Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 9, 1994 TAG: 9402090055
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"It's the biggest thing, I think, since the last VMI trial," said U.S. Marshal John Metzger with a laugh.
The VMI Task Force is setting up a "media relations facility" at the Radisson Patrick Henry Hotel in downtown Roanoke. U.S. District Judge Jackson Kiser, expecting a packed courtroom, has agreed to let reporters sit in the jury box.
Expert witnesses from around the country are expected to testify.
And some sort of computerized court reporting system is expected to be brought in to instantly record testimony, although nobody who works in the courthouse seemed to know much about it Tuesday. The system renders pages-long trial transcripts obsolete.
When all rise in Kiser's courtroom, it will be the judge's second go-round on the controversial suit in the case of the United States of America vs. Commonwealth of Virginia, Virginia Military Institute, and a seeming host of others.
It started in 1990, when the U.S. Justice Department filed suit in the Roanoke court to force VMI to admit women.
In 1991, Kiser came down on the side of the 155-year-old public college's all-male admissions policy, saying VMI "marches to the beat of a different drummer," and serves a legitimate public service by promoting diversity in education.
More than a year later, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond disagreed. Considering a case that had by now become a battle ground for advocates of single-sex education, the panel ruled that VMI's policy was illegal. For the college to comply with the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment - created after the Civil War to protect the rights of former slaves - four options had to be considered.
VMI could admit women, go private, create a parallel program for women, or a creative option.
From that directive have emerged plans for the Virginia Women's Leadership Institute at Mary Baldwin College, located 30 miles from VMI at Staunton.
Kiser will hear arguments over the coming days on the merits of that planned institute. The trial is expected to last until Saturday, with closing arguments possibly coming Monday.
Details of the leadership plan, blessed by Gov. George Allen, were unveiled last week. Funding will come from a $6.9 million gift from the VMI Foundation, as well as a slice of the state pie that funds VMI scholarships. That amount, $2.3 million last year, will be divided among VMI, Mary Baldwin and Virginia Tech's Corps of Cadets, which remains from the era when that university required mandatory military participation.
From rugged outdoor exercise to additional math and science courses, the leadership institute parallels some aspects of VMI, although Dean Jim Lott said the college does not wish to emulate VMI's 24-hour, military atmosphere. Women who attend the institute will belong to the ROTC, live in close quarters for two years and participate in leadership-oriented programs.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department has not budged from its original position: VMI must admit women, plain and simple.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.