Keep The Citadel's Companies Together

Beginning in the 2020 academic year, all sophomore cadets (aside from Band and Palmetto Battery) will be transferred from their knob-year company to a new company. While various justifications have been offered by the administration for this drastic change, including an attempt to offset knob attrition by balancing the numbers of cadets in each company and to try to eliminate some unexplained "toxic environments" in some companies, the truth is that this policy will completely change the current Citadel environment and will destroy one of the most important links between alumni to current cadets. While General Walters stated that if this policy is not effective he would revert back to the traditional system - once this change is made, the damage cannot be undone and The Citadel's company culture will be destroyed. There are numerous other ways to address varying levels of attrition and whatever "toxic environments" that may exist without such a fundamental change to the very core of the Citadel experience. Given the many recent dramatic modifications to The Citadel system, maintaining the company structure is essential to preserving the very essence of our school. Keep the companies together!