Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 16, 1994 TAG: 9405160037
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHARLESTON, S.C. LENGTH: Medium
"I don't believe there is any other substitute," she said during a pretrial deposition.
Her battle to break the gender barrier at the all-male state military Faulkner college marches ahead today when U.S. District Judge C. Weston Houck begins hearing arguments in a trial that is expected to last three weeks.
As many as 77 witnesses, from former governors and psychologists to Citadel cadets and other women who want to march beside them, are expected to take the stand. Lawyers plan to introduce 1,027 exhibits.
Last month, in a similar case involving Virginia Military Institute, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that states may provide single-sex education as long as there are equal opportunities for both sexes.
Virginia has proposed a women's leadership program at Mary Baldwin College as a remedy.
That's one of several options The Citadel said it might pursue - admitting Faulkner was not one of them - if its policy is found unconstitutional. Faulkner said she is not interested in a parallel women's program.
"It's still not The Citadel," she said. "You can't expect the school you have just built to have the same overall effect as The Citadel that has 151 years of backing to it."
Faulkner, 19, applied to The Citadel last year after asking her high school guidance counselor to delete gender references on her transcript. She was accepted, then rejected when Citadel officials discovered she was a woman.
Faulkner sued. Houck said she could attend day classes but not march with cadets while the case is heard. She has been taking Citadel classes since January.
Her lawsuit has the backing of the American Civil Liberties Union and the U.S. Justice Department.
by CNB