Members of VMI’s Class of 1974 released a letter to its Brother Rats last Monday (http://thecadetfoundation.org/vmi74/), challenging its 50th Reunion Committee’s efforts to raise nearly $20M in contributions to the Institute. In what has become the traditional highlight of Alumni Association-coordinated class reunions, ’74’s class officers will be expected to hoist a large mock up of a check for a photo-op with the VMI Superintendent. This ritual confirms the long-standing tradition of facility and financial command and control exerted by the Association and VMI Administration over alumni social gatherings. And it has been, to over-confident alumni oversight, the primary purpose of social coordination by the school.
But the Administration’s recent rush to destroy the Institute’s traditions and embrace the corrupt wokeness of DEI, on the whim of a left-wing political jihad and after systemic racism was never proven, has also broken the trust of most VMI Alumni, who value their experience and revere the school. SOVP also believes most are are leery of writing large checks for unrestricted spending by leaders who erase history, engineer massive drops in enrollment, and condemn their own graduates publicly.
SOVP applauds the members of ’74 who lead what should be the beginning of the reclamation of fair and broad alumni representation to the Institute. It also endorses and supports their choice of a worthy alternative steward.
The Cadet Foundation is a 501-(c)-(3) organization (link) which directly supports VMI’s legacy Honor Code, cadet freedom of speech, and traditional cadet academic, military, and social activities. Its purpose is “…to unite alumni and cadets in programs that preserve, protect and advance the core Virginia Military Institute (VMI) ethos… .” Contributions to this cause would eschew any financial support of racist social initiatives like DEI (CRT), perverted-lifestyle speakers on Post, and pious, sciolistic destruction and removal of treasured names and monuments.
According to a recent review, the Commonwealth pays only about 20% of what appears to be a rapidly-inflating VMI annual budget. Grappling with this financial challenge, the VMI Administration has recklessly chosen to abandon the alumni who try to stand behind the greater good that the Institute has delivered to every American generation of the past 183 years. Until it gains the wisdom to listen to its core alumni, SOVP strongly encourages the financial support to continue, but in a way that will restore the true VMI for the Corps and help VMI Alumni regain their voice.
