THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 2, 1995 TAG: 9508020497
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Short : 33 lines
Virginia Military Institute, under fire for five years by the U.S. Justice Department to admit women, named a vehement defender of single-sex education as its new leader Tuesday.
Josiah Bunting III, who has headed both men's and women's colleges and a co-ed boarding school, will succeed retiring superintendent Maj. Gen. John Knapp on Aug. 16, VMI's board of visitors announced.
The 156-year-old Lexington school and The Citadel in Charleston, S.C., are the only two all-male, state-supported military academies in the country. Both are being challenged to admit women to their corps of cadets.
Bunting, 55, said he was prepared for any legal tangles ahead.
``I am a passionate believer in VMI remaining all-male,'' Bunting said after the board of visitors meeting at Ethyl Corp. headquarters in Richmond.
VMI was forced to create an alternative women's leadership program at Mary Baldwin College in Staunton after the Justice Department sued over the all-male admissions policy in 1990. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the women's program, set to begin later this month, but the Justice Department contends the plan is inadequate and has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case. by CNB