Virginia Military Institute and Women's Rights
United States v. Virginia, 1996
From Jone Johnson Lewis,
Your Guide to Women's History.
Virginia Military Institute (VMI), a state-supported college in Virginia, did not admit women until forced to do so when a 1996 court decision determined that state-supported educational institutions may not exclude women.
The United States Supreme Court, in United States v. Virginia, overturned a US District Court decision, and found that it was unconstitutional for a school funded by public funds to exclude women. The decision, announced on June 26, was a 7 to 1 majority, with Justice Clarence Thomas recusing himself. (He did not give a reason, but his son was attending VMI at the time).
The Department of Defense then announced that it would remove funding for ROTC programs if the school chose to go private to avoid having to admit women. Even though the Congress passed a 1997 resolution which attempted to prohibit the Defense Department from defunding ROTC programs at any of six major universities, VMI chose to admit women.
The first female cadets began at VMI in 1997, and because some had transferred from other colleges, the first graduated in 1999.
VMI held to gender-neutral training requirements for physical and technical training until 2008 when they instituted gender-normed training standards as other military colleges already had.
