Friday, November 20, 1998 U.S. judge had ended court supervision VMI effort to be coed isn't over, feds say VMI has been required to file quarterly reports updating the government on its efforts to assimilate women into the school. By MATT CHITTUM THE ROANOKE TIMES The Justice Department isn't ready to let go of Virginia Military Institute yet. Justice Department attorneys have objected to U.S. District Judge Jackson Kiser's Jan. 15 order releasing VMI from court supervision of its efforts to assimilate women into its corps of cadets. It's too early to tell if VMI has remedied its constitutional woes, the government claims in a motion filed last month in federal court. Besides, government attorneys didn't get to have their say before Kiser made his decision, according to the motion. Kiser admonished the government for taking too long to respond in an order he filed last week. He entered his ruling nearly a month after the Justice Department knew he was considering the matter, and the motion was "becoming stale." Nevertheless, he ordered VMI to respond within 20 days to Justice Department requests for information ranging from financial aid and admissions statistics to physical fitness testing and sexual harassment. VMI is "gathering some general data" in response to the request, spokesman Mike Strickler said. Kiser consistently ruled in favor of VMI during the seven-year court battle over whether the state-funded Lexington school's all-male admissions policy was unconstitutional. It was Kiser who ruled that setting up a separate all-female military leadership program at Mary Baldwin College kept VMI within the onstitution. The U.S S upreme ourt overturned that ruling 7-1 in June 1996. Since then, VMI has been required to file quarterly reports updating the government on its efforts to assimilate women into the corps of cadets. Kiser's January ruling, which released the school from court supervision, dismissed the 1990 lawsuit. The first 30 women arrived at VMI in August 1997, with 22 completing the year. Another 34 women matriculated this year. So far, eight have dropped out. Except for some suspensions and some sexual contact between male and female freshmen, the assimilation of women has been largely without incident. After two years of reporting to the government, VMI asked Kiser to dismiss the case in December. The Justice Department claims it wrote a letter to Kiser saying it would respond to VMI's motion by Jan. 20. In the order he entered Friday, Kiser said neither he nor the court ever received the letter. He dismissed the case Jan. 15. Five days later, the Justice Department filed its motion asking him to reconsider. VMI had failed to provide sufficient information to prove it was in compliance with the Supreme Court ruling. Kiser's dismissal was premature because VMI's conversion to co-education is still in its inception, the motion said. The government cites, among other things, statements by a female cadet in The Roanoke Times that while women have been admitted to VMI, their admission has not necessarily been embraced. If, after VMI's response to the government's request for information, either party wants a hearing on the matter, Kiser said he will hear arguments and decide whether to grant the government's request to reopen the case.