ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Saturday, March 8, 1997                TAG: 9703100044
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-4  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS

JUSTICE GINSBURG: WOMEN CAN HANDLE VMI SHE WROTE MAJORITY OPINION IN LAST SUMMER'S RULING

She tells UVa Law: ``Once doors are open, women always prove themselves able to do whatever.''

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said Friday that women should be successful as Virginia Military Institute cadets.

Ginsburg wrote the majority opinion in the U.S. Supreme Court's 7-1 ruling last June 26 that said VMI must admit women or give up its state funding.

``Once doors are open, women always prove themselves able to do whatever - doctors, lawyers, generals in the military,'' Ginsburg said after a speech to University of Virginia Law School students.

On Sept. 21, the VMI Board of Visitors voted to admit women rather than attempt to take the school private.

Since then, the Justice Department and the National Organization for Women have claimed VMI's plan to subject women to the same harsh physical and psychological treatment as men creates a hostile atmosphere to discourage women from enrolling.

VMI officials have denied that and have cited the words of Ginsburg, who wrote in the opinion that ``some women are capable of all of the individual activities required of VMI cadets.''

Ginsburg said she was not aware of what VMI is doing to prepare to accommodate women. But she said that ``institutions in time adjust to the inclusion of all the people.''

She said making sure the proper steps are taken at VMI is ``the job of the district judge handling the case.''

In answering another question about cameras in courtrooms, Ginsburg said the O.J. Simpson trial ``has given the public a misperception about how the system works.''

She said that when school groups visit the Supreme Court, the first question often asked is ``where does the jury sit?''

Nevertheless, Ginsburg said she would not object to cameras covering Supreme Court proceedings if the coverage was gavel-to-gavel and ``we could control lawyers so there would be no acting up.''

More than 40 women have applied to VMI; 21 have been accepted. School officials have set a goal of 30 women in the first coed class this fall.

VMI has mailed more than 35,000 pieces of literature to prospective women cadets, and another 1,400 letters are about to be sent to women Civil Air Patrol members.

LENGTH: Medium:   54 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  (headshot) Ginsburg