DATE: Sunday, August 31, 1997               TAG: 9708310069

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: LEXINGTON                         LENGTH:   35 lines

VMI BOARD GETS POSITIVE REPORT ON TRANSITION TO COED STATUS

Virginia Military Institute's transition to a coeducational school has been smooth so far, Superintendent Josiah Bunting III told VMI's governing board Saturday.

VMI welcomed a freshman class of 30 women and 430 men on Aug. 18. Two women and 27 men have dropped out.

Bunting told the Board of Visitors that the integration of women, ending a 158-year all-male tradition, has been a team effort.

He said the mission has been to assimilate women into the cadet corps ``in a way that preserves the raw essentials of a VMI education and keeps intact our reputation for principled excellence and denies neither gender the reasons for which they enrolled.''

Board members said they were pleased with the smooth transition, but they realized the academic year is young. ``I don't think it's over 'til it's over,'' said board member Rhett Clarkson of Richmond. ``I'm still looking over my shoulder.''

The board's cadet corps committee was told Friday that the female ``rats,'' as VMI freshmen are called, are handling the harsh physical and mental discipline as well as the men.

``VMI has not changed,'' said Commandant of Cadets James N. Joyner Jr., a 1967 graduate. ``The policies that we have in place are good and workable, and I feel very strongly that the corps understands what we're about.''

Regimental Commander Timothy O. Trant III, a senior from Disputana and the highest-ranking cadet, told the committee that ``the cadre appears to be completely gender-blind.'' The cadre is the group of upperclassmen assigned to train the rats.

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