THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 9, 1996 TAG: 9610090391
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 65 lines
The alumni of Virginia Military Institute, bitterly divided just weeks ago about the school's future, are banding together to ensure that VMI begins coeducation ``nobly and honorably,'' VMI's leader said Tuesday.
And the school is pushing forward to aggressively recruit women so next year's freshman class will have at least 30 women, said VMI's superintendent, Maj. Gen. Josiah Bunting III.
Among alumni, ``I think there is already a real willingness to attempt to salve and bind up the wounds that may have resulted from the debate,'' Bunting said. ``It's a division of opinion which will not be allowed to continue by either side.''
The opinion of the typical alumnus, he said, goes something like this: ``Even though I don't like the fact that VMI will have to admit women, I expect them to do it nobly, honorably and professionally. I love this school and will continue to support it.''
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the state-supported college had to admit women. A corps of alumni pushed for VMI to become private and remain all-male, but last month the school's Board of Visitors voted, 9-8, to stay public and admit women next fall.
Bunting, himself a 1963 alumnus, was in Norfolk on Tuesday to review the developments with nearly 200 alumni at a luncheon at the Norfolk Marriott. The meeting was closed to the press, but afterward Bunting reflected during an hourlong interview on VMI's legal fight and its future as a coed school.
Hunter Clarke, a Norfolk lawyer and 1958 graduate who attended the luncheon, agreed with Bunting's assessment. ``We know it has to be done,'' Clarke said, ``and we'll do a damned good job of it. I think most people felt that VMI . . . had gotten its orders from the Supreme Court and would do what had to be done in a professional and dignified manner.''
Next on VMI's agenda, Bunting said, is to actively recruit women about to graduate from high school. The school announced last week that it was sending literature to 30,000 college-bound females. In addition, Bunting said, VMI will contact leaders of high school Junior ROTCs and headmasters of private coed and all-girls schools to attract top-notch female candidates.
He knows there will be hurdles. ``I think VMI's reputation among high school students has been a forbidding, Spartan and military one,'' Bunting said. So VMI recruiters will stress the Lexington school's liberal arts curriculum, its strength in math and engineering, and emerging programs such as international studies and environmental engineering, Bunting said.
VMI has received 116 inquiries from female seniors, spokesman Mike Strickler said Tuesday. At least two have said they will come to the school's open house on the weekend of Oct. 19, Strickler said.
Bunting expects to draw ``the pioneers - the stout-hearted, feisty kind of people who want to try something new.'' He'd like to attract 30 to 40 women in next year's freshman class of about 400. That will provide enough mutual support to help surmount the inevitable pressures and publicity, he said.
Bunting will also ask the General Assembly for an additional $5 million next year to help prepare the barracks for female students and to hire a handful of female administrators. He said new buildings will not be needed.
``Although the decision is not one any of us wanted,'' Bunting said, ``I'm resolved to prove it can be done, and to do it well, nobly and successfully.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Josiah Bunting III, VMI's leader, says the school will handle its
transition ``honorably.''
KEYWORDS: VMI by CNB