Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 24, 1990 TAG: 9005240523
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A17 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY L. GARLAND
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Gov. Douglas Wilder has come in for a fair and deserved share of criticism in refusing to take a stand on the males-only policy in effect at VMI since 1839, while rushing to order agencies of the commonwealth (and colleges presumably) to divest shares in companies continuing to do business in South Africa.
While there would be absolutely nothing wrong with the state's chief executive taking a position pro or con on VMI's males-only policy, and backing it up with the appointment of like-minded members to the Board of Visitors, there is equally nothing wrong with adopting a hands-off policy in order to allow the issue to be adjudicated by a court of competent jurisdiction, as it deserves to be.
For starters, there is an important issue at stake here: nothing less than the maintenance of maximum diversity of choice in American higher education. That is an issue deserving to be addressed and answered by the U.S. Supreme Court.
And American higher education is truly a smorgasbord, ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous, with heavy emphasis on the latter. Truly, there is something in it for everybody. You can wear the moniker of "doctor" by hanging out long enough at a third-rate university without publicly addressing the dean as an idiot, or you might be required to write a publishable treatise of original research that could withstand the scrutiny of real scholars and have a reading knowledge of two languages other than English - which used to be the norm at America's best universities.
VMI is not and has never been my cup of tea, but I know it well from the days of my extreme youth when my oldest brother (Class of '40) matriculated there, and came to revere the place with a certitude that others have reserved for Holy Mother Church. As he says, none who has not undergone its rigors will ever understand, much less appreciate, the VMI fellowship that is built on the Brother Rat tradition.
Ah, there's that word "fellow," now taboo in the age of personship. But where is it written that all must subscribe to the fem/lib/gay path to the assorted joys of modernity? Isn't democracy all about letting people march to their separate drummers? Shouldn't there be a tiny crevice in the vast panorama of American higher education for those who want to seek their way in an all-male school that's a cross between a barracks and a prison?
But, surely, you say, there is the question of public funds being used to maintain exclusionary policies anathema to our pursuit of a utopia of unisex egalitarianism. Hogwash. Public monies are being used every day to support single-sex institutions of higher learning. It is only a matter of degree.
Right here in Virginia there's Hollins, Sweet Briar, Mary Baldwin, Randolph-Macon Woman's College and Hampden-Sydney. But these are private, you say, and here's a sticking point. But the line between public and private higher education has been much blurred of late, as taxpayer dollars have cascaded - either directly or indirectly - into the coffers of private colleges.
In fact, it's a safe assumption that no private college - however richly endowed - could long survive without the succor of public funds, and most would close their doors immediately.
In 1987 the Congress appropriated more than $9 billion to support postsecondary education in this country, and we may be sure that a good portion of that assisted single-sex schools. Since the early '70s, the state has had a program of tuition grants not tied to financial need for Virginia residents attending private colleges in this state. Those grants have now reached $1,500 a year.
While you can certainly argue that these grants are non-discriminatory in that they are available to both men and women seeking single-sex schools, it is also a fact that they are not equally available. That is, there are more places available to women in Virginia to attend an all-female school than there are for men to attend an all-male school.
But the same can be said in defense of VMI. Women desiring a military education in a corps of cadets can find it down the road at Blacksburg, where the VPI&SU corps of some 550 has welcomed women for some time.
While the governor can be faulted for failing to express a cogent rationale for his hands-off approach, the best justification would be that this is an issue deserving to be resolved by the nation's highest court, and that the case should be allowed to make its way while the federal courts work their will. In about three years, we should have an answer. Good arguments can be made on both sides, but if the court rules against VMI, where does the attack on single-sex education stop?
As far as South Africa is concerned, the governor has contradicted himself by attempting to dictate a policy that he never brought up in his campaign, and which has never been addressed by the General Assembly. It is a bogus issue supported by phony arguments of moral rectitude seeking to disguise a public-relations gambit designed to pacify the left wing of the Democratic Party while the governor provides inspiration for such oracles of conservative opinion as the Wall Street Journal.
If such policies of divestment would actually cause American business to clear out of South Africa - rather than operate through the back door of intermediaries, etc. - we can be certain that there are plenty of others willing to take up the slack. And, if we want to be simon-pure, let us cut ourselves off from all nations whose internal policies we don't like.
by CNB