Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 2, 1991 TAG: 9102040262
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But the way it was done certainly put the committee majority in an unflattering - dare we say unmanly? - light.
Rather than forthrightly kill the bill on the grounds they favor an all-male VMI, members of the Education and Health Committee voted 10-4 to uphold Chairman Elmon Gray's ruling that the measure would not be considered because the matter is in court.
Hogwash.
What's in federal court is the issue of whether the VMI policy violates civil-rights law or the U.S. Constitution or both. What was before the committee was the separate question of whether it's a policy the General Assembly deems wise.
The courts need not rule against an all-male VMI for the state on its own to change the policy. If the courts rule in favor of VMI, the legislature still must decide the policy.
Gray, the legislature's only VMI graduate, did not bring credit upon Gray, the legislature's only VMI graduate, did not bring credit upon himself for so transparent an evasive maneuver, even if the maneuver has been well-practiced in the past. himself for so transparent an evasive maneuver, even if the maneuver has been well-practiced in the past. Neither did the committee members who supported his ruling.
Finding strong partisans on both sides of the coeducation issue and few guarantees as to which side will ultimately prove the more potent, the politicians again have run for cover, hiding behind the pretense that they are disabled by the litigation.
Because they don't choose to change it, the implication is that legislators still support VMI's admissions policy; they just shrink from affirming it. Give Miller points for making it plain where she stands. Deny points for senators who use the courts as a crutch.
by CNB