The VMI administration riddle: cooperating with or influencing the media? - Part 1

Editor's note: This article is a continuation of the series covering the issues involving freedom of speech at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) and alleged actions by the administration. This segment covers areas from the VMI Inspector General (IG) investigation report that VMI refuses to disclose. We advise our readers it is long, but important to provide the facts of the matter for the VMI Family and for history. Links to the documents referenced and videos are available in the online version of The Cadet at www.cadetnewspaper.com. After exploring the mystery inside the enigma of the action, or lack of action, by the Board of Visitors (BOV) and the Inspector General (IG) fact-finding into the administration's actions regarding the Virginia Press Association (VPA) awards to The Cadet, the previous article covered the mystery inside the enigma. The Cadet now explores the riddle that is wrapped in that mystery inside the enigma. The riddle of what the administration's role was, if any, in contributing to or influencing negative media coverage caught the attention of a number of VMI alumni and groups such as The Alumni Free Speech Alliance (AFSA). Several conducted of them, as well as some alumni, conducted their own independent inquiries after BOV member Mr. Teddy Gottwald '83 stated in the Sept. 11th BOV Executive Committee (ExCo), "I'm concerned about a strategy, a communication strategy that VMI pursued over the summer to take their issues with The Cadet newspaper public." He referred, primarily, to a series of articles in Cardinal News and The Washington Post. The interaction between VMI's Director of Communications, Col. Bill Wyatt, and Cardinal News reporter Lisa Rowen began soon after The Cadet won the VPA's Award for Journalistic Integrity and Community Service. According to documents obtained under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request submitted by an alumnus and provided to The Cadet, the VMI Director of Communications, Col. William Wyatt, emailed Ms. Lisa Rowen on May 9, 2023. He followed with allegations against The Cadet for an article on the Cadet Counseling Center (CCC) and other VMI grievances against The Cadet, the cadets involved, and their alumni mentors, specifically Col (Ret) Robert Morris '79. Morris is an alumni mentor to The Cadet and highly decorated combat veteran of over 31 years active duty service in the United States Army. Morris was, and remains, a plaintiff in an on-going civil case against VMI for the Institute's alleged violations of Virginia procurement rules. The Communications Director's email proactively provided the reporter access to an online folder containing at least one previous Washington Post article critical of VMI, Morris, The Cadet, as well as VMI's response to a Warning Letter on First Amendment rights violations from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) and the Student Press Law Center (SPLC). All contained allegations against The Cadet and those connected with it. Other files included formal condemnations of The Cadet posted to VMI websites by VMI Chief of Staff, John Young, Brig. Gen. Dallas Clarke, emails to and from cadets, and an article from Inside Higher Education containing a quote from an anonymous cadet claiming Morris wrote the articles in The Cadet. VMI released a document marked "copyrighted, proprietary, and trade secret information" of The Cadet Foundation provided only to the VMI Commandant, Col. Adrian Bogart. All materials, except The Foundation's own documents, were negative toward The Cadet, and others involved. The Cardinal News reporter subsequently contacted Morris and 2LT James Mansfield, former Editor-in-Chief of The Cadet, for an article on the VPA's awards to The Cadet, never mentioning the CCC-related or other allegations VMI provided. The resulting article was mostly positive to The Cadet and, with few exceptions, balanced in its reporting, making no mention of controversy or allegations. It did not directly challenge the VPA Journalistic Integrity and Community Service Award, or other VPA awards to The Cadet and recognized that cadets write the articles stating, "The Cadet, which takes the same name as VMI's former student newspaper, is written by students…" Barbara Allen, director of college programming at the Poynter Institute, is quoted as supporting alumni involvement in student-run newspapers as they do for The Cadet. "It's not unusual for alumni to be involved in collegiate student media," the article quotes Allen. The article does cite that 10 of the 15 articles The Cadet submitted for the Journalistic Integrity Award were under a "The Cadet Staff" byline that The Cadet addressed its subsequent reporting noting it to be a completely acceptable journalistic practice. Cardinal News published approximately 310 articles with a "The Cardinal Staff" byline during the period 3 January through 31 August 2023. Soon after Cardinal News published the article, VMI re-engaged the reporter by email to ensure she received the accusatory information previously sent. The Director of Communications encouraged her to "do with it [the accusatory information] what you wish". The reporter replied she would use it "for future reporting" and series of increasingly negative Cardinal News articles followed, using the information VMI provided. Cardinal News seemed to take credit with initiating the VPA's investigation into The Cadet's recognition with the VPA's Journalistic Integrity Award and focused on the CCC controversy, accusations cadets do not write the newspaper, that the newspaper closed in 2016 due to a lack of cadet interest, and others traceable to the documents VMI provided. The Cardinal News May 16, 2023 article on Governor Younkin's VMI Commencement address, Youngkin avoids talk of diversity, politics at VMI graduation, focused on VMI as a racist institution with its sub-heading, The Virginia Military Institute has been under scrutiny for several years following reports of widespread racism .Changes at the school have created a rift among alumni and other supporters. Only 127 (14%) words of the 862 word article covered what Governor Youngkin actually said in his speech while approximately 330 (38%) of the wording raised racism issues and the 2020 state-sponsored investigation. Only 117 (13%) words covered the Governor's recognition of The Cadet for its VPA awards. These were mostly critical of the awards and judging, and concluded by returning to allegations The Cadet Foundation is working "outside the official alumni fundraising effort," a frequent theme of the VMI administration and the Alumni Agencies in their attacks from the documents VMI provided the reporter. All but two of the external article links were to the Washington Post, where the reporter formerly worked as a freelance journalist. All were previous Post reporting on racism at VMI. The article ended by minimizing the cadets' achievement as the first college newspaper to win the Journalistic Integrity Award by comparing it to an improvement in VMI dining facility food. "But the focus on the student newspaper was brief," the author wrote, "as Youngkin quickly turned his attention to meals at VMI's Crozet Hall." Cardinal News competed against, and lost to, The Cadet in the competition for the Journalistic Integrity Award. Cardinal News' May 18, 2023 article, Virginia Press Association holds meeting to discuss VMI student newspaper awards, used more VMI provided information and focused on racism at VMI, linking to the Washington Post article, VMI cadets attack Black students, women on anonymous chat app as furor over racism grows. It re-stated allegations repeatedly advanced by the administration including Morris' lawsuits and that Morris wrote under the "Cadet Staff" byline. It continued using the administration's statement The Cadet closed in 2016 due to lack of student interest. The Cadet subsequently proved that statement to be false in a previously published article. A subsequent article by the same Cardinal News reporter published May 31, 2023, Virginia Press Association hires attorney to review award to VMI student newspaper, stated the VPA board decided to conduct an independent investigation of the award to The Cadet "following a number of recent questions' regarding the award." The article does not identify any source, other than Cardinal News itself, that raised the questions. VMI denies it ever questioned the Journalistic Integrity Award or raised issues with Morris's lawsuit or involvement with The Cadet to Cardinal News, Washington Post or the VPA. This seems to contradict the Cardinal News article allegedly quoting, "VMI, meanwhile, has said it doesn't want any editorial say in the newspaper but has concerns that Morris has launched the paper to benefit his own agenda." The allegation is in the OP-ED on the CCC that the Director of Communications and VMI Superintendent, Maj. Gen. Wins attempted to force the 2021 Editor-in-Chief to print as reported previously in The Cadet. It also in the unsubstantiated allegations in the Superintendent's letter to the VMI Class of '74 and his response to FIRE and the SPLC. The article also continued allegations that the alumnus, not cadets, wrote the articles, inferred Morris' bias lawsuits, and other allegations from the VMI documents. Records obtained by various FOIA requests document a number of exchanges and documents between the VMI Director of Communications and the reporter seemingly reflected in the articles. The June 29, 2023 Cardinal News article, Virginia Press Association inquiry upholds top award to VMI student newspaper, covering VPA's independent investigator upholding the Journalistic Ethics and Community Service Award to The Cadet mostly attributes the attorney's finding to the small portion of the report citing the VPA followed its rules in making the award. The VMI Superintendent subsequently used very similar language in a VMI ExCo July 13, 2023. Again the reporter advanced VMI's false statement that, "A previous VMI-sanctioned newspaper of the same name shut down in 2016" due solely "to what the school describes as a lack of student interest." Continuing its tandem reporting with the Washington Post articles, the Cardinal News' author brings in the Post's allegations of plagiarism without noting the finding in the VPA independent investigator's report that "In this case it seems clear the contributions of the winner are original." VMI and Cardinal News placed great emphasis on allegations relating to the CCC article and alleged alumni control based on the "email from a student claiming that Morris has written for the paper under the "Cadet Staff" byline" contained in an Inside Higher Ed article VMI provided the reporter and continues to distribute as conclusive proof of its allegations. Former Editor-in-Chief 2LT Mansfield takes issue with the Cardinal News reporting, VMI and the VMI Communications Director. 2LT Mansfield's told The Cadet: The repeated reference to the 'anonymous cadet' VMI continually provides as its proof Morris, and not cadets, are writing the paper needs to be contextualized. This unnamed cadet made a very serious accusation. One that I personally investigated and resolved when it occurred. I contacted the folks at Inside Higher Ed the same week the article was published and it was never corrected. Only the Cardinal News reporter knows if the errors in her reporting resulted from VMI providing selective information that influenced her or if she knew the facts of the matter and chose not to use them. That is between Cardinal News and VMI. What I do know is the reporting is wrong in many areas including the anonymous cadet and, especially, the circumstances surrounding the CCC article. Claire Curtis [co-Editor-in-Chief], Joe Malazo [Managing Editor], Col. (Ret) Morris, only in his role as a mentor, and I all advised the writer to make significant revisions to his CCC article at various points in its inception. Morris, at the request of the writer, and approved by me and the other editors, provided help through FOIA requests, by providing the writer connections with research analysts, and in proofreading the unfinished CCC article with only recommendations or with suggestions for improving it. The writer spent 10 months slowly working on the article, and I personally saw numerous drafted iterations of the piece. Given the drafts were on google docs, I also saw the suggested edits many others, including Col (Ret) Morris, had offered through the comments feature. I can definitively say, COL (Ret) Morris left comments and comments alone that simply offered suggestions on making this piece more objective. I personally copy edited this article which almost all had been submitted in final form to a google docs using track changes. Therefore, I saw these in all stages of the draft and know for certain that COL (Ret) Morris did not write the CCC article or any other article we published. Morris' participation was always within the guidelines we adopted from The Student Press Law Center. At the time of the Inside Education article the VMI administration had been repeating the same untrue claim that Col. (Ret) Morris was running the paper since the fall, and my sense is the anonymous cadet confirmed this to Inside Higher Ed in the heat of the moment and significantly influenced by the administration's continual assertions cadets were not writing the articles, their seemingly personal vendetta against Col. (Ret.) Morris. I know the "anonymous Cadet". I spoke with that cadet on these matters. In regard to the allegations by Col. Wyatt that made their way into the Cardinal News articles that the author of the CCC article stated should never have been published, I have first-hand knowledge of the relentless pressure Col. Wyatt placed on the writer directly. I saw it firsthand in the emails he received from Col. Wyatt. The writer quit the paper after the Inside Higher Ed article was published, and not as a result of the CCC article being published in The Cadet. That statement is false. Further, Maj. Gen. Win's statement in his letter to FIRE, that he now certifies he personally wrote, that '…the author of the article admitted he had quit the paper prior to publication of the articles based on revelations published in the Washington Post and Inside Higher Ed of alumni control of The Cadet' are 100% false based on the facts and my personal knowledge. In regard to the circumstances of publishing the CCC article itself, Mansfield told The Cadet, "I know for a fact the article's author confirmed, in writing, to Col. Wyatt that he was aware the draft we published was marked 'final and ready for publication' by him; that "Mr. Morris did not publish the article, Cadets Mansfield, Malazo, and Curtis did as they are the editors of the paper." He stood by his article, stating, he'd had cadets, alumni, and even a VMI Staff thank him and support him for this piece." "However," Mansfield continued, there is much more to the events after publication of the CCC article that Col. Wyatt either did not provide Cardinal News or the reporter chose not to use. I saw some of the pressure Col. Wyatt placed directly on the CCC article's author, but until recently did not know how severe and unprofessional it was. During the time of the Cardinal News reporting we contacted the CCC article's author and his response was chilling: I'll be honest and straightforward, I want to put all of this behind me. I just graduated and I am just now getting started with my life. This is the last thing I need attached to my name. I talked with [Col.] Wyatt because I was genuinely scared of being removed from VMI. I am an example of a cadet who underwent the medical furlough process mentioned in the article - it was still fresh in my mind while writing and while talking with Wyatt. [emphasis added] "Equally concerning to me", continued Mansfield, "is Col. Wyatt breaking his word to this cadet so blatantly and exposing him to the media. At the time of the CCC article's publication the cadet clearly expressed his level of anxiety and stress with a plea that his identity be protected and he be kept out of the controversy. He wrote Col. Wyatt in an email, "Quite frankly, I panicked when I saw your email. I implore you to keep me out of this conversation" [Emphasis added]. My review of the emails to the media released under the FOIA appear to show Col. Wyatt disclosed this email to the Cardinal News reporter, but did not released his response, within minutes of receiving the cadet's email, assuring that cadet's identity would be protected, "I have no intention of dragging you into anything," wrote Wyatt. "As he did with me," concluded Mansfield, "Wyatt deliberately chose to use intimidation as a tactic against the cadets he should be mentoring. Col. Wyatt knew the article's author overcame emotional issues in his own interactions with the CCC, and chose to pressure him for his own reasons. It is apparent from the former cadet's recent email that he is still emotionally shaken by that treatment and it continues to adversely affect him. It was also unprofessional of Col. Wyatt to go over my head as Editor-in-Chief and directly to the article's author with my emails to apparently question the truthfulness of my statements. This appears as if Col. Wyatt was so focused on winning the argument that he was willing to try and trap either the author or myself in an Honor Court complaint. That is not what we should expect from senior leadership at VMI or an environment the Superintendent and BOV tolerates." The April 21, 2023 email from the CCC article's author to the Director of Communications Mansfield refers to, that the reporter either did not receive or chose not to use, was five days after the April 16, 2023 email Wyatt provided the Cardinal News reporter. It provides a starkly different picture than presented in the Cardinal News articles. Per the cadet's email to Col. Wyatt: I am aware that the draft they published was marked "final and ready for publication". If you recall in one of my previous emails, I stated that we operated out of a Google Drive, and I had a folder called 'CCC'. In that folder I had many drafts, and they published the one of my drafts because at the top of the document, it said 'final edition' or something similar even though I was still working on it. [Emphasis added] As Cadet Mansfield said in his email to you, "If he changed his mind and wanted to add more to this piece, then that should have been communicated better" in reference to me. It was a communication error that led to the publication of a draft. Keep in mind, I left the staff before they decided to publish it and I had no idea they were going to publish it. [Emphasis added] Additionally, I took the liberty of reading the rest of the correspondence. In the document, you wrote "I just had a journalist call me who was embarrassed for you that this article was published and that it is being publicized by Mr. Morris". I will clear up some confusion. Mr. Morris did not publish the article, Cadets Mansfield, Malazo, and Curtis did as they are the editors of the paper. I will say that I joined the paper last summer with the intention of publishing a story about the CCC because they were a resource on Post that seemed divisive to the Corps of Cadets, and I wanted to understand why. I conducted the investigation and I had absolutely no clue that this story was going to take off like it did. What Mr. Morris does and publicizes on his own time is his business, not mine or anyone else's. [Emphasis added] I take pride in my work, but it is unfortunate that one of my most viewed and shared stories was an incomplete draft that was published after I made the decision to quit the newspaper staff. However, in its current state, I have had cadets, alumni, and even a VMI Staff member thank me and support me for this piece. Most of the people who reached out to me in support were cadets who felt as though they were not the only ones who have had negative experiences with the CCC. There were also a minority of cadets who came to me and disagreed with the article. [Emphasis added] While I most likely will not rejoin the paper to respond, I hope that your 1000-word op-ed seeks to clarify the issues at the CCC and provide a more positive view of their services, as many cadets who I talked to have had nothing but great experiences with them. Hopefully, your piece does not invalidate the negative experiences of the cadets I talked to because the last thing anyone wants to be is invalidated or cast aside by the very people and institute they grew to live, love, and learn in. [Emphasis added] "Given the facts of these events", concluded Mansfield, referring to VMI's actions with Cardinal News and, subsequently, the Washington Post, "I must again ask the question posed in the editorial my roommate and I penned in response to the VMI Chief of Staff's letter, this time to Col. Wyatt. 'have you no honor?'" To date, 2LT Mansfield has yet to be contacted by the VMI IG in her fact-finding although, as previously reported, he raised his concerns to the BOV President. Mansfield also takes issue with the Cardinal News reporting that, "Mansfield, who graduated prior to The Cadet publishing the articles about the lawsuit, said that the editorial staff didn't have formal ethical guidelines for their newsroom to follow, and that he and co-editor-in-chief Claire Curtis predominantly operated on their 'gut feelings.'" "When I said we used our 'gut feelings,'" Mansfield told The Cadet, "I was referring to decisions made in the management and cultivation of material for The Cadet. Given how acting as an editor in every situation is not black and white and how, as students of VMI we are not professional journalists nor even journalism majors, we often used our 'gut feelings' on how to run our paper. I know I used the term specifically in this context, as I further gave the Cardinal News reporter an anecdote about how difficult it was for us to choose what to publish, as we often disappointed writers and other cadets when choosing not to pursue a story for ethical concerns. I used an article submitted about the soccer team and their coach, written jointly by myself and my roommate, Joe Malazo, under The Cadet Staff byline, that references the soccer issue and the tough choice we made. We operated under our ethical guidelines enumerated in our charter, developed with the help of professional journalists and the Student Press Law Center, and implemented them here and in every article we published. In no way did I tell the reporter we operated without ethical guidelines." These themes in the reporting from the interaction with and documents provided by VMI continue to the present. Following the 31 Oct VMI BOV ExCo, Cardinal News published its article, VMI won't release the findings of its investigation into alleged interference with student newspaper. The focus was not on the issue of VMI's lack of transparency so much as repeating allegations from its previous articles The Cadet already addressed. The article again alleges "The package of stories that won was largely critical of the military college's diversity, equity and inclusion efforts" while omitting the VPA judge's praise of The Cadet's efforts to portray both sides of a contentious issue. It neglects to note that the sources of the "scrutiny" The Cadet came under "for failing to disclose that its alumni mentor owns a company that had sued VMI, and for including news articles with no author names attached" appear to have been levied by Cardinal News as VMI denies ever raising such accusations. The VPA's own investigation report completely exonerated The Cadet of any allegations of wrong-doing contrary to the reporter's statement, "The report found no wrongdoing on the part of the VPA." [emphasis added] The external link provided in the article again goes to previous reporting and allegations by Cardinal News, and not to the actual VPA report. The article alleges the timeline BOV Member Teddy Gottwald '83 published in The Cadet "closely mirrors one that Gottwald had referenced during the July committee meeting" and claims "It's unclear who prepared the timeline, but The Cadet article notes that it was 'collectively developed' by staff, alumni and 'other supporters who assisted with research.'" Mr. Gottwald '83 is the BOV member challenging VMI's actions against The Cadet. Mr. Gottwald had no knowledge of, part in, or any connection to the articles published in The Cadet the Cardinal News writer references. The article omits key language from The Cadet's Editor's note accompanying the article establishing the timeline to be the original work of The Cadet Staff: This article derives information from a "living document" collectively developed by members of staff, alumni, organizations such as the Alumni Free Speech Alliance, and other supporters who assisted with research, starting with the original challenge to The Virginia Press Association awards to The Cadet in April – May 2023. It includes the detailed timeline and other information developed by cadets with input from others should it be needed for the subsequent VPA investigation covered in this article…. The Cardinal News article represents the issue Mr. Gottwald raised before the BOV was limited to "The Cadet was not independently produced by students" and the BOV "asked the state attorney general's office to review whether VMI had supplied outside reporters with information about The Cadet after it won VPA's journalistic integrity award." Previous reporting in The Cadet conclusively established cadets told the administration, to include Maj. Gen. Wins, Col. Bill Wyatt, and others that they have complete editorial control of The Cadet. The petition calling for a transparent and objective investigation into the issues was not, as the Cardinal News states by The Cadet Foundation. It was, as the Lexington News-Gazette previously, and accurately reported, "… created through a collaborative effort by a group of alumni, cadets, parents and members of the public, informed by comments at the July Board of Visitors Executive Session and the results [of] an independent investigation of the situation by alumni, and others, independent of The Cadet Foundation. It was coordinated with The Cadet Foundation's fellow Alumni Free Speech Alliance affiliates, after which The Cadet Foundation agreed to sponsor it on Change.org. The AFSA affiliates also promoted it to their supporters." The Cardinal News article also inaccurately states, the petition is "demanding that VMI support The Cadet and initiate an independent review of the institute's actions regarding the paper." [emphasis added] The term "demand" does not appear once in the petition, while the term "request" is used repeatedly for "actions requested in our petition", "actions this petition requests", and "Facts justifying the actions requested in the petition." [emphasis added] simply to determine the facts to address those questions and inform the full BOV in making any appropriate decisions. Before Cardinal News published, the News-Gazette accurately reported the petition asks VMI's board of visitors to "perform its statutory duties and conduct a public, fair, thorough, open, transparent, impartial, and equitable review/investigation into the deliberate actions by VMI to question the integrity of its cadets and alumni over the journalism awards won by the cadets' independent student newspaper, The Cadet, and hold those responsible accountable if that review/investigation substantiates the statements in this petition or other inappropriate or illegal actions". The publisher of the News-Gazette has a contract with The Cadet Foundation to print The Cadet. These matters were expected to be covered by the BOV's inquiry, but the VMI IG report, allegedly completed, remains a secret while the BOV, except for a few of its members, remains silent. The Cadet will conclude this series with VMI's actions with others in the media.