Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 4, 1995 TAG: 9502070025
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Attorney General Janet Reno, commenting on a federal appeals court ruling upholding Virginia Military Institute's men-only admission policy, says ``separate is not the way to go.''
But the Department of Justice still is weighing whether it will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, the attorney general said Thursday.
``We are reviewing all our legal options now because we feel strongly that separate is not the way to go,'' Reno said about a possible appeal. She spoke at a weekly meeting with reporters.
Reno's remarks about the ``wonderful opportunity'' she had to study at Harvard Law School seemed to reflect a strong belief in coeducational schooling.
Last week, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court's finding that continued the single-gender curriculum at VMI, provided Virginia sets up a program for women at Mary Baldwin College, 35 miles away.
When Reno was asked to elaborate about her ``separate'' schooling remark, the nation's first female attorney general offered these thoughts:
``I found it a wonderful opportunity to go to Harvard Law School, to be taught by professors who were spirited, wonderful ... But as importantly, to be around men, too - men and women - to understand the complexities of the law. The law just doesn't apply in one way to women and one way to men.
``I think it just makes sense. This is the world, this is the real world. I think the whole concept of equal opportunity requires that we have the opportunity to talk together.''
Virginia Attorney General Jim Gilmore said Reno's ``talk about opportunity rings hollow. The federal goal in this case has been in effect to destroy the diversity of opportunity that Virginia wants to offer through VMI and Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership'' at Mary Baldwin.
Gilmore added, ``The young men and women of Virginia should have the opportunity to choose a single-sex education, not be forced into a common mold by bureaucrats in Washington.''
In 1992, the 4th Circuit said single-sex state schools like VMI can pass constitutional approval only if women are given a comparable opportunity.
After the state made its VMI-VWIL proposal, U.S. District Judge Jackson Kiser of Roanoke said last year that establishment of VWIL at Mary Baldwin would protect the 14th Amendment rights of equal protection for women.
Justice Department lawyers contended Kiser didn't remedy discrimination against women, but rather perpetuated it.
In its 40-page ruling last week, a panel of the 4th Circuit handed another defeat to the Justice Department but also expressed skepticism whether Virginia would implement the program for women with ``the intensity and perseverance necessary.''
The case started in 1990, when the Justice Department filed suit on behalf of a Northern Virginia teen-ager to force coeducation at VMI.
by CNB