Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 6, 1995 TAG: 9510060096
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The high court on Thursday agreed to hear the 6-year-old sex-discrimination suit brought by the U.S. Justice Department.
The court will decide two issues: Whether it is constitutional for tax-supported VMI to remain all-male, and whether a separate women's program set up under a lower court ruling is a legal way for public, single-sex schools to create equality.
The two issues were raised in separate appeals by the state and the federal governments.
The Supreme Court had declined in 1993 to hear the VMI case until a final judgment was made in the lower courts.
"At issue here is whether Virginia will be allowed to offer diversity - true diversity - in its system of higher education," Virginia Attorney General Jim Gilmore said in a statement.
Backers of VMI contend that the state's setup - an all-male military program at VMI, an all-female women's leadership program at private Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, and a co-ed military contingent at Virginia Tech - ensures a diversity of offerings from the state's system of public higher education.
But opponents say that closing VMI to women is discriminatory. They also say the leadership program at Mary Baldwin harkens back to the days of so-called "separate but equal" schools for blacks and whites - and that it isn't equal to VMI's venerable program anyway.
Furthermore, the appeals court ruling brought to the high court by the federal government "weakened" the legal standard that protects women, said Marcia Greenberger, co-president of the National Women's Law Center in Washington, D.C.
In August, 42 heavily recruited freshmen entered the Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership, a publicly supported program at private Mary Baldwin College. Mary Baldwin president Cynthia Tyson on Thursday reaffirmed her oft-stated position: The college backs VMI.
"Research tells us, and our experience reaffirms, that single-sex education can be the best option for many young women," Tyson said in a statement, adding that "we welcome" the Supreme Court scrutiny.
The students arrived only after extended court hearings on the program. A divided federal appeals court approved the leadership program in January.
"This case is ultimately about the ability of a state to provide opportunities that meet the varied educational needs of its young men and women," said VMI Superintendent Josiah Bunting.
"The commonwealth has now created single-sex educational opportunities for college-age women and men, so that students of all economic backgrounds will have this choice," he said.
Next month, a federal judge in South Carolina is expected to hear The Citadel's argument on behalf of a similar women's program in that state. An appeal before the high court also has been made. VMI and The Citadel are the nation's only public, all-male military colleges.
But attorneys also speculated Thursday that the VMI case could be about more than admitting women to the Lexington school.
"I do think that this decision has the power on one hand to reaffirm and clarify the strong position the court often has taken toward [matters ] of sex and opposition to sex stereotypes," said University of Virginia law professor Mary Anne Case, an expert on the VMI lawsuit.
On the other hand, it also could severely limit the extent to which the court might intervene on behalf of women, she said.
Theodore B. Olson, a Washington attorney helping to represent VMI, said Thursday that the case could affect other government institutions.
He cited battered women's programs as an example.
"You put a lot more resources into that than for men, because there are a lot more battered women than men, unfortunately," he said.
Greenberger, whose group has filed court papers siding with the Justice Department, said the lower court ruling that allowed VWIL to open "set a very weak standard" for measuring when sex discrimination violates the Constitution. "If that standard were to be accepted, it would be a standard that could come up in all different kinds of contexts."
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas removed himself from consideration of the appeal. According to the Associated Press, his son attends VMI.
The VMI case\ A chronology
March 23, 1989 - The U.S. Justice Department, citing a complaint from a female high school student, asks VMI to report on its admissions policies.
March 1,1990 - Justice Department files suit against VMI and the state of Virginia in U.S. District Court in Roanoke, arguing that VMI's all-male admissions policy is unconstitutional.
April 4-11, 1991 - Trial held in federal court in Roanoke.
June 14, 1991 - U.S. District Judge Jackson Kiser rules in favor of VMI.
October 6, 1992 - Three-judge panel of the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond sends the case back to Kiser with these options for VMI: (1) admit women, (2) go private, (3) create a parallel program for women, (4) other creative options.
November 18, 1992 - Full Court of Appeals refuses to hear the case.
May 24, 1993 - U.S. Supreme Court refuses to hear the case until a final judgement is made in the lower courts.
September 25, 1993 -VMI's Board of Visitors approves a women's leadership program at Mary Baldwin College.
February 9-15, 1994: Trial on the constitutionality of the Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership held in U.S. District Court in Roanoke.
April 30, 1994: Judge Kiser approves VWIL.
January 26, 1995: Three-judge panel of the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals approves VWIL, 2-1.
May 26, 1995: Justice Department appeals ruling to Supreme Court.
August 12, 1995 - Shanon Faulkner becomes the first woman to attend The Citadel in South Carolina, the only other public, all-male military college in the country. She drops out a week later.
August 22,1995: VWIL opens at Mary Baldwin College with a freshman class of 42.
October 5, 1995: Supreme Court agrees to hear VMI case.
by CNB