THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 16, 1995 TAG: 9502160323
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: STAUNTON LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
Students in Mary Baldwin College's military-style leadership program will wear uniforms designed to show ``leadership and femininity,'' school officials said in unveiling the uniform.
Lori Esch, admissions recruiter for the Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership, showed off the prototype uniform by wearing it Monday afternoon.
Esch said the school wanted an easily recognizable uniform that students could feel comfortable wearing.
``We wanted something that was practical, that looked like a uniform,'' Esch said. ``But we wanted something that let femininity show through. We didn't want anything too masculine.''
The uniform consists of an off-white jacket with gold trim and buttons down the front. Esch said students may choose between an off-white skirt or green pants to wear with the jacket. She said there are plans for additional pieces of the uniform, such as a hat and insignia for the shoulders.
``We're also looking into getting buttons with squirrels on them,'' she added. The squirrel is the mascot of Mary Baldwin, a private women's college.
The women's program was set up as an alternative to admitting women to all-male Virginia Military Institute in Lexington.
Esch said most of the design work for the uniforms was done by the staff of the Office of the Dean of Students. She said the staff came up with the idea for the jacket by looking through fashion magazines. ``The military look is in this year,'' she said.
Alan Duesterhaus, assistant to the dean of students, said a custom designer in Massachusetts made the prototype design from the ideas offered by the college's staff. Duesterhaus was unsure of the total cost to make the uniform, as the pattern is still being developed.
He said Ippolitti, a Philadelphia-based company that produces the uniforms worn at VMI, will make the uniforms for the college as well.
Esch said each student in the leadership program will receive money from the state to cover the cost of the uniform. She also said the students will have to wear the uniforms only once a week when they attend ROTC class. However, they may also wear them if they march at official college or state functions.
The women's program has been at the center of a legal battle between VMI and the federal government over the institute's all-male status.
The Justice Department sued VMI in 1990 on behalf of a Northern Virginia woman who wanted to attend the school. The school's single-sex policy was originally upheld by U.S. District Judge Jackson Kiser, but that decision was overturned by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In that decision, the appeals court gave state-supported VMI three options: admit women, abandon public financial support, or set up a comparable program for women at another institution.
In 1994, Kiser ruled the women's program at Mary Baldwin was an acceptable, constitutional alternative to admitting women at VMI. Earlier this year, the appeals court also signed off on the program, with some conditions.
Esch said college administrators set a goal of 25 students for the first Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership class, which starts in August. She said 34 students have applied for the program so far, and 20 have been accepted. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS photo
Lori Esch, admissions recruiter for the Virginia Women's Institute
for Leadership, shows off the prototype uniform Monday afternoon.
The uniform will be made by the same company that makes VMI's
uniforms.
by CNB