At the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), the corps of cadets is made up of four different classes. Instead of a usual class ranking, first-year student, sophomore, junior, and senior, VMI separates classes from rats (freshman) to first-year students. However, what divides the corps is not the class statues but the status that differentiates athletes from non-athletes. There is an obvious split at the Virginia Military Institute between NCAA athletes and the non-athletes. Military obligations at the school such as uniform inspections, meal formations, marching in parades, and ROTC physical training have been present at the institute for decades. Adding this to the demand of being an athlete means practices, team lifts, games, and away trips all while still having to adhere to the rigors of VMI. These military requirements and traditions can interfere with the schedule of a student athlete at VMI. Athletes, when in season or out of season, tend to miss these military requirements due to athletic obligations. Non-athletes believe the athletes are “skipping out,” or are privileged when this occurs. When the athletes are participating in athletic duties.  

Division amongst the corps of cadets affects the entirety of the Institute and the tension between the two groups. Students, faculty, staff, and alumni are all witnesses to this split between the athletes and non-athletes. There are even feelings of hatred and jealousy from some of the non-athletes towards athletes. The issue is a combination of many small factors, but the main source of problem is deeply rooted within the system at VMI, the ratline.  

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.” (et.al, 1997) The harsh reality of the ratline is hazing, plain and simple. Finding time to manage schoolwork, the ratline, and physical fitness is no easy task for athletes and non-athletes. The difficulty of balancing academics, military duty, and the ratline have caused enrolled students year after year to drop out from VMI. Athlete newcomers at VMI, more often than their non-athlete brother rats (term for their fellow classmates at VMI) do not participate in as many ratline activities. Athletes miss ratline activities as well as military duties to attend practices, games, lifts, and meetings. Ratline activities can include sweat parties, rifle drill, uniform bingo, stoop-racing, and cadre time. When non-athlete rats see their brother rats “missing out” this causes a sense of jealousy and envy. These memories from the ratline scar them and feed into the problem.  

Leadership at the institute plays a significant role in the situation. Athletes who are referred to as “permits,” by the rest of the corps are ostracized simply for doing their due diligence as an athlete. The term “permits,” is a reference to what allows them to miss the ratline activities and military duties. Athletes are found to be expelled from the school, marching penalty tours, and facing punishment from the General Committee more frequently than the regular VMI cadet. (Shapira, 2021) Cadre, who contribute heavily to the problem, are upper class students’ members of the corps, who are seen as the model cadets, are selected to educate the rats on how to be a VMI cadet. But rather than try to fix the tension between athletes and non-athletes, cadre members engrain into the minds of non-athletes that their brother rat athletes are not struggling the way they are. When the cadre does this, the narrative that athletes are missing out while they are suffering only furthers the divide.  

A combination of more joint events between the two groups while creating changes to the traditional VMI ratline could solve this situation. One of the issues that keeps the division growing is how little athletes and non-athletes interact. Integrating more events that allow athletes to bond with their non-athlete brother rats can create a greater understanding of both sides of the street.  

Regardless, the ratline will have to be altered to solve this problem. The scars and memories the non-athletes get from the ratline, instilled by their cadre, and a sense of jealousy and envy will cause a divide to be present. Instead of a long six-month grueling process where athletes miss most activities. Creating a system where all rats can participate equally could resolve this issue at VMI. Modeling a system after one of the service academies such as the Naval Academy, West Point, or Air Force Academy. These schools make their first-year’s report during the summer where they endure similar tribulations to VMI’s ratline, but only until school starts, where the ratline normally ends around February. If the new cadets attended school without worrying about the ratline, it would allow them to focus more on academics earning better grades. Whereas, during the first semester of the rat year, rats receive little sleep, barely any free time, and constant stress from the cadre. Mixing athletics into this equation only makes it harder, but when athletes do not go through the same day-to-day activities as the non-athletes it causes confusion for some and hatred for others. Ultimately, changing the ratline from a six-month process into a six-week process in the summer where all rats participate equally, as well as creating more events for athletes and non-athletes to bond this divide could be solved.  

Jack Meyers, a rat at VMI currently, 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. (Personal Interview, November 10, 2021) Creating a system where everyone participates equally could resolve it, instead of having a ratline when athletes only participate in a minority of the activities. Regimental staff captain Dane Hamilton believes the problem is a combination of several factors. Hamilton, a non-athlete senior at VMI blames the recruitment process, the culture of the ratline, and the culture of the military duties required. (Personal Interview, November 12, 2021) Recruits are not always told what happens during the ratline, but how they will “get out,” of a lot of it by the athletic coaches. Hamilton believes that with the way things work at VMI, and how the ratline works it is going to be extremely hard to find a solution. Changing the ratline would anger a lot of alumni, but if this situation is to be solved ever, it is the only solution.  

The divide between athletes and non-athletes is one of the greatest issues at the school. There is tension amongst the corps when it comes to athletes. Watching athletes repeatedly miss 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. 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. Achieving peace among the corps when the problem is as big as it is, is not easy. 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. The Institute is a tough place academically, physically, and mentally. It really is not for everyone. Finding time management for all your schoolwork is not an easy challenge. Combine this with athletics only makes VMI a harder place to endure. The scars that non athletes have from the ratline right now, cause the rift to grow, but changing the ratline and allowing all rats to equally take part, as a class would solve this divide.  

Works Cited 

 

Hamilton, Dane (In-person interview) November 12, 2021 

Meyer, Jack (In person interview) November 10, 2021 

N/A. “VMI’s Rat Line: Only the Fittest and Most Committed Endure.” Virginia Tech Scholarly Communication University Libraries, Digital Library and Archives at Virginia Tech, 20 Aug. 1997, https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/VA-Pilot/issues/1997/vp970820/08200400.htm.  

Shapira, Ian. “Amid Calls to Defund VMI, Superintendent Calls Alleged Attacks on Female Cadets ‘Unacceptable’.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 13 July 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/vmi-defund-sex-assault-female-cadets/2021/07/13/b0b48ef2-e3de-11eb-b722-89ea0dde7771_story.html.  

 

Help Received:  

Dane Hamilton, Jack Meyers 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited 

Hamilton, Dane (In-person interview)  

Meyer, Jack (In person interview) 

N/A. “VMI’s Rat Line: Only the Fittest and Most Committed Endure.” Virginia Tech Scholarly Communication University Libraries, Digital Library and Archives at Virginia Tech, 20 Aug. 1997, https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/VA-Pilot/issues/1997/vp970820/08200400.htm.  

Shapira, Ian. “Amid Calls to Defund VMI, Superintendent Calls Alleged Attacks on Female Cadets ‘Unacceptable’.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 13 July 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/vmi-defund-sex-assault-female-cadets/2021/07/13/b0b48ef2-e3de-11eb-b722-89ea0dde7771_story.html.  

 

Help Received:  

Dane Hamilton, Jack Meyers