Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 14, 1993 TAG: 9308140209
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ROBERT FREIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
When the Class of '97 reports this weekend, nearly 17 percent of Tech's 420-member corps will be women - a record high.
Tech, which has admitted women to the corps since 1973, confirmed its ranking by obtaining enrollment figures from other military schools, said Lt. Mike Miller, assistant commandant.
"We're pleased with it," Miller said, adding that national attention to issues involving women and military service - including the question of admitting women to all-male Virginia Military Institute - influenced Tech to check its standing.
The nation's larger military schools, including West Point and the Navy and Air Force academies, have more women cadets than Tech's 71. Yet at other schools, women are a smaller percentage of the entire corps.
Tech's incoming freshman corps class of 198 has 34 women. Three of the corps' nine companies will be commanded by female student officers, which is also a record, Miller said.
Tech hasn't specifically recruited women for the corps, but may have indirectly benefited from the continuing controversy about women at VMI, he said.
"We seem to be mentioned as an alternative any time that gets publicity," he said. "That may have drawn attention to us."
In its protracted federal legal battle, VMI's attorneys have argued that the Lexington school is justified in being all-male because women who want a military education at a state school can attend Tech.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has said that VMI and the state need to find an alternative educational opportunity for women who want to attend a state military school.
The court suggested that VMI either admit women, go private, set up a similar all-female program or come up with a fourth, creative option.
Earlier this year, Tech offered to aid VMI's attempt to satisfy the court and retain its 154-year, all-male status.
The corps' commandant, Maj. Gen. Stanton Musser, informally discussed beefing up the Tech program to provide VMI-style training with Maj. Gen. John Knapp, VMI's superintendent.
Miller said there has been no additional discussion of the proposal.
"It's up to the court to decide," he said. "It depends on how they define equal opportunity. All we're saying is that we're open to women, and we're willing to accept them."
Lt. Col. Mike Strickler, a VMI spokesman, said he did not know if VMI's governing board will embrace Tech's offer and present it to the U.S. Justice Department as a means to resolve the dispute.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Jackson Kiser said VMI officials and Gov. Douglas Wilder need to develop a plan and present it to the Justice Department on Sept. 29.
Strickler said that VMI likes Tech's proposal but doubts that the Justice Department will.
by CNB