Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 18, 1990 TAG: 9005180122
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DANIEL HOWES HIGHER EDUCATION WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Of the 800 state residents polled, 44 percent said they thought the school should begin to admit women, as the U.S. Justice Department has charged in its sex-discrimination lawsuit against the school.
But 20 percent of those favoring the admission of women "change their minds or express reservations if VMI has to change the structure of its educational experience if required to accommodate women," according to a statement released late Thursday.
The survey, which had a margin of error of 3.5 percent, also found that 66 percent of the Virginians polled agree with lawyers for VMI and the foundation "that the issue is a matter of choice. Only 28 percent consider the issue to be one of sex discrimination," said the statement explaining the poll.
The results were made public less than 48 hours before Gov. Douglas Wilder will address VMI's 233 graduates at commencement exercises Saturday. The governor has declined to comment publicly on VMI's male-only admissions policy and has even asked U.S. District Judge Jackson Kiser to drop him from the suit.
Wilder has come under increasing criticism for failing to speak to the VMI controversy while ordering state agencies and institutions to divest their holdings in companies doing business in racially-segregated South Africa.
Joseph Spivey, president of VMI's Board of Visitors, said the poll proves the issue is "a matter of choice in education and not discrimination, which is what we've been contending all along.
"It has to do more with educational theory, in Virginians' minds, than [with] discrimination," he said, adding that the board does not plan to commission any surveys of its own.
Asked whether the results were timed to pressure Wilder before his commencement address at VMI, Spivey chuckled and said, "I don't think you can put any pressure on this governor."
Frank Louthan, president of the foundation, said he was heartened by the results, "which clearly demonstrate that Virginians across the state share the feelings we have."
In conducting its 24-question telephone survey April 23-25, the Wirthlin Group of McLean excluded anyone who had any connection with VMI - alumni or family of alumni. The respondents also were told that the 151-year-old school was supported partly by state tax dollars.
Seventy-one percent of the respondents agreed that "the federal government should not have the right to determine educational policy in Virginia" and 76 percent agreed that "women have the right to attend all-women colleges [and] men should have the right to attend all-male colleges."
The Justice Department, in its lawsuit filed in March, said VMI's male-only admissions policy violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the 14th Amendment. State Attorney General Mary Sue Terry disagreed, saying VMI should remain all-male in order to preserve the diversity of Virginia's higher education system.
The survey also found that 88 percent of the respondents considered it "important" for the state to maintain "a variety of different types" of schools and 44 percent considered that "very important." Similar support was found for maintaining a diversity of teaching methods and environments.
by CNB