FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          CR
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1996                        (202) 616-2777
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

STATEMENT BY DEVAL L. PATRICK ON TODAY'S ACTION TO PROMPT VMI TO COMPLY WITH THE SUPREME COURT'S DECISION

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Justice Department today told a federal court that the Virginia Military Institute is refusing to accept applications for admission from women, as it does from men, despite a recent Supreme Court ruling.

Last June, the U.S. Supreme Court said Virginia must provide women the same type of unique educational opportunity it provides men at VMI. In motions filed today in the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and in the U.S. District Court in Roanoke, the Department said the Commonwealth must craft a remedy to end its practice of denying equal educational opportunities to women. In the meantime, the Justice Department said that Virginia must take no steps to impede women from applying to VMI.

Deval L. Patrick, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, issued the following statement today:
"In June, the Supreme Court said Virginia must provide women with the same educational opportunities that men enjoy.

"But after more than six years of litigation, and more than two months after the Supreme Court's decision, VMI's admissions office continues doing business as usual--by not accepting applications from women.

"Even though VMI now accepts applications from men for next year's freshman class, it will not even mail applications out to women requesting them. That's wrong.

"Right now, women in their last year of high school are making decisions about where to go to college. They deserve the same chance as men to at least apply for the unique educational opportunities that VMI offers. That's what the June decision was about.

"Our motion is a very modest request. It's an appropriate way of balancing the present needs of female applicants with VMI's stated intention of making a decision on the future course of the school.

In its motions, the Justice Department asked the Appellate Court to remand the case to the District Court to enjoin the school from continuing its exclusionary practices. The court papers were filed after informal efforts by the Justice Department to resolve the matter were unsuccessful.
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96-437