THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, July 9, 1996 TAG: 9607090273
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: THE WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: 58 lines
Virginia Military Institute likely will wait until at least September before deciding how to respond to the Supreme Court ruling that struck down the college's males-only admission policy, the chairman of VMI's Board of Visitors said Monday.
Chairman William W. Berry also sharply rebuked VMI graduates who have said that the college should not alter its rigorous physical training program - known as the ``rat line'' - to accommodate women, a move that some alumni hope would dissuade women from applying to the 157-year-old Lexington school.
``There is . . . a very small segment of alumni that say, `Shave her head. Put her in a rat line. She won't last long. . . .' That's emotion talking, not logic,'' said Berry, a Richmond utility consultant.
In ruling that VMI cannot exclude women and keep its state funding, the court did not set a specific date for the college to change its admission policy. VMI officials will meet this week to begin deciding how to respond to the ruling. Their options are to keep VMI all-male by making it a private college - a move that state financial reports indicate could cost as much as $400 million - or to enroll women, which officials say probably would begin in the fall of 1997.
Berry said Monday that VMI directors need to study what would be involved in admitting women and that the Board of Visitors will appoint a panel this week to study the college's options and report back to the board in September. Berry said the review likely will include an examination of how the U.S. service academies made the transition to accepting female cadets two decades ago.
Some alumni have suggested buying the college from the state and making it private. State asset reports and fund-raising estimates indicate that buying VMI's buildings and equipment and creating an endowment to cover operating and capital expenses could cost as much as $400 million. That is more than double the VMI alumni foundation's $180 million endowment.
A report May 31 by the state's Division of Risk Management estimated the value of VMI's 81 buildings at $137 million and their contents at $38 million. The college gets an additional $10 million annually in state support, and replacing that could require as much as $200 million in private funds to generate an equivalent income, officials said.
Officials at VMI, the State Council for Higher Education and state budget analysts cautioned that the estimates give only broad outlines of the cost of taking VMI private. The figures don't reflect the value of VMI's 140 acres, its historic status and architecture, and the fact that the whole of an institution's value can differ from the sum of its components.
A VMI panel studying privatization has hired fund-raising, financial and educational consultants, but they have not yet reported their findings.
About 200 female high school students a year have inquired about applying to VMI in recent years, but only six have done so since the Supreme Court issued its ruling June 26, college officials said.
KEYWORDS: MILITARY ACADEMIES U.S. NAVY U.S.
SUPREME COURT RULINGS by CNB