FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          CR
FRIDAY, AUGUST 11, 1995                            (202) 616-2765
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888


    STATEMENT BY ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR CIVIL RIGHTS
 DEVAL L. PATRICK ON TODAY'S SUPREME COURT DECISION NOT TO BLOCK
      SHANNON FAULKNER FROM BECOMING A CADET AT THE CITADEL

     WASHINGTON, D.C. --  Today Chief Justice William Rehnquist
cleared the way for Shannon Faulkner to become the first woman
cadet at The Citadel by denying an emergency request to bar her
entry.  The Chief Justice's order follows more than two years of
litigation by Faulkner and the Justice Department challenging the
South Carolina school's all-male admissions policy.  The Citadel is
one of only two remaining all-male state schools in the nation.
     After declaring the school's all-male admissions policy
unconstitutional, the Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit last   
April ordered state and school officials to admit Faulkner if they
had not established a legally-sufficient alternative program for
women by tomorrow.  The state waited until June to propose an
alternative program, which has not yet been ruled on by the trial
court.  
     Virginia Military Institute (VMI), the other all-male state
school, has established an alternative program for women.  In that
case, the Justice Department has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court,
claiming the VMI alternative is not an adequate remedy for
excluding women from VMI.
     Deval L. Patrick, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights,
issued the following statement today about the Citadel case:
     "Today's action by the U.S. Supreme Court paves the way for
Shannon Faulkner to become the first female cadet at The Citadel. 
Ms. Faulkner has shown tremendous courage in her fight for equal
educational opportunity.  She has opened the doors to one of the
last all-male state schools in the nation.

     Over three years ago Ms. Faulkner applied to The Citadel and
got in, only to be later turned away because of her gender.  Up to
the very end, school officials fought the decisions of the courts
that she was entitled to admission.  The Justice Department will
continue to support Ms. Faulkner and other women who seek to
vindicate their right to equal educational opportunity."

                              # # #
95-442