Virginia Military Institute is refusing to accept applications from women despite a Supreme Court rejection of its male-only admissions policy as unconstitutional, the Justice Department says.
The department on Tuesday asked the 4th U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond to return the case to a federal court in Roanoke for an injunction barring the state-supported school "from continuing its exclusionary practices."VMI spokesman Mike Strickler said the school has sent letters to female applicants explaining that a decision on whether to admit women has not been made pending a Sept. 18-21 meeting of the institution's governing Board of Visitors.
The governing board is considering making the school private as an alternative to ending its 157-year-old men-only policy.
"If the decision is made that we will be coed, we will immediately send them all the information they will need," he said. "We're not dragging our feet. We're moving along as scheduled."
VMI has received about 50 inquiries from women, he added.
The American Civil Liberties Union praised the Justice Department's action.
"For an institution that prides itself for instilling a sense of honor in its students, VMI has acted most dishonorably," said Sara Mandel-baum, a staff attorney with the ACLU's Women's Rights Project.
"VMI's admissions office continues doing business as usual - by not accepting applications from women," Assistant Attorney General Deval L. Patrick said.