AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- Some future female cadets attending an Air Force Academy orientation Monday said they were concerned changes made in the wake of a sexual assault scandal could isolate them.

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Orientation Day At AFA Hear What New Leadership Has To Say About Sexual Assault Scandal

"I'm glad that there are some changes going on but I think, above all, this is an institution that is just above that," said Emily McKee, who was accepted into the Class of 2007.

Others also said the academy will be safer, although they said their parents were concerned about them.

"This may be the best time for me to go because everyone is under scrutiny," Allison Gawlinski, 18, of Manchester, Conn., said.

About 250 male and female students attended the program at the academy north of Colorado Springs. The briefings included a segment on sexual assault prevention, a tour of the chapel and presentations by the dean of faculty and athletics director.

The academy came under scrutiny after a 7NEWS investigation showed that dozens of female cadets said they were reprimanded or ostracized when they reported being raped. The Air Force and the Defense Department are now investigating, and the school's top officers were reassigned because of the scandal.

Academy officials plan to cluster female cadets' dormitory rooms and establish round-the-clock security; train medical personnel to respond to assault cases; offer amnesty to cadets raising sexual assault allegations; and expel cadets for underage drinking.

Anna Schwisow of Melba, Idaho, said she wants to be treated equally with male cadets.

"I want to go through the same things that everyone else does. I don't want them to go easy on me or worry more about me because I am a girl," she said.

Her mother, Teresa Schwisow, said she was worried when the reports of sexual assaults began surfacing in late January.

"If they had done nothing except fess up, it wouldn't have been enough for me and I would have told her to go to the Naval Academy," Teresa Schwisow said.

Investigative Committee Approved

U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard (R-CO), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, announced that his amendment regarding a panel to review the sexual misconduct allegations at the Air Force Academy was approved as part of Emergency Wartime Supplemental Appropriations Act.

The legislation calls for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to appoint a seven-member panel that would assign responsibility for the problems at the Air Force Academy . The investigative panel would begin work by May 1 and report back within 90 days to Congress.

The plan, offered in an amendment to a bill providing $75-billion to pay for the war in Iraq, was approved by the Senate-House Conference Committee on the Supplemental Appropriations Bill.

"I'm pleased to announce this amendment was approved," said Allard. "I will continue my commitment to finding the root of this problem in order to change the current culture at the Academy."

The academy has invited 1,234 students, 991 men and 243 women, to join the 2007 class, which begins basic training in late June.