Ogenyi, who transferred from VMI to Hampden-Sydney, says racial tensions on campus were especially high during the 2020 presidential election season.

“Someone put a Trump flag out at the time,” he said, “and as soon as a group of Black students put out the Black Lives Matter flag, about two minutes of it being put up, they told us to take it down.”

But he says other cadets displayed “Make America Great Again” flags—and weren’t told to take theirs down. “But as soon as you get a Black Lives Matter flag,” he said, “you immediately tell us to take it down.”

Soccer transfer Michael Ogenyi says he faced different treatment as a Black student at VMI. (Photo Courtesy of Michael Ogenyi)

Even so, Ogenyi says he appreciates his time at VMI. “When I came out of high school, I think VMI was the best place for me, specifically, to get that understanding of time management and staying very disciplined,” he said.

VMI continues to struggle to recruit Black students and women. The 2024 graduating class at VMI only had 37 Black or African American students—about 7.1%, according to VMI’s website.

Women weren’t allowed to attend VMI until a U.S. Supreme Court decision in June 1996 that said Virginia cannot justify keeping women out of the state-supported military college. A year later, VMI’s board of visitors voted 9-to-8 to admit women.

The number of female applicants has declined steadily since Barnes & Thornburg, the Richmond-based law firm that investigated VMI, issued its report in 2021 that criticized the military school. In 2023, there were only 212 female applicants, compared to 324 in 2018. That’s a nearly 35% decrease.

Application rates decreased among male and female applicants over the past five years. Source: Admissions Summary, Virginia Military Institute, 2023

VMI is also struggling to attract students of all races and genders. Applications declined nearly 36% from 2018 to 2023. The school has increased its acceptance rate from 50.5% in 2018 to 80.9% in 2023, according to VMI’s admissions summary data. 

This year, VMI also joined the Common App, a college application portal that allows students to apply to over 1,000 undergraduate institutions, according to its website. Joseph Hagy, VMI’s director of admissions, says there’s been a 72% increase in applications for the class that will enter the military school in fall 2024. 

In 2018, VMI had 1,896 applicants. In 2023, the small military school had 1,221, a nearly 36% decrease. Source: Admissions Summary, Virginia Military Institute, 2023

VMI has the fourth smallest enrollment of all D-I schools, according to its website.