Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 17, 1994 TAG: 9405170124
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHARLESTON, S.C. LENGTH: Medium
As the trial of her lawsuit opened in federal court, Faulkner's attorneys said the case was about fairness. They noted that the courtroom was the one in which the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, then an NAACP lawyer, argued one of the landmark school desegregation cases.
``We are seeking educational opportunity,'' attorney Val Vojdik said in opening statements before a crowded gallery of about 80 people. ``We are seeking equal access to a public program we pay for.''
Faulkner expressed relief that the trial finally was beginning. It is expected to last about three weeks.
``Right now, I'm looking forward to the trial and getting my mind set on it,'' she said as she entered the courthouse.
The Citadel and Virginia Military Institute are the only two all-male, state-supported military colleges in the nation. The Citadel has about 2,000 cadets, VMI 1,200. After VMI's admissions policy was challenged, a federal judge approved a plan that would leave VMI all male but establish a similar, military-style program for women at Mary Baldwin College, a private women's school.
``The door to education is one through which all Americans should be permitted to pass,'' Deval L. Patrick the assistant attorney general for civil rights, said in a statement Monday, the day before the 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court's Brown vs. Board of Education decision that outlawed school segregation.
``In the spirit of the Brown decision, we are committed to enforcing the constitutional right to equal educational opportunities for all Americans regardless of race or gender,'' Patrick said.
by CNB