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

DATE: THURSDAY, August 26, 1993                   TAG: 9308260073
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHARLESTON,S.C.                                LENGTH: Medium

A SIGH OF RELIEF AT THE CITADEL

Relief prevailed Wednesday on the oak-shrouded campus of The Citadel after a federal appeals court temporarily blocked a woman from enrolling at the all-male military college.

"I'm glad she's not coming. I just don't really want the school to change," said senior Zarak Ali as platoons of freshmen marched to the mess hall.

"There's a feeling of relief. But I think eventually it is going to happen," he said.

Shannon Faulkner was to have started day classes on Friday while her sex discrimination lawsuit against the school was considered. But the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Tuesday she must wait until it can hold a hearing, scheduled for Sept. 27 in Richmond, Va.

College President Claudius Watts III was briefing seniors on the legal battle when the decision was announced.

"People were ecstatic. We kind of knew it was coming. There was a sort of sixth sense that we would win," said cadet Christopher Trotter as he stood on the windswept parade ground.

Faulkner, 18, said she hadn't decided whether to enroll elsewhere while pursuing her appeal.

U.S. District Judge Weston Houck had ruled earlier this month that Faulkner could enroll in day classes - but not in the military training program - while her lawsuit was heard.

But the appeals court ruled 2-1 that the harm to Faulkner from waiting didn't outweigh the harm to The Citadel if it were forced to admit her. The court noted that Houck didn't give her what she really wanted anyway - admission to the Corps of Cadets - and that she has also been accepted by the University of South Carolina.

One of her attorneys, Valorie Vojdik, said there were no plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to speed the appeal.

Virginia Military Institute, the only other state-supported all-male military college in the nation, also faces a challenge to its admissions policy.

Chris Brown, a Citadel senior, said a woman would be a distraction.

"In a military environment, the goal here is academics and the social side of things comes later," he said. "When those two get mixed up we lose sight of our mission."

by CNB