at VMI, sometimes miss the grueling tasks of the ratline. Athletes miss military duties to attend practices, games, lifts, and meetings. When the non-athlete rats see their brother rats “missing out” this causes a sense of hatred and jealousy, which ultimately scar them and feed into the problem.  

Regimental staff captain Dane Hamilton believes the problem is a combination of several factors. Hamilton, a non-athlete senior at VMI credits the recruitment process, the culture of athletes, and the culture of the military duties required. Recruits are not always told the truths of the ratline and what it consists of. Prospective athletes are told time and time again that they will “get out,” of a lot of the ratline. This is in part true, but not fully. Athletes are sometimes also entitled, when they simply came here for athletics, the school is a military college. Naturally the cadets who are inclined to the military and the cadets who are not (athletes) butt heads.  

A member of the VMI Men’s Track and Field team, Jeremiah Wilks describes that participating in a division 1 sport is “more of a job, not a hobby at this level, every-day you have to show up to ready to go, because not only is your spot on the line but your scholarship as well.”  Wilks believes that non athletes think athletes are getting out of the ratline, but at the end of the day they will never understand how hard it is to maintain grades, athletics, and the ratline.  

Resolving this matter will improve the Institute and the corps. Constant resentment of one another will no longer be present and disagreements will be less often. Finding a potential solution for this dilemma will be a hard thing to do. Achieving peace among the corps when the problem is as big as it is, is not easy. One solution could be integrating the two groups of students more. Including athletes into more ratline activities, more military duties, and some of the other events of VMI. Letting this happen could lead to a better understanding of what non-athletes go through as well. It is a two-way street at the end of the day, there are many entitled athletes at VMI who think they are simply better just because they are athletes. Another possible solution for this problem would be switching schedules for a week or even a day. Non-athletes will never comprehend what goes behind being a division-1 athlete unless they are roommates with one or experience it. Athletes have considerably less time to complete schoolwork all while maintaining athletic priorities as well. These potential solutions will not have a lasting effect on the issue. Personally, I think the issue will never be resolved. The scars and memories the non-athletes get from the ratline, instilled by their cadre, and a sense of jealousy and envy will always cause a divide to be present.  

Overall, VMI is a tough place. The Institute is a tough place academically, physically, and mentally. It really is not for everyone. Being an athlete at the school only makes the task twice as hard. Finding the time management for all your schoolwork is not an easy challenge.  

The divide between athletes and non-athletes is arguably one of the greatest issues at the school. There is a tension amongst the corps when it comes to athletes. Watching athletes repeatedly miss out on military duty, getting privileges other cadets do not have, angers some. Trying to solve this dispute is one of the key goals of the regimental staff and many cadets who hold leadership roles at the Institute. But the constant grief athletes receive for simply doing their duty as an athlete is too much to overcome. Athletes are looked down upon at the Institute when they should be appreciated for all their hard work. Non-athletes and athletes will never see eye to eye on this situation, simply because of the difference of their schedules. The rift stems from the ratline and some can never look past a few entitled athletes.