ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, September 21, 1996 TAG: 9609230054
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LEXINGTON
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
note: below
THE PUBLIC HEARING in Lexington revealed a strong leaning toward taking the proud institution private..
One day before his alma mater decides whether to admit women or attempt to go private, John Robins, a 1969 Virginia Military Institute graduate, stood and perhaps summed up alumni sentiment best.
"Keydets will rally and never say die. That's the spirit of VMI," he said.
For the first time since the Supreme Court's June ruling against the school's men-only admissions policy, the VMI Board of Visitors opened its meeting Friday to hear public comment.
Speakers at the hour-long session overwhelmingly supported taking the nation's last public men's military college private. Only three of 23 speakers favored coeducation, and some graduates predicted that if women come to VMI, a rift will develop among the famously close-knit alumni, who have given the school the largest per-student endowment of any public college in the country.
"I can guarantee we will be divided, and we may never come back," said Frank Trice, a 1986 graduate.
VMI board President Bill Berry said the alumni he's heard from ``are about 50-50, with maybe a slight majority favoring privatization.''
The pressure on post has been building all week in advance of today's scheduled vote on whether to take the school private or admit women. The board returned to closed session late Friday afternoon and continued to debate the issue until after 8:30 p.m.
One board member confirmed that a dual-track system, wherein the school would go coed while pursuing privatization, has been discussed. Board members also said they believe they will make a decision today about what to do, contrary to speculation otherwise.
Chemistry professor Col. Ed Goller, one of the few who spoke for coeducation, urged a decision, saying the school has been "dangling in the wind for six years on this issue." The U.S. Justice Department first sued the school in 1990 for excluding women.
The obstacles to going private are widely seen as formidable. But to VMI alumni, they clearly do not appear insurmountable. Speakers pledged both their time and money to buy the school, a sale that the General Assembly would have to approve.
They also explained why they're so willing to fight on: VMI's "system." That's the life in the barracks, run by cadets, including the famous boot camp-style "rat" year for freshmen, and sheared heads. Al Soltis of Roanoke called it "the pressure vessel we're thrown into."
That part of the school would be "watered down," Trice said.
Bob Copty, a Roanoke alumnus, called the system the school's soul.
"We can't give our soul away," he said.
And in the event of coeducation, said alumnus Thornton L. Newlon, "The possibility of sexual harassment suits and scandal are mammoth."
But Col. Lee Lewane, a one-time ROTC instructor at VMI, said the school should take the opportunity to get rid of the "denigrating [and] belittling" of young men and boost academics.
Lexington residents such as Holly June Browne spoke in favor of retaining single-sex education for both men and women.
"If you vote to admit women to VMI, you are voting to give young men ... no choice at all," she said.
Lexington resident Edna Pickral lived on post for years during her husband's career on VMI's faculty. She, too, advocated single-sex education for young people. They're "all interested in sex," she said. "But they'll get a much better education if they don't think about it all the time."
The outpouring makes the decision harder, VMI Superintendent Josiah Bunting III said.
"In the affairs of men and nations, you must listen to the human heart as well as the human mind," he said.
Friday, they heard from the heart, he said.
Asked later about the obstacles envisioned if VMI goes private, including estimates that a $200 million endowment will be needed to make up $10.3 million in operating funds received annually from the state, Bunting said, "VMI alumni, most of them, think can do everything."
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. CINDY PINKSTON STAFF VMI Superintendent Josiahby CNBBunting III (seated left) and the board of visitors listen to
comments at Friday's public hearing. color
2. Col. Lee Lewane, a 1950 VMI graduate, was one of three speakers
in favor of the school going coed. color
3. Edna Pickral says a single-sex learning environment will let the
Keydets concentrate on their studies. color