Shannon Faulkner is a young teenager who wanted more.

She wanted to be the first woman to go

to The Citadel. At the time The Citadel was only for men, this means to get in Falkner had to go

through discrimination, court, and overwhelming stress to get there. She faced many tragedies

that led her to quit what she had worked hard to accomplish. Shannon Faulkner was on The

Oprah Winfrey show and states that “because I grew up in the believing in the American Dream

that I could do anything and be anything.” Many of the woman cadets are thankful that she grew

up with these beliefs. Faulkner is truly a hero to many women who wish to pursue their dreams

of getting into The Citadel. Faulkner returned to the Corps of Cadets on Saturday and stated that

“I enjoyed being a member of The Citadel family. I do consider myself a Citadel alumnus” and

also went to state “This is my school as much as anybody else.” The quote states about Faulkner

coming back and stating that she is apart of The Citadel and that she sees herself as an “alumni.”

Although Faulkner went through a great tragedy in July of 1995, she has triumphantly made it so

women can attend The Citadel and has marked The Citadels history.

The Citadel was founded in 1842 and is located in Charleston, South Carolina. This school

according to its website has”24 major buildings and over 3,400 students enrolled”.The college

goal scene 1842 was to "to educate male undergraduates as members of the South Carolina

Corps of Cadets (Corps or Corps of Cadets) and to prepare them for post-graduate positions of

leadership through academic programs of recognized excellence supported by the best features of

a disciplined military environment." This quote means that the college was educating and

preparing all undergraduate male members to be in the military. Although the school has things a

normal college would, it was its is predominantly for men. But not for long because a woman

named Shannon Faulkner fought for all woman to get into The Citadel. Faulkner born in 1976,
she grew up in Powdersville, South Carolina. She graduated from Wrens High School when she

was 16 years old. At the time Faulkner was just a young teen who was willing to fight for what

she wanted and what she believed was right. Faulkner first applied to The Citadel a month after

she graduated, knowing what she wanted. Faulkner wanted have been the first female to apply,

but the high school documents and transcript had the gender box unanswered. She asked her high

school counselor to do this because she knew that this would increase her chances of getting in.

The counselor did indeed help her to be accepted in the man only school, as no one knew she

was a woman at the school. But not long after Faulkner was declined. Once the school officials

found out that the “Shannon” in the application was a female and not a male. Faulkner knew by

this that she needed to fight to get in.

After this Faulkner knew what had to come next, which was a substantial and overwhelming

court case. The court case would be the main reason for her getting in, this was known as

Faulkner vs. Jones. Faulkner filed a lawsuit soon after she applied to The Citadel against the

military academy knowing that they would reject her as a female. The trial was about the fact

that The Citadel was "denying her equal protection under the Constitution.” and The Citadel at

the time was receiving state money. Her lawyer was, Val Vojdik, stated before the court case

that, they were seeking equal access to a public college that they (the state) pay for. Their goal

was to make things equal at The Citadel with female and male. The main issues that Faulkner

was fighting The Citadel in court were “single-gender education, and VMI's program, in

particular, is justified by a legitimate and relevant institutional mission which favors neither

sex;” This means that Faulkner was fighting for single-gender education. The trial of these issues

was heard in court on May 16, 1994, and concluded on May 27, 1994. After the parties
completed their final briefs and final documents with the court, the last arguments were gathered.

The court was now given careful consideration to the preliminary evidence. It was ordered that

the defendants follow their proposed plan without any delay. Then it was decided to adopt a plan

that conforms with “Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution

of the United States of America” Following this Faulkner was allowed to attend classes as a day

student by January 1994, but she was not allowed to live on campus or wear the uniform.

Faulkner finally joined into The Citadel with an otherwise all-male corps of cadets on August 15,

1995.

Although Faulkner fought hard to get in, she still left The Citadel less than 2 weeks after her

getting in. There were a few reasons but the biggest was the heat and the desegregation between

Faulkner and the men in The Citadel, this caused her a lot of stress. The time that she spent at

The Citadel was little, and she spent most of that time in the infirmary because of her physical

and mental strains. After only four hours of training, she suffered heat stress. She had gained

weight during the court trials due to the pressure she was facing, this increase in weight lessened

her physical abilities. Most of the stress that caused this came from discrimination and threats

towards her. There were many threats, and physical violence as a Newspaper stated “Her 2-year

fight for a place at the school took a physical and psychological toll. Her childhood home was

vandalized. She received threatening and discarding mail.” So the men at The Citadel threat her

in the mail and also went to her family home and vandalized it after she fought hard for two

years to get into the school. The men at The Citadel and outsiders did not only go after her they

went after her friends and family. As Faulkner states outside The Citadel “I thought I was going

to be the one that was taking out, and I was willing to make that sacrifice but when it came to my
friend and family, they should not pay for my actions.” This was her just explaining how it's not

fair for her loved ones to get her by her actions. These actions lead to Faulkner to thinking that

all the work she put in, in getting into The Citadel was not worth it but what she did not know at

the time is that she truly made an impact to the woman getting into The Citadel.

The Citadel has changed a lot since 1995 but mostly for the better. As most know now when

Faulkner got into The Citadel in July of 1995 she was the only female in there. It has a chart

which states the cadet's population which is “2,300” and that there is an “8%” of the female

population at The Citadel. This is stating that there is also 92% of male cadets there. Those

numbers are not exactly equal, but Faulkner did make it to where 184 females are in The Citadel

which is amazing. Also on the website, if you scroll down, there are “7 women teams” and “9

male teams”. Which is very good seeing 23 years ago they had no woman teams and now there

are only two more male teams than female. Although Shannon Faulkner was the first female to

get into The Citadel, Nancy Mace was the first female to graduate from the military college.

Nancy Mace got into The Citadel in 1996 right after Faulkner with four other female cadets, but

she was the first female to graduate from The Citadel in 1999 with a Business Administration

degree. The Corps has had 475 women graduate since 1999. And one of the graduates is named

Summerlyn Carruthers, a 21-year-old she said to Faulkner during her visit back to The Citadel

“thank you so much” she gave her a hug and went on to say “without her, I wouldn't be here

today.”

Shannon Faulkner has made history. Many people see her as opening the doors for the

woman at the citadel. Faulkner went through much tragedy yet, in the end, she was triumphant.

She made history by being the first woman at the Citadel after man has been ruling it for 145
years. Even though Faulkner quit, she still helped countless women and paved many paths for

many more. She made it so women can get into The Citadel and has helped about 475 women to

graduate from The Citadel. She also caused awareness of the fact that women and men need to

be treated equally. She is still helping others today as an English teacher in Greenville, South

Carolina. In the end, she triumphs as Bulldog and will always be one.