ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, July 16, 1996 TAG: 9607160029
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: NAHLA K. DURRANI AND ELEANOR LEE
OUR REACTION to the recent Supreme Court decision (June 27 article, ``VMI must admit women, Supreme Court rules 7-1'') to admit women to the Virginia Military Institute was one of complete exuberance, for we felt that justice has finally been served for the women of this country. And in its most paramount form!
We are sick of hearing and reading about chauvinistic beliefs concerning what a woman's abilities are, even in this day and age. Thus, after reading the court's extensive opinions, we, as rising college sophomores, would like to offer our own views.
VMI's claims that women wouldn't be able to handle the physical demands its cadets must endure are archaic. Excluding women for 157 years had inhibited any opportunity for the ``adversative'' method to be tested on women. Though many fear the training methods must be changed to accommodate women, it's largely because of the stringencies that women want to attend VMI, because these are simply not available anywhere else in Virginia. Even if the ``average'' woman is still believed to be physically inferior to a man, does VMI now consider itself a school of ``average'' men?
It is rational to assume that women who apply for acceptance to VMI will be highly capable and talented in accordance to the strict admissions policies that exist. One must not overlook the fact that militarism is only one aspect of VMI's stated mission. It prides itself on producing citizen-soldiers - men with laudable civic skills in addition to their military readiness. Only 15 percent of VMI graduates actually go on to military careers. Thus, there's no reason to exclude women based solely on low expectations of female military adeptness.
We realize that many want to protect the advantages of single-sex education. But we all know that the program for women offered at Mary Baldwin College is inferior to that of VMI's. And even if Virginia did establish an all-female institution that is ``substantively comparable,'' the state would still be upholding the concept of ``separate but equal'' - a doctrine that was ruled unconstitutional in the case of Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954! Is equality of gender not as significant as equality of race?
You can call us ``militant feminists,'' but, in truth, we support equal opportunity. Unfortunately, Virginia has allowed itself to decay amidst centuries-old traditions rather than promote the advancement of society.
Nahla K. Durrani is a student at the College of William and Mary, and Eleanor Lee attends the University of Pennsylvania. Both live in Blacksburg.
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