Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 25, 1993                   TAG: 9308250034
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHARLESTON, S.C.                                LENGTH: Medium

COURT STALLS WOMAN'S TRY TO ATTEND CITADEL

"I'm shocked," said Suzanne Coe, attorney for Shannon Faulkner, the 18-year-old woman who had planned to register for classes at the all-male college on Thursday.

Coe said attorneys would either appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court or ask the District Court for a speedy trial.

U.S. District Judge C. Weston Houck had ruled earlier this month that Faulkner could enroll in day classes but not in the corps of cadets while her sex-discrimination suit against the college was heard.

The Citadel appealed and a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, in a 2-1 ruling, said her desire to become a member of the corps of cadets was not met by Houck's order.

Faulkner has been accepted by the University of South Carolina-Spartanburg.

"She has already been admitted . . . and we assume South Carolina remains prepared to let her begin there," the order said.

"Whether a constitutional violation is established by showing that The Citadel pursued a male-only admissions policy in the circumstances of this case remains to be decided," the court said.

The order called for quick arguments on Houck's order, but Citadel attorney Dawes Cooke said a hearing could take several weeks.

"We're pleased with the decision," said Cooke.

Faulkner could not be reached for comment.

"Even if it is a couple of weeks doesn't mean she will have to give up and go somewhere else," said one of her attorneys, Bob Black, about the delay in enrolling.

Faulkner, of Powdersville, S.C., applied to the college last fall. She asked her guidance counselor to delete any reference to her sex on her high school transcript.

The college accepted, then rejected the application after it discovered she was a woman. Faulkner sued, charging sex discrimination.

The Citadel argued Houck's order required coeducation at the school, something the appeals court did not order in a similar case involving Virginia Military Institute, the only other state-supported, all-male military college in the U.S.

In that case, the same appeals court said VMI could keep its all-male policy if Virginia created a similar program for women elsewhere or allowed the college to become private.

The Citadel says a federal Education Act exemption allows it to operate as a single-sex college.