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.  
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