Alumni and Friends of VMI:
VIRGINIA/METRO RICHMOND
Bunting investigation over / VMI superintendent is
cleared of allegations related to books
Friday, December 17, 1999
BY CALVIN R. TRICE
Times-Dispatch Staff Writer
LEXINGTON -- VMI Superintendent Josiah S. Bunting III violated no
state law by using school resources to write two books during his
tenure at the college, the Rockbridge County prosecutor has
decided.
Commonwealth's Attorney Gordon F. Saunders said in a statement
released yesterday that Bunting was within Virginia Military
Institute scholarship guidelines and within his employment
agreement to use personnel and equipment for the writings.
Saunders' decision concludes months of investigations that have
dogged the superintendent's office since a probe began last
summer into Bunting's handling of a donor-financed spending
account.
Bunting, speaking freely for the first time about the
accusations, said the work that went into his books is normal for
college instructors.
"I believe for a professor to do publication that's related
to their field of intellectual endeavor is part of what we're
supposed to do," he said in a phone interview yesterday.
Speaking from Chicago during a four-city fund-raising expedition,
he said he's ready to get back to work for the institute.
"I really want to roll up my sleeves and concentrate on
doing the best I can for VMI," he said.
Saunders did criticize VMI for what he considers are unclear
rules for faculty who produce scholarly works at the school.
VMI leaders said they are pleased with the outcome of Saunders'
investigation.
"This entire experience has been quite difficult for
VMI," Bruce C. Gottwald, president of the school's board of
visitors, said in a release. The board passed a resolution in
support of Bunting in August.
"There are those who have attempted to mischaracterize
Bunting's endeavors on behalf of VMI," Gottwald's statement
continued. "Their attempts have been fruitless, detrimental
to VMI, and have come at great cost to the commonwealth of
Virginia and the institute in terms of time, effort and
resources, to say nothing of the personal burden on Gen. Bunting
and his family."
The investigation focused on Bunting's use of school employees
and equipment to write "An Education for Our Time,"
which was published in 1998 by Regnery Publishing Inc. in
Washington, and another book, "All Loves Excelling,"
which is not yet in bookstores.
Bunting used the equivalent of $8,000 to $10,000 worth of
employee work hours for help in writing the book, Saunders'
release said. The superintendent used state equipment and paid
for expenses out of state funds.
He received a $50,000 advance for "An Education" and
$5,000 for "All Loves Excelling," according to the
release. Saunders questioned whether VMI should have shared in
some of the proceeds.
However, VMI's policy on faculty's published works contains no
approval process for such endeavors nor guidelines about how
professors can use school resources for them, Saunders said.
Bunting's publications don't violate the terms of his employment,
either, he added. Hence, no school rules were broken.
"After having reviewed the very thorough investigation by
the Virginia State Police, I have determined that General Bunting
did not violate any criminal law by writing these books and using
state personnel, equipment, resources and facilities at
VMI," Saunders said.
If VMI had guidelines for the use of school employees or material
for writing books, school officials could better decide whether
the institute should share in the money the works produced, the
prosecutor said.
School officials defended VMI's copyright policy.
"Despite Mr. Saunders' implication to the contrary, we were
aware of General Bunting's writings and wholeheartedly approved
of these endeavors," Gottwald said. "Had Mr. Saunders
sought the board's views prior to issuing his statement, we would
have been pleased to provide him with this information."
Saunders' decision not to prosecute Bunting ends a series of
probes that began in the spring. Questions raised about expenses
charged to Bunting's $100,000 annual spending allowance led to a
probe in June by the state auditor of public accounts and later
by the state police.
The superintendent's allotment was overspent by about $120,000
during the previous four years that Bunting has been at VMI's
helm and included charges for flowers, gifts, cards and alcoholic
beverages.
In September, Saunders cleared Bunting of any wrongdoing
concerning the allotment. The inquiry into book proceeds arose
during the probe of the allotment fund.
Bunting said he never thought any of the spending charged to the
allotment or the VMI resources that went into his academic work
was improper, but he better appreciates, now, the importance of
how things may seem.
"We will be very severe in looking at all expenditures made
from the superintendent's allotment to assure that there is
nothing that causes the appearance of impropriety," he said.
All the expenses went toward advancing VMI, Bunting said,
including the alcohol, which he and his wife used to entertain
friends of the school. The couple never thought signing their
first names to cards and flowers would be construed as personal
advancement, he said.
"That strikes us as absurd," Bunting said.
He acknowledged that some of the complaints over his fund-raising
activities originated from within VMI's family of alumni. Many of
them are well-intentioned graduates who might not understand why
he has to host and attend engagements intended to rake in
donations, Bunting said.
"Universities and colleges that are icons just like VMI . .
. need to raise funds to advance the image of our school and our
standing in the minds of people willing to help us -- whether
we're private or state-supported," he said.
********************
VMI Basketball Game for Charity:
VMI-VCU basketball game to benefit cancer research
The 7th Annual Chris Cullather Classic, pitting the VMI Keydets
against the VCU Rams on December 21 at 7:30 in the Alltel
Pavilion in the Siegel Center in Richmond, will benefit VCU/MCV
Brain Tumor Research.
Tickets, which are sold by ADVANCE PURCHASE only, are $20 and
include a pre-game gala at the Pavilion from 5:30 to 7:30 PM. The
event should provide a wonderful break from the holiday hustle
and bustle, and the game is sure to be a barn-burner between
these two exciting teams. Tickets can be ordered by calling
888-663-8696.
A special event at the game will be a half-time shootout
featuring VMI's own MG Josiah Bunting III '63 and Donny White '65
as well as other Richmond notables.
Order tickets NOW: 888-663-8696
********************
VMI Civil War Reenactors:
Greetings to Everyone. My name is William Brown, Class of 1976.
I'm currently employed by the Bedford County Public Schools
between Lynchburg and Roanoke. I run their relatively new Army
Junior ROTC program and have cadets coming from Liberty,
Jefferson Forest and Staunton River high schools. I am an active
Confederate reenactor with Co. C, 28th Va Inf. Regt, Garnett's
Brigade, Pickett's Division, Longstreet's Corps, R. E. Lee
commanding. We're based out of the greater-Roanoke area.
In an effort to make history come alive for my cadets, I would
like to start taking as many of them as possible on reenactments
with me but the equipment costs a great deal of money. In that my
students are cadets, I feel they ought to portray a VMI
"cadet" of the Civil War period if they're going to
attend a reenactment with me. I intend to work with some very
smart VMI collectors/historians to replicate as closely as
possible the entire VMI field uniform as used at New Market. My
best guess is that it is going to run about $1,500 to outfit one
cadet from head to toe in authentic VMI garb. This cost includes
cadet-style kepi, blouse, pants, rifled musket, cartridge box,
belt, haversack, socks, shoes, canteen, shirt, etc.
Should you or any of your friends be so inclined to make a
monetary contribution to my "JROTC Living History
Fund," feel free to contact me via e-mail and I'll give you
the particulars. We have some key reenactments coming up in the
spring and summer and I'd love to have a few of my cadets decked
out from top to bottom representing the Corps on the battlefield
this coming year. By the way, I know of no reenactors anywhere in
the country habitually representing the VMI cadets at
reenactments. This is indeed unfortunate and frankly a bit
disgraceful when one considers the absolutely key role that VMI
played in the war. I'd appreciate any help you can give me.
Respectfully,
William Irvine Brown
Major, US Army (Retired)
Private, Co. C, 28th Va Inf.
Liberty (Bedford) Virginia
PS: Feel free to forward this to anyone that might be willing to
help. My personal home phone number is 540-586-7024.
E-mail address: wibrown@roanoke.infi.net
********************
Employment Opportunities:
Skip Goodwillie '83 has returned to Richmond after a one year
stint in
Reston, VA. He has accepted a position with James River
Technical, Inc. as
the VP Professional Resource Services. JRT is a VAR for SUN,
Silicon
Graphics and Compaq products and specialize in Data Warehousing,
Enterprise
Security and Systems Management services. His new contact
information is
804-935-0150 x30; and mailto:skip@jrti.com
Skip is looking to hire technical recruiters, account executives
and
consultants in their locations that include Richmond, Raleigh,
Atlanta,
Denver and Gaithersburg.
********************
Alumnus in the Charleston Area: Don DeLuca '62
e-mails to indicate that he is relatively new to Charleston, SC
area and would like to touch base with any VMI grads in that area
so as to "ward off these Citadel grads." Who can blame
him? I know we have some VMI alums in that area. If you fit that
category, please contact Don at Dpdl123@aol.com.
********************
Wednesday, December 15, 1999
One of first female cadets dismissed from VMI
By MATT CHITTUM
THE ROANOKE TIMES
One of the first women admitted to Virginia Military Institute
was kicked out earlier this semester for violating VMI's
unforgiving honor code.
A regular quarterly report filed by VMI in federal court noted
that one of the women in the class of 2001 was dismissed this
semester. VMI spokesman Mike Strickler said only that she was
"dismissed for reasons satisfactory to the
superintendent."
But a cadet, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because of
the confidential nature of Honor Court matters, confirmed that
the woman was drummed out about two months ago for violating
VMI's honor code, which says "a cadet does not lie, cheat,
steal or tolerate those who do."
It's unclear exactly what the woman did to be dismissed.
The cadet-run Honor Court draws no distinctions between minor and
major honor infractions. Charges are investigated by members of
the court, which is made up of elected juniors and seniors, and
cadets are tried before a jury of other cadets in a secret
proceeding. A conviction means immediate expulsion.
The woman, one of the first 30 to enter VMI in August 1997 after
the Supreme Court found the public VMI's all-male admissions
policy unconstitutional, is not the first to be kicked out for an
honor violation. A woman from VMI's second coed class was
dismissed for an honor violation but was readmitted, according to
the anonymous cadet.
Jennifer Jolin of Monterey, another member of the class of 2001
who quit in March of her first year at VMI, was being
investigated by the Honor Court, but charges were never filed.
Jolin said she didn't know she was being investigated when she
quit.
Another of the inaugural group of women, Angelica Garza of Fort
Belvoir, was suspended for a semester for punching the sergeant
of the guard in the mouth. Other women have received lesser
penalties for violating a ban on sexual contact in the barracks.
Six to 10 cadets, on average, are dismissed for honor violations
every year, but a subcommittee of the VMI board of visitors found
that some female cadets believe women are being targeted by the
honor system. Some male cadets believe the administration has
intervened to save female cadets from being charged with honor
offenses, the committee's report said.
The committee recommended that the administration "treat
male and female cadets the same with respect to disciplinary and
honor matters."
********************
Cyber Gear: I have been informed that the
ordered Cyber Gear is on its way to me. When I receive it I will
begin packaging and mailing to those who submitted orders. I will
do my best to get it to everyone by Christmas.
********************
VMI Web Cam: I understand that VMI does have a
web cam and that it will probably be installed sometime during
the summer of 2000. Indications are that it will be mounted to
overlook the parade field.
********************
Politically Correct Holiday Greetings: I
recently received the following from a friend and pass it along
for the amusement of all.
Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit our best
wishes for an
environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress,
non-addictive,
gender neutral, celebration of the winter solstice holiday,
practiced within
the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your
choice, or
secular practices of your choice, with respect for the
religious/secular
persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to
practice
religious or secular traditions at all . . .
. . and a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and
medically
uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted
calendar
year 2000, but not without due respect for the calendars of
choice of other
cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America
great, (not
to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other
country or is the
only "AMERICA" in the western hemisphere), and without
regard to the race,
creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith, choice of
computer
platform, or sexual preference of the wishee.
(By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms. This
greeting is
subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable
with no
alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the
wisher to
actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others,
and is void
where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion
of the
wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the
usual
application of good tidings for a period of one year, or until
the issuance
of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and
warranty is
limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at
the sole
discretion of the wisher.)
********************
And Now, The Politically Incorrect Greeting: The
Cyber Corps is going on Christmas furlough along with the VMI
Corps of Cadets (Of course, and to qualify the preceding, I will
pass along any vitual information that comes my way.). A Merry
Christmas/Happy Hanukah to all as well as a happy, healthy and
prosperous New Year/Century/Millenium, etc., etc. OK, OK I know
it really doesn't start until 2001.
Thanks to all who have shared articles, opinions, suggestions,
and other VMI-related info during the past year. Your
contributions to the Cyber Corps is much appreciated.
Yours in the Spirit,
RB Lane '75
Last Updated: October 11, 2009
Site Created by: Richard L. Neff II, '90 - Network Technologies Group