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

DATE: SUNDAY, August 29, 1993                   TAG: 9308300261
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LEXINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

CLUTE CALLS FOR `SISTER SCHOOL'

An advocate for admitting women to Virginia Military Institute called Saturday for the state to preserve the school's all-made tradition by setting up a "sister school" in Hampton.

"Let VMI be VMI," Sylvia Clute said, "but also establish a women's military college at what is now Fort Monroe."

Clute, a Richmond attorney who is seeking the Democratic nomination in next year's U.S. Senate race, said her plan would help Virginia adjust to a scaled-down military and satisfy a court ruling on VMI.

A federal appeals court has ordered Virginia to find a plan that would offer women an education with a stark, military lifestyle like the one at VMI. The plan could include admitting women to the school, setting up another program for women only or privatizing VMI.

Clute, a founder of Friends of VMI for Equality, had been a vocal advocate for opening the school to women.

But recent court rulings led Clute to her proposal for an all-women's military college at Fort Monroe, which is slated to close because of defense cutbacks.

"Our courts have said that single-sex education can serve a legitimate governmental purpose, that it can add to educational diversity," Clute said at a news conference outside the home of Confederal general and VMI professor Stonewall Jackson.

Clute provided no cost estimates for converting Fort Monroe to a woman's college. She said funding could come from the federal defense conversion program, tuition and a "generous grant" from the VMI Foundation.

VMI Superintendent Maj. Gen. John Knapp had no comment because of litigation surrounding the school's all-male tradition.

A spokesman for Mary Sue Terry said the Democratic candidate for governor stands by her position that the most cost-effective solution would be to admit women to VMI.

George Allen, the Republican candidate for governor, could not be reached Saturday. In past statements, Allen has said he would try to protect VMI's all-male tradition and offer women a military education at another college in Virginia.

Clute is challenging incumbent Sen. Charles Robb for the 1994 Democratic senatorial nomination. Gov. Douglas Wilder also may enter the race.

Keywords:
POLITICS

by CNB