ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Sunday, September 15, 1996             TAG: 9609160021
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: B-1  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER

VMI BOARD WILL LISTEN TO PUBLIC 1 HOUR OPEN FOR COMMENTS

For weeks, Virginia Military Institute officials have held closed-door meetings to ponder how to admit women or take the school private.

Now it's the public's turn to say something. On Friday, the day before the board of visitors decides what to do, the board's meeting will be open for public comment for an hour.

As it happens, the board holds its required annual hour of public comment at its September meeting every year, said Bill Berry, rector of VMI's board.

Public comment will be taken from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Friday in Preston Library on VMI's Lexington post, or campus. A sign-up sheet for those who wish to speak will be set up outside the Turman Room in the Preston Library - where the meeting is being held - starting at 12:30 p.m. Speakers will be called in the order they signed up.

The plan is to limit speakers to three minutes each, Berry said. If a few more people than can be accommodated in an hour show up, the board will probably extend the meeting. If it's a lot more than that, the board will have to set a limit, he said.

But because a full dress parade by the Corps of Cadets starts promptly at 4:30 p.m., the board would rather begin earlier than go later, Berry said.

"It is a possibility we might be able to start a little earlier," Berry said. "We will certainly attempt to do that if we have a lot of people."

The next day, the board is expected to decide between two options to comply with the June Supreme Court decision that dictated the school must admit women or give up public funds. VMI administrators have spent the summer studying how to go about bringing coeducation to VMI, while private alumni associations are looking into taking the school private.

On Sept. 10, the U.S. Justice Department filed an injunction that would force VMI to start accepting applications from women. The school has sent letters to the 54 women who have so far inquired about VMI, telling them that applications will be in the mail as soon as the Sept. 21 decision is made.

The Justice Department filed suit against the state-supported men's military college over its discriminatory admissions policy in 1990.

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