Resignations, troubles at Miss USA pageant could complicate matters for Miss Michigan

After sudden — and headline making — resignations from Miss USA, the organization plans to crown on Wednesday the 2023 First Runner-up Savannah Gankiewicz, who will hold the title until a new queen is selected in three months, in her native state of Hawaii.

Yet more than setting up a new Miss USA, the resignations unleashed pageant scrutiny that presents new challenges for this year’s contestants, including Miss Michigan Alma Cooper, who, in addition to representing her state, is an active-duty Army officer and West Point graduate.

Until recently, no title holder of the Miss USA pageant had ever voluntarily stepped down.

The Free Press left messages seeking comments from Alma Cooper, who is now in a challenging spot.

"We support Alma," her mother, Oralia Cooper of Okemos, texted the Free Press this week, adding that she and her husband, Stacey Cooper, know their daughter will do her best to represent the state and they anticipate the Miss USA organization "will address the concerns."

So far, the pageant has done little to answer the questions.

"It’s important to remember that every individual connected to such high-profile events is navigating their own personal journey," the pageant offered on its website, adding that the organization is "committed to fostering a healthy, communicative and supportive environment for all contestants, state title holders, national title holders and staff involved with the Miss USA organization, it’s our mission."

The pageant's recent statement, which largely focused on reintroducing Gankiewicz to the public until a new Miss USA is selected this summer, sidestepped the issues about the pageant raised by local and national news outlets, including a key question: Why did Miss USA suddenly step down?

The statement also did not directly discuss the additional resignations of Miss Teen USA UmaSofia Srivastava, Miss Colorado Arianna Lemus or social media director Claudia Michelle. Nor did it answer questions news organizations have raised about the organization’s inner workings.

More: Miss Michigan USA 2024, Alma Cooper, is also a soldier and mathematician

The Miss USA pageant was conceived by Catalina, a swimwear brand that sponsored the Miss America pageant, but started a new one after the 1951 Miss America winner Yolande Betbeze, later, Yolande Fox, refused to pose for publicity photos in a swimsuit.

"I'm a singer, not a pinup," the Washington Post quoted Fox, who died in 2016, saying. In Fox's obituary, the Post wrote she once recalled that after announcing she wasn't going to do swimsuit appearances, a man representing Catalina fumed, looked at her, and vowed: "I’ll run you off the news pages. I’ll start my own contest."

Dueling pageant visions

Pageants in America, those who study them note, have long been tied to feminism, commercialism — and, more recently, scandals.

In the 1850s, beauty contests were publicized by newspapers, according to historians. And by the 1910s, suffragists — those advocating that women should have the right to vote — staged pageants to highlight women’s contributions to America.

In those pageants, author and Miami University history professor Kimberly Hamlin wrote, women wore sashes, a tradition that has endured. Back then, the sashes often were labeled with aspirational character traits, such as "courage."

Then, in 1921, a pageant was held in Atlantic City, New Jersey, which, by one account, was aimed to boost newspaper readership — and draw more people to the beach, particularly men, in the late summer. The event would eventually turn into the Miss America Pageant and be full of product sponsors.

But with Miss America, Hamlin said, two competing versions of female pageantry emerged: A pageant that celebrated the suffragist, who sought equal rights, and another that promoted an "outworn, constrictive ideal." The latter, the professor concluded, ultimately won out.

By 1952, the controversy over whether a Miss America winner had to pose in a swimsuit led to Miss USA, a competing breakaway pageant, which, over the years, has had a variety of owners, including, conglomerates Gulf+Western, ITT Corp., and former president Donald Trump.

And then, in 1968, a Miss America protest sparked what the Smithsonian Magazine called a "feminist revolution." Protestors not only opposed "antiquated, misogynistic attitudes toward women and beauty, but also how the United States, as a whole, treated women."

1968 pageant protest

Protest organizers, the magazine recounted, offered a document citing things they opposed.

The protesters, many calling themselves feminists, stood against "the degrading Mindless-Boob-Girlie Symbol." They objected to contest’s blatant racism, particularly the fact that "a woman of color had never won — and there had never been a black contestant."

They rejected the "military-industrial complex and the role of Miss America as a 'death mascot' in entertaining the troops." They railed against the "consumeristic nature of corporate sponsorship of the pageant and the valuing of beauty as a measure of a woman’s worth."

They repudiated "the double standard that contestants were forced to be 'both sexy and wholesome, delicate but able to cope, demure yet titillatingly bitchy.' " And they challenged the notion that women were encouraged to be, and often portrayed as, vapid.

Still, some contestants have proven that pageants can empower women.

Feminist role models that have competed in pageants, include media mogul Oprah Winfrey; the two actresses who have portrayed Wonder Woman, Lynda Carter and Gal Gadot; and U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, who also is the first woman ever elected governor of Michigan.

Moreover, over the years, pageants have made changes.

They are now crowning winners representing various racial, ethnic, and other backgrounds.

In 2019, in what was hailed as a historic first, Black women won all five of the biggest pageants: Miss Teen USA, Miss America, Miss USA, Miss Universe, and Miss World. Miss America dropped the swimsuit portion, and Miss USA did away with the old "Miss" idea, allowing married women to participate.

But there is still considerable scrutiny.

A 'much darker' issue

Last year, the New York Times released a cleverly titled documentary, "How to Fix a Pageant," which looked into accusations of sexual harassment and a rigged, 2022 Miss USA contest. The 48-minute documentary is livestreaming now on Hulu and prominently features Taylor Hale, a former Miss Michigan.

The documentary also considered broader questions about the pageant business, including news reports that point out sex scandals, declining pageant TV ratings, and harsh criticism that they are no longer relevant.

As for the recent Miss USA dustup, the initial reports said Noelia Voigt, the first Venezuelan-American woman to win, quit her role as Miss USA to prioritize her mental health, but her resignation has quickly grown into a bigger issue.

Voigt posted a statement to Instagram that was described by CNN as a "long but cryptic post citing her mental health," but also may have included a mysterious, hidden message: The first letter of the post’s first 11 sentences spell out "I AM SILENCED."

Then, another title hold holder resigned.

Srivastava, who is in 11th grade and said she is planning to go to college, represented New Jersey at Miss Teen USA. She also put out a statement on Instagram, saying that her values "no longer fully align" with the direction of the organization.

Moreover, Stephanie Skinner, the runner-up from the last year's Miss Teen USA competition, said via Instagram that "in light of recent events" she had declined to succeed Srivastav, raising even more questions about the title holders quit.

Skinner, who represented New York in the Teen USA pageant, said she was taking a global research career opportunity in Thailand. She said she was sending the title holders who resigned "immense love," adding her "core values are integrity, honor, kindness" and would always stand for "female empowerment."

Lemus, who represented Colorado in the 2023 Miss USA pageant, quit, too, and called for urgent reform.

She also posted a statement on Instagram that said "the majority of the members of the Miss USA class of 2023" support Voigt's decision and asked that Voigt be released from a nondisclosure agreement. She also called for "full transparency for contestants in the class of 2024 and beyond."

Friday, the New York Times — which said it obtained an eight-page, "internal resignation letter" that Voigt sent to the pageant’s leadership — characterized concerns the undisclosed letter revealed as "much darker" than what was initially thought.

The Times said Voigt complained that organizers had delayed making good on her prize winnings and described her reign as working in a toxic environment that "at best, is poor management and, at worst, is bullying and harassment."

A soldier's dilemma

The potential challenge for Cooper, and future contestants — especially those that might also serve in the military — is that in addition to representing themselves, their families, and their home states, the pageant's reputation also reflects on them — and the groups to which they are connected.

Before the resignations, the West Point Association of Graduates touted Cooper as the "first active-duty Army officer to compete in the Miss Michigan USA competition," and, noted that during her time at West Point she "led middle and high school students through ethical leadership discussions."

West Point’s dean, an Army general, added the academy was thrilled Cooper was representing it.

Tuesday morning, however, West Point referred the Free Press to the Department of the Army for comment, since Cooper is no longer a cadet. The Army, after some consideration, told the Free Press it didn't plan to comment, either.

By all accounts, Cooper has an outstanding academic record and promising future in the Army, but she also faces a challenge: Any impropriety, or perceived impropriety, within the Miss USA organization could pose an ethical dilemma for her.

More than most other institutions, West Point and the military have extraordinarily high standards. They also have high expectations of their graduates and soldiers to not just promote them but eschew individuals — and institutions — who do not.

The military academy’s honor code, for example, requires cadets not just to live by the rules but refuse to tolerate those who break them. And the Soldier’s Creed, as another example, requires her to "live the Army values" of loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, and personal courage.

So what is Cooper to do?

Does she stay out of the fray? Use her pageant position to speak up for others? Or resign her title?

The answer might not be all that clear.

At West Point, Cooper was taught to always choose the "harder right" and that the Soldier's Creed also says, she is a "guardian of freedom and the American way of life," and she should "never leave a fallen comrade," "never accept defeat," and "never quit."

Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Miss USA, after a year of scandal, has a new problem: resignations