FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CR WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26, 1996 (202) 616-2765 TDD (202) 514-1888 STATEMENTS BY ATTORNEY GENERAL RENO AND ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL DEVAL L. PATRICK ON TODAY'S SUPREME COURT DECISION ON VMI WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The U.S. Supreme Court today ruled that Virginia must provide women with the same military-style educational opportunities that it already provides to men. Attorney General Janet Reno made the following statement today: "The Supreme Court overwhelmingly has given life to the promise in the Constitution that all of us deserve an equal shot at educational opportunity. This Justice Department has worked long and hard on this case to convey one message: We support opportunity for men and women, all men and women, to prove themselves as individuals. I congratulate the Solicitor General's office. I congratulate the Civil Rights Division. I am so very proud of what you have accomplished." Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Deval L. Patrick made the following statement today, as well: "From the beginning of this case -- and we have been in it from the very beginning -- we have maintained that women deserve the same educational opportunities as men, as a matter of law and good conscience. Today's decision affirms that view. As the Court wrote, 'women seeking and fit for a VMI-quality education cannot be offered anything less, under the State's obligation to afford them genuinely equal protection.' We are gratified by this decision because it rejects unfounded generalizations that women cannot compete on an equal basis as men in this or any other educational setting. This is a ruling of which all women and all Americans can and should be very proud. I particularly want to acknowledge the very hard work of the staff in the Educational Opportunities and Appellate Sections of the Civil Rights Division for their dedication and commitment to bringing about this very result." * * * VMI is one of only two all-male public institutions of higher education in the country. The other, The Citadel, a military-style educational institution in Charleston, South Carolina, is also being challenged in a suit by the Justice Department and private plaintiffs. # # # 96-305