VMI GOES TO HIGHEST COURT

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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 20, 1993                   TAG: 9301200300
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: MADELYN ROSENBERG STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
VMI GOES TO HIGHEST COURT
Lawyers for Virginia Military Institute filed a petition with the Supreme Court on Tuesday, asking the justices to determine the constitutionality of the school's 153-year-old single-sex admissions policy.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling, which didn't overturn the policy but said that the school might have to open its doors to women if the state didn't offer an equal educational opportunity, has left the constitutionality of single-sex education - public and private - uncertain, the petition says.
This uncertainty "can only act as a powerful deterrent to the continuation of public-supported single-sex education and to experimentation with single-sex education in new settings," the petition says.
Throughout the case, VMI's attorneys have argued that private schools, which receive some public grants and aid, could be in jeopardy if the 153-year-old institute loses this case.
It would be ironic, the petition says, "because recent educational scholarship provides new evidence of the benefits of single-sex education."
The petition says the 4th Circuit Court erred when it said the state needed to offer, in effect, two single-sex schools, one for men and one for women, with the same type of educational programs.
There is a conflict over that conclusion among federal circuit courts and the states, it said, a conflict that could extend to requirements for individual programs, such as whether schools must provide teams for both men and women in a given sport.
Unless the court takes the case and reverses the 4th Circuit Court's decision, the petition says, "educational diversity and experimentation will be thwarted at a time when it is desperately needed."
The court needs to hear the case "to resolve persistent doubts about the constitutionality of single-sex educational institutions and programs."
Attorneys in Charleston, S.C., cited the 4th Circuit Court's VMI ruling Tuesday in asking a federal judge to order three women veterans admitted to all-male day classes at The Citadel.
VMI and The Citadel, in Charleston, S.C., are the only all-male, state-supported schools in the country. The American Civil Liberties Union's challenge to the admissions policy at The Citadel is scheduled for a hearing next week. The trial is expected in March in U.S. District Court in Charleston.
VMI's lawyers have said repeatedly that its all-male status is necessary to bring out the bonding that comes from treating all 1,300 cadets as equals in the stark barracks.
It will likely be March at the earliest before the high court makes its decision, VMI attorneys said.
With the filing of this petition, a new attorney has joined the defense team, headed by VMI alumnus Robert Patterson of McGuire, Woods, Battle & Boothe.
Richard K. Willard, of the Washington firm Steptoe & Johnson, was brought on board because of his expertise on the Supreme Court.
He has argued before the high court four times.
The Associated Press contributed information to this story.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB