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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 23, 1993                   TAG: 9306230100
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: BY BONNIE V. WINSTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

VMI CASE COMES CALLING FOR WILDER

The federal government wants to drag Gov. Douglas Wilder and the state of Virginia back into the lawsuit to open Virginia Military Institute to women.

In a motion filed in U.S. District Court, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division asked that Judge Jackson Kiser order Wilder and the commonwealth to "participate fully" in determining VMI's future.

The department also asked Kiser to order Wilder and the state to file a proposed course of action - with timetables - to open the school to women beginning this fall.

The filing should include "a plan for female student recruitment, application, selection, admission and nonharassment," as well as modifications to the facilities and all-male military program, the department said.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court's refusal in late May to hear VMI's appeal, there has been confusion over who has authority to determine the school's future.

The Supreme Court's non-action let stand a decision by the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that VMI either admit women or become a private school; or that Virginia create a separate state-run, military-style program for women.

The appeals court returned the case to Kiser for the remedy to be fashioned.

Virginia Attorney General Stephen Rosenthal said at the time that Wilder and the General Assembly have responsibility to choose a direction for the school. But Wilder and other state officials claimed the next move is up to the VMI board, which they say controls admissions policies.

"Nothing has changed, irrespective of the Justice Department motion," Wilder spokesman Glenn Davidson said Tuesday. "But the governor will abide by the court's decision, even in this instance."

Davidson said Wilder will oppose the Justice Department's request to make him part of the suit.

Wilder never was formally removed from the Justice Department's suit, but VMI has been represented by attorneys paid for by a foundation of its alumni.

In a memo to Kiser, the Justice Department argued that it was "not sufficient for the commonwealth or the governor to stand aside and allow substitute counsel . . . to attempt to speak on behalf of state interests and policies."

A hearing on the government's motion has not been scheduled.

by CNB