Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 3, 1994 TAG: 9405030142
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER Note: below
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
\ The U.S. Justice Department is seriously considering an appeal of U.S. District Court Judge Jackson's Kiser's weekend decision that would allow a separate leadership institute for women, rather than full integration of Virginia Military Institute.
In a statement issued late Monday, Deval L. Patrick, U.S. Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, said the merits of such action are "under active consideration."
Kiser ordered the start of the publicly funded Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership, to be housed at private Mary Baldwin College, by the fall of 1995. Women will take advanced math and science, ROTC training, live together two years, and participate in a variety of community service projects.
The private VMI Foundation has pledged $6.9 million to help launch the program, the subject of a weeklong trial in February. The program is backed by the state, which says it supports diversity in higher education by providing single-sex education for each gender. The so-called "Mary Baldwin plan" was offered to Kiser as a solution after the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond overturned his earlier ruling that found VMI's admissions policy to be legal.
The appeals court ordered VMI to go private, go coed, or come up with a parallel or creative option for women in order to satisfy the Constitution's equal protection clause.
The case is actively being watched in South Carolina, where the nation's only other all-male, publicly funded college goes on trial in two weeks for denying admission to a woman. However, in VMI's case, the federal government brought suit on behalf of an unidentified Virginia high school senior. The woman who has brought suit against The Citadel originally was accepted into the school after she deleted references to her sex on her application. Shannon Faulkner has won the right to attend classes while her case is being decided.
Monday in Charleston, one of Faulkner's attorneys said that while Kiser's decision was being watched carefully, it does not necessarily influence his client's case.
"A district court opinion in Virginia is not at all binding down here," said Charleston attorney Robert Black. "Anything beyond is of major significance. How the 4th Circuit views this case will be binding.
"Our case is not getting any weaker, even as a result of this decision."
However, at The Citadel, officials saw the latest VMI decision as good news, said spokesman Rick Mill.
The Justice Department, which has 60 days to file a notice of intent to appeal in the VMI case, "will vigorously defend the equal educational opportunities of women in The Citadel case," said Patrick.
by CNB