Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 12, 1994 TAG: 9402120165
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The first witness called by the U.S. Justice Department in its ongoing sex-discrimination suit against Virginia Military Institute said his detailed analysis of Mary Baldwin College showed that a four-year deficit has reached $6.5 million in the last three years.
Larry L. Leslie also testified that the college had a $4.3 million decline in end-of-year balances for those same years, while VMI has $2 million left over for the same time period.
But in a comparison he labeled "critical" to analyzing any college or university, Leslie presented the two schools' endowments as vastly different. Mary Baldwin's $19 million endowment, which it has used to help balance its books, is dwarfed by that of VMI, he said.
"VMI is the most heavily endowed institution in the United States, public or private, with $131 million," he said.
The testimony was an attempt to show that the alternative VMI has proposed would not be capable of giving its students what VMI students get.
If the institute is approved, the private VMI Foundation will endow the women's institute with $5.46 million. Endowments are widely considered a key reflection of a program's success because they demonstrate alumni willingness to repay their alma maters for bestowing education, influence and other benefits. These often pay off in connections or a new graduate's career-launching starting pay, said Leslie, director of the Center for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Arizona.
VMI attorney William Broaddus said he could not comment on whether his side would present Mary Baldwin's own version of its finances. Other witnesses for Mary Baldwin have spoken this week of a "planned deficit," which comes in the last year of an expected dip in many private school enrollments.
Judge Jackson Kiser listened attentively to Leslie's testimony, which came during Friday's ice storm that closed Roanoke's federal Poff Building except for Kiser's courtroom.
It was the first time finances have been scrutinized during this week's trial, held to determine if the proposed institute at private Mary Baldwin meets the requirements of an appeals court ruling that would allow VMI to remain all-male.
In 1992, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, agreeing with Kiser's earlier ruling that educational diversity is important, said Virginia violated women's rights to equal education. It gave VMI three choices: admit women; go private; or develop a creative, parallel program.
Friday, Kiser himself said the appeals court ruling "could be read both ways," and declined to dismiss the case as the Justice Department requested.
The appeals court, said Kiser, may want a plan that requires "a military education very close to or just like VMI," which "would win hands-down," Kiser said. Or, it may envision a plan like the leadership institute, with educational benefits similar to those enjoyed by VMI graduates.
"It would be foolhardy not to perform what I've said time and time again is my major duty in this case: to develop a full record. I would be very remiss in my duties to stop this case at this point in time," Kiser said.
Earlier Friday, Virginia Secretary of Education Beverly Sgro staunchly reiterated the state's unwavering support of the leadership institute.
The General Assembly is expected to act in the coming weeks on the budget bill that expressly supports the plan. It would bring diversity in Virginia's education by setting up a public, single-gender program for women that will produce leader-citizens who can serve in civilian or military life, she said.
A total of $190,000 is set aside in the bill for the 25 charter students of the leadership program, part of the appropriation that would no longer go directly to VMI alone. Instead, Sgro said, the money would be divided among the three units of the newly formed Virginia Corps of Cadets at VMI, Mary Baldwin and Virginia Tech.
"If more than 25 are accepted, they would be funded through the [state's] economic contingency fund," she said.
Also, 50 state scholarships for leading VMI students also would be divided among the three.
In response to Justice Department attorney Michael Maurer's questions, Sgro, like others questioned this week, agreed that she does not know how many women would be interested in the program, nor could she say how many wanted to go to VMI.
Still, when pressed on the point that Mary Baldwin does not offer the engineering programs offered by VMI, Sgro said the state has "no obligation to provide engineering on every campus." Mary Baldwin students earn engineering degrees through an arrangement with a St. Louis university - although paid for at their own expense.
by CNB