VMI’s Commandant of Cadets Posed With Trump ‘No Cholos Allowed’ Border Wall Costume

By:
Nov 9, 2017
5:44 PM

A week after Virginia Military Institute said that a Trump”No Cholos Allowed” Border Wall from a VMI Halloween costume party was “in poor taste and demonstrated a lack of appreciation that it was offensive,” a photo showing VMI’s Commandant of Cadets posing with the cadets who wore the costume has been obtained by Latino Rebels.

According to sources with direct knowledge of the Halloween party, the new photo includes William Wanovich, a VMI graduate from the Class of 1987 and the institute’s current Commandant of Cadets. In the photo, Wanovich is on the right of the photo, covering the “No Cholos Allowed” label.

Sources told Latino Rebels that Wanovich, considered a key part of VMI’s leadership, has been sympathetic to the cadets who created the costume. One of our sources, a VMI student, said that “Colonel Wanovich has been extremely sympathetic to the guys who made the costume. He has taken no action to discipline anyone and has even made comments like: ‘If this costume were on Saturday Night Live would people get offended by it?'”

Latino Rebels reached out to VMI for comment, and in an email response, it confirmed that Wanovich was in the photo.

“Yes, Col. William Wanovich, the commandant, is in the picture,” said Colonel Stewart D. MacInnis of the Virginia Militia and VMI’s Director of Office of Communications and Marketing. “No cadets have been disciplined, though certain individual cadets have been spoken to and the issue was addressed to the entire Corps of Cadets, which is what we have determined is the action appropriate for the circumstances. We will have no further comment.”

Local Virgina media has also confirmed that Wanovich was in the latest photo.