WaPo: “Months into the new superintendent’s tenure, Daniel, now 60, and other 1985 graduates launched a political action committee called the Spirit of VMI. The group has been pushing back forcefully against Wins, 59, and his diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, which are intended to attract more minorities and women to campus and make them feel valued and respected as cadets.
“Reject the woke assault on VMI,” one of the PAC’s websites blares in all-caps. “Close ranks.”
The 183-year-old school, whose cadets fought and died for the Confederacy during the Civil War, did not admit African Americans until 1968 or women until 1997. VMI remains mostly White and male, with Black students making up about 8 percent of the 1,500 corps of cadets, and women accounting for 13.5 percent. It received $29 million from the state for this academic year.”