
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, June 11, 1994                    TAG: 9406110334 
SECTION: FRONT                     PAGE: A7    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: 940611                                 LENGTH: CHARLESTON, S.C.

CITADEL LAWYERS SAY JUDGE HAS ALREADY DECIDED AGAINST SCHOOL

{LEAD} Lawyers for The Citadel asked for a mistrial Friday, saying the judge hearing a woman's sex-discrimination lawsuit against the all-male school may already have made up his mind.

U.S. District Judge C. Weston Houck heard 10 days of testimony last month in the lawsuit filed by Shannon Faulkner, who wants to become the first woman to attend the corps of cadets. Final arguments were set for Thursday.

{REST} Houck ordered the school to draw up a plan for admitting Faulkner to the corps this fall in case he decides in her favor when he issues his ruling, expected in July.

That requirement ``is not only unprecedented but also unfair in the extreme'' and may suggest that Houck has prejudged the case, said the motion filed by Citadel lawyers.

Houck said any plan should include steps to deal with sexual harassment that Faulkner's attorneys say she suffered after starting day classes last semester. Although Houck allowed her to take classes, he has not allowed her to become a cadet while her case is pending.

The motion said the request was based on ``wholesale acceptance'' of arguments made by Faulkner's lawyers.

{KEYWORDS} CITADEL LAWSUIT SEXUAL DISCRIMINATION by CNB