Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 10, 1994 TAG: 9402100142
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Then she cleared her throat and began to explain why she thinks the proposed Virginia Women's Leadership Institute would do more for Virginia women than admission to all-male Virginia Military Institute.
"Overwhelmingly, the scholarly evidence suggests that young women, by the time they reach college, for whatever reason, have less confidence in themselves," she said, musing on VMI's tough, adversative "rat line."
"We really don't need to beat uppitiness and aggression and all that out of a young women."
Fox-Genovese's testimony came late Wednesday afternoon, at the end of the first day of a trial that is expected to last into the weekend. In the coming days, Kiser will examine whether the proposed Virginia Women's Leadership Institute brings VMI's admissions policy in line with the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
The case began in 1990, when the U.S. Justice Department sued VMI on behalf of a still-unnamed Virginia teen-ager, demanding that women be allowed into the 155-year-old school. Kiser ruled in 1991 that the policy supported diversity in education. A year later, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond agreed that diversity is valuable, but ruled the admissions policy illegal.
Ordered to admit women, go private, or set up a creative or parallel educational opportunity for women, VMI and the state banded with private Mary Baldwin College to set up the women's institute.
The proposal stresses ROTC training already available to Mary Baldwin students; advanced math, foreign language, and computer classes; one or two years of group living; and leadership seminars and community projects that put upperclasswomen in charge of underclasswomen. Physical education courses will be added to the curriculum, although students will choose from among Mary Baldwin majors.
Funding will come from the private VMI Foundation, with $6.5 million in start-up money, and a slice of the state's annual appropriation to support VMI cadets. Last year, that was $2.3 million.
The plan is backed by Attorney General James Gilmore, who made an opening statement Wednesday on behalf of Republican Gov. George Allen and Democratic Lt. Gov. Don Beyer.
"The previous administration cast some doubt as to the policy of the commonwealth," Gilmore said before court began, referring to former Gov. Douglas Wilder.
Despite Virginia's backing of the plan, Justice Department attorney Gary Haugen made clear on Wednesday that the federal government has not changed its position.
"Women who want to go to VMI want to go to a military college," Haugen said in his opening remarks. "I suggest the court keep an eye particularly on these women. This court is where they look for vindication."
Meanwhile, in his own opening remarks, VMI attorney Robert Patterson made a David-and-Goliath comparison in the case, saying the government has dragged its charge against the school on long enough.
"As we have moved along, it is apparent that VMI to some has become a symbol that must be destroyed. To some, VMI is like a big-game animal to be tracked, cornered, badgered and killed as a trophy of some lawyer or organization.
"This quest by the Civil Rights Division constitutes the longest and most expensive publicly financed safari in the annals of big-game hunting," he said.
Patterson's words did not deter Haugen, who grilled Mary Baldwin Dean Jim Lott for more than two hours on the many nonmilitary aspects of the plan, seeking to compare the program to the 24-hour military life at VMI. Lott was co-chairman of the college task force that developed the plan.
"Mary Baldwin has no tradition of military leadership, does it?" Haugen asked.
"No, no," responded Lott. "I think that's a fair statement."
But it was Fox-Genovese who testified that the proposed program would most likely benefit women from low-to-moderate income families, black and white, in Virginia.
"Most striking about Mary Baldwin, the income of the families who send their daughters there has been declining," said Fox-Genovese, founding director of women's studies at Emory University in Atlanta.
"They're taking ordinary young women and allowing them to imagine ambition," she said.
She said the academic reputations of VMI and Mary Baldwin are "absolutely comparable."
Justice Department lawyers will cross-examine Fox-Genovese when court reconvenes at 9:30 this morning.
by CNB