DATE: Wednesday, March 12, 1997             TAG: 9703120495

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B9   EDITION: FINAL 

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VIRGINIA

LEXINGTON - Virginia Military Institute has accepted 33 female applicants so far, and VMI officials said Tuesday they now believe they will have enough female candidates to successfully integrate the all-male school next fall.

Only eight women have committed to becoming the first female recruits in VMI's 157-year history by sending in tuition deposits. But if admissions trends from previous years continue, at least 16 others will accept by this spring, school officials said.

VMI leaders have said they want about 30 female cadets in next's fall first-year class. But yesterday they said they would be satisfied with more than 20.

``If things continue, and things go well, I think that's very reachable,'' said Vern Beitzel, the director of admissions, adding that about 20 applications from women are still being reviewed and that he expects to receive at least 15 more in the coming weeks. ``We feel good about that.''

Tuesday's optimistic report came as the school held its first campus-wide orientation on female cadets since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that VMI had to admit women or lose state funding. The school decided in September to open its doors to women.

The 62 applicants include 19 from Virginia, five from Pennsylvania, three from California, one from Russia and one from Taiwan, school officials said. Of the 33 accepted so far, 15 are from Virginia.

In Tuesday's hour-long session - the first in a series of such meetings that will be held on the campus in the coming months - VMI's leaders and several former cadets warned students, faculty and school staff that the world will be watching closely how they respond to the influx of women. CENTRAL VIRGINIA GOP lieutenant governor hopeful hits petition goal RICHMOND - T. Coleman Andrews, a Northern Virginia businessman, said Tuesday that he has collected 18,486 signatures, easily exceeding the 16,811 needed to get his name on the June 10 GOP primary ballot. He is the first Republican candidate for lieutenant governor to meet his signature goal.

``The petitions speak for themselves,'' said Andrews, who claimed to have signatures from each of the state's 135 counties and cities.

To qualify for the ballot, a candidate must have at least 200 signatures from each congressional district. Andrews' totals ranged from 369 in the 3rd District in central and southeast Virginia to 3,409 in the 7th, which stretches from central to Northern Virginia.

``All of this was done by volunteers at a time when most campaigns are paying $1 or $2 per signature'' to professional signature-gatherers, Andrews said.

State Del. Jay Katzen of Fauquier County, who also is seeking the nomination, also is using only volunteers, spokesman Scott Weinberg said.

A spokesman for GOP activist John Hager of Richmond, the third candidate for the nomination, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment. COMING UP

TODAY:

HARRISONBURG - Dr. Gordon K. Davies, director of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, will present the James Madison Lecture during James Madison University Founder's Day Convocation.

RICHMOND - Faculty from Old Dominion University tour Richmond by bus and visit area high schools and talk about college life. MEMO: From The Associated Press. KEYWORDS: CANDIDATE LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR RACE

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