Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 13, 1990 TAG: 9003133110
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: By KEVIN KITTREDGE SHENANDOAH BUREAU
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Questionnaires were sent to 120 faculty members a week ago by the VMI chapter of the American Association of University Professors, said the chapter president, Blair Turner.
Eighty-six teachers - about 72 percent of the VMI faculty - had responded by the time VMI let out for spring break Friday afternoon, said Turner, a VMI history professor. Six of them did not answer the question about coeducation.
Of the rest, Turner said, 63 percent favored admitting women.
The poll echoed the findings of an informal poll taken at an AAUP meeting Feb. 27, at which a majority of the 20 or so members present said they supported admitting women to VMI.
The U.S. Justice Department has directed VMI to begin admitting women. The school has balked, arguing that an all-male corps enhances Virginia's educational diversity.
The poll also asked faculty members if they supported efforts by the state attorney general's office to fight the Justice Department on the issue.
Turner said 54 percent of those who responded supported the attorney general's efforts. Some who wrote comments on the two-question questionnaire along with their answers said deciding the matter in court would "at least clarify the legal issue," Turner said.
There were other written comments Turner described as "hostile."
"One suggested that any faculty member who did not agree with VMI's admission policy should leave the college," Turner said. "Another stated that simply taking the poll and gathering information on the issue was a disservice to VMI."
Turner said he had no idea who wrote the comments on their questionnaires.
VMI Superintendent John Knapp has said that school employees are free to speak their minds on the issue, so long as they stress they are voicing personal opinions.
Knapp was out of town Monday and unavailable for comment.
VMI spokesman Tom Joynes said the college probably will have no official comment on the poll.
But personally, Joynes said, he was surprised at the result.
"I think if they had 100 percent [of the faculty responding], it might be 50-50," he said. "The question would be, `Who didn't respond?' "
Turner said the questionnaires were returned anonymously. "Because we got so many back, I have to assume we got a pretty good spread" among departments, he said.
Turner said AAUP members decided to poll the entire faculty after the group's straw vote to find out how the rest of the faculty felt on the issue.
"We tried to get [the questions] to everyone who is on the teaching faculty," Turner said.
Turner said the questionnaires were sent out last Tuesday, and responses began coming back the next day through the campus mail.
Some of the written responses argued that VMI's benefits should be available to both men and women, Turner said. Others said that regardless of VMI's traditions, "the constitutional issue was clear that women had to be allowed admission to a state school," he said.
In a prepared statement issued about the poll Monday, Turner stressed the AAUP does not represent the school administration.
by CNB