Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 4, 1991 TAG: 9104040646
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: DANIEL HOWES and MADELYN ROSENBERG/ STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The proceedings, scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m., were delayed for more than two hours while a drug trial was concluded in the main courtroom of the Poff Federal Building in downtown Roanoke.
VMI lawyers, a few cadets and other officials were swarmed by television cameras and reporters from across Virginia. Principals in the case faced a fusillade of questions as they stepped off elevators on the building's second floor.
Griffin Bell - a former U.S. Attorney General who is helping defend the 152-year-old school - parried reporters' attempts to get a glimpse of the school's long-awaited defense.
Although the Justice Department said a school that accepts federal tax dollars cannot discriminate, Bell said, "tax dollars have nothing to do with it, except that the government wouldn't have a case at all if tax dollars weren't involved."
The Justice Department filed suit against Lexington-based VMI last year, claiming the school's admissions policy violated the 14th Amendment and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The trial is expected to continue for at least four days. Judge Jackson Kiser has said it may take longer.
Lawyers expect to at least conclude opening arguments by the end of today. The delay "is just throwing us off," said Robert Patterson, a VMI laywer. "I would expect it will go through Thursday or Friday of next week - at least." VMI's superintendent was expected to be one of the first witnesses called in the trial in U.S. District Court.
Maj. Gen. John Knapp, a VMI graduate who has been at the school for more than 30 years, spent Wednesday afternoon conferring with attorneys. He spent the past week preparing information for the trial.
"The order of the witnesses is up to the government," said William Poff, a Roanoke lawyer helping to defend VMI's policy. "But they've given every indication that Gen. Knapp and other VMI leaders will be the first witnesses."
A list of the government's witnesses filed in the clerk's office includes Knapp, officers in charge of ROTC programs and experts on higher education.
by CNB