Changes in store for MMI

By Scott Turner

May 24, 2006 11:31 pm

— The times are changing for the only military institution in the state of Alabama.
Marion Military Institute has been accepted into the Alabama College System, a move school officials hope will eventually lead the school to become a four-year university.
"We hope to become Alabama's version of VMI (Virginia Military Institute)," said school president Col. James Benson, who spoke to the Cullman Kiwanis Club earlier this week.
Benson admits the goal of becoming a four-year institution — once a goal for Wallace State Community College — is easier said than done.
"It's going to take some time," Benson said. "You've got to offer X-amount of majors. You've got to have X-amount of faculty."
The school is currently a junior college and prep school, but Benson said the prep school is being phased out.
Students from all over the country attend the school in Perry County. The majority of the students from other parts of the country attend the school for its early commissioning program and its service academy prep programs.
"Most of the students in our non-military obligation program are from Alabama," Benson said.
Benson said attendance has "ebb and flowed" over the past few years, with both the economy and the war in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He said the war has brought about a drop in enrollment in the early commissioning program.
"I think military schools are going through it," Benson said.
Benson said the school currently has more than 340 students.
"MMI has always found a way to prosper despite wars and dramatic turn of events," Benson said.
Benson, a decorated Marine Corps Vietnam veteran, has been president of the school since 2004.
He has already presided over other changes besides the schools transition into the public school system. The school's athletic program has been restored at an institution which once played the University of Alabama in football (The Crimson Tide once defeated Marion Institute 110-0 in 1922).
Baseball, basketball, soccer and wrestling are among the sports the school competes in.
Benson feels the school plays a vital role in the era when many teenagers seem to be more consumed video games, which he feels has contributed to laziness and procrastination.
"We help our students learn respect for authority and the need for obedience and discipline," Benson said. "There is no room for procrastination."
He feels MMI does more than provide students with a good education, which he feels sets the school apart from many colleges around the country.
"Most employees aren't terminated because of a lack of knowledge," Benson said. "They are terminated because of judgmental and ethical errors. What good is an education without morals? Good morals and ethics must be embedded in everything we do and produce."
Benson said it was the school's goal to continue to produce leaders for the country and four the state.
"Marion Military Institute has produced 204 generals and flag officers," Benson said. "Many of our graduates have also become government leaders in the state and around the country. We've also produced many physicians and attorneys and other business leaders."
Marion Military Institute, the oldest military junior college in the nation, was established in 1842 as "Howard English and Classical School" by the Alabama Baptist Convention and was later known as "Howard College." T
In 1887, Howard College (Samford University) moved to Birmingham and later became Samford University. The remaining faculty and students under President J.T. Murfee reorganized as "Marion Military Institute," an independent, non-profit military school. The name honors General Francis Marion, the Revolutionary War "Swamp Fox."
The ROTC program was first offered at MMI in 1916 when the institute was designated as an "Honor Military School with Distinction" by the Department of Defense. The U.S. Army Early Commissioning Program was established at MMI in 1968. In 1971, MMI enrolled women as full-time students for the first time during the regular school year and, since then, has remained fully coeducational.

‰ Scott Turner is the managing editor of The Cullman Times. His column appears on Thursdays.