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

DATE: TUESDAY, September 21, 1993                   TAG: 9309210178
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR and DALE EISMAN STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

PROGRAM MAY GET VMI OFF THE HOOK

The faculty of Mary Baldwin College in Staunton is to vote Friday on a proposal to establish a "leadership program" for women, amid speculation that the program is part of a deal to end litigation over Virginia Military Institute's all-male admission's policy.

Sources said Monday that Gov. Douglas Wilder was given a plan last week calling for a program at Mary Baldwin, a private women's college, that would provide leadership education for women without the military component.

Sources also said Mary Baldwin President Cynthia Tyson met with Wilder last week.

James Lott, Mary Baldwin's chief academic officer, while not confirming the reports, said Monday that the faculty would be asked Friday whether to pursue the "leadership program."

"The program was built on a liberal arts base," said Lott, dean of the college. "It would attempt to develop all of the skills of quantitative analysis, critical thinking, independence of thought, ability to work with groups and ability to become a leader."

But Lott would not comment when asked if the program's origin was connected to VMI, which is under federal court order to create a comparable program for women, become coed or go private.

"We're engaged in a long-range plan for the future of Mary Baldwin," he said. "Whether it has anything to do with something outside Mary Baldwin, I can't comment on."

However, other sources said the program, contingent on a vote of the Mary Baldwin faculty and the State Council of Higher Education, would involve a kind of state and private partnership. Whether the cost - put at $5 million - would come from the state or the VMI Foundation, is unclear.

VMI's attorneys are due in U.S. District Court in Roanoke on Monday to present a proposed method to bring their all-male school into compliance with the court order. VMI's Board of Visitors is scheduled to meet with its attorneys Saturday to fashion a solution.

Tyson has called an informal meeting today with the student body. Sources on Monday said Tyson would be addressing reports that VMI attorneys had met with Mary Baldwin administration to discuss setting up a comparable program for women at the college.

Reaction from Mary Baldwin students and alumni to the proposal was not supportive Monday.

"In my circle of friends, we're upset about it," said one student, who asked that her name not be used. "I think a leadership program is beneficial to women and I think it's a good program. But Mary Baldwin College should not be in the business of accommodating a school that does not accommodate women in the public sector."

Leigh Farmer, who attended Mary Baldwin and is a member of Women for VMI - a coalition of women who support VMI's all-male status - said Monday that though she is a proponent of keeping VMI as it is, "I am not a proponent of having a branch of a military college be a part of Mary Baldwin."

Farmer said she believes the majority of women who attended Mary Baldwin would prefer to keep the college experience for future graduates as it was for them.

"I think that the [proposal] does change the complexion of the college experience that I had," she said.

Attorneys for VMI also had talked to Southern Virginia College for Women, a two-year school in Buena Vista, about the possibility of setting up a VMI-style program there.

by CNB