Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 6, 1991 TAG: 9104060179
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MADELYN ROSENBERG/ HIGHER EDUCATION WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
And hundreds of women have expressed interest in that opportunity, another witness told U.S. District Judge Jackson Kiser during a second day of arguments over the constitutionality of VMI's all-male tradition.
After lengthy testimony that quoted research and compared the military educations of VMI and Virginia Tech's cadets corps, Wisconsin higher-education professor Clifton Conrad boiled his opinion down to a simple statement: "I feel very strongly my daughter would be denied an educational opportunity, would she not have a chance to go to VMI."
Conrad's daughter is only 14 - too young to be seriously considering her college career, although VMI officials said some alumni put in inquiries for their month-old babies. And she lives in Wisconsin, although the family used to live in Virginia.
"Maybe I'm just being a protective father," Conrad joked during a court recess. But when questioned by a Justice Department lawyer, he was methodical and serious.
"VMI has a very rich and distinctive history, and above all, an ethos I have not seen before," said Conrad, who is on the University of Wisconsin faculty. "For 152 years, this institution has stood here. It is committed to creating citizen soldiers - to the method of preparing citizen soldiers that goes back years."
VMI faithful say the school would not just be changed, but destroyed, should women be admitted. U.S. Justice Department lawyers say it would be better.
"It is my judgment that the introduction of women will not destroy the institution," Conrad said. "They will make it different."
It is this difference, this idea that everyone at the institution where cadets go through the rat line together, live together, grow together, that VMI officials say will make their schools like others available and take away from the diversity of institutions offered in the state.
Conrad said a change in the admissions policy would just change the type of diversity offered to men in the state. And it would add a new option for women.
A row of VMI lawyers, who had smiled at jokes and remarks during the past two days of court, sat stone-faced, scribbling notes on legal pads while Conrad testified.
In cross-examination, Richmond lawyer Robert Patterson asked the professor questions about "toughness of mind" obtained by the men who attend VMI and about the rat line - an ordeal for freshmen intended to bring about unity and loyalty.
"It's a very intense experience," Conrad said, conceding that everyone at VMI is treated the same. "But I think many institutions work at treating people fairly and equally."
Conrad said there is a great deal of stress at VMI on physical excellence, that "it is an important component of the system." And that the physical activities would likely differ some - as do activities for men and women in the U.S. service academies.
"There will be effects; there's no reason to think otherwise," Conrad said. "Any change in clientele will cause a change in environment."
Patterson, a VMI alumnus, asked if a college would be wise to pursue a change to coed status, should there be no demand from women. Conrad said it would not be.
But in earlier testimony Friday, Justice Department lawyers determined that 346 women had expressed interest in VMI over the past two years.
Lawyers examined a letter from one of the women interested in attending VMI. The woman's father was in the military, according to Col. Mark Sandy, VMI's admissions officer.
The school receives about 8,000 inquiries a year from men, Sandy said.
Out of every eight students who express a preliminary interest in the school, only one actually files an application, Sandy said under cross-examination. Of those, about 65 percent are accepted, and 60 percent of those accepted decide to attend the school. He estimated that fewer than 20 women would have been accepted had VMI been admitting women over the past two years.
Women requesting information about VMI usually get it.
"We tell them that our policy is that we do not accept women," Sandy said. "If they are not familiar with the policy, they want to know if we're considering it, if we'll change. I've told them that the policy has not changed."
But since the Justice Department and the school have been involved in the lawsuit, he said, letters have remained unanswered.
by CNB