NO VMI IN CLINTON INAUGURAL

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, January 4, 1993                   TAG: 9301040044
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: METRO   
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LEXINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium
NO VMI IN CLINTON INAUGURAL
Organizers of President-elect Bill Clinton's Inaugural Parade turned down a Virginia Military Institute request to participate because the school rejects women as cadets.
"We found other representatives from Virginia that represented what we were trying to portray in this parade," said Sally Aman, spokeswoman for the inaugural committee.
VMI was turned down twice this year - once on appeal - after being invited to apply to march in the Jan. 20 parade in Washing-ton.
"We did apply and we were not selected," Maj. Gen. John W. Knapp, VMI's superintendent, said Saturday. "We will hold our own ceremony that day at high noon here in Lexington at the barracks."
The VMI marching unit has participated in inaugural parades since the end of World War II. It has been in parades for every president except Dwight Eisenhower, for his second term, and Lyndon B. Johnson.
The military school is defending itself in a lawsuit over its refusal to admit women. The suit is now on appeal.
The theme of President-elect Clinton's inauguration is "An American Reunion - New Beginnings, Renewed Hope." Clinton is under scrutiny over how many females and minorities he has appointed to Cabinet and otherjobs.
The Denbigh High School Marching Patriots and the horse-drawn caisson platoon from Fort Myer will represent Virginia in Clinton's parade.
Col. Leroy D. Hammond, executive assistant to the VMI provost, said he believes VMI was rejected because parade organizers wanted to downplay military involve-ment.
Aman said 35 of about 125 parade units will be military.
Knapp said he is disappointed VMI won't be one of them "because of the break in tradition. You see, it happens only once every four years and that means that it's only once during every cadet's cadet-ship."

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB