University of Virginia Library

Decision Due
In Coed Case

By Peter Shea
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

A decision on the constitutionality of
the University's policy on the admission
of women was deferred until this morning
by the three-judge panel hearing the case
in Richmond.

At the hearings on the coeducation
suit, filed by the American Civil Liberties
Union, which started yesterday, the
judges concerned themselves only with
the decision of whether to co educate
immediately. An order on the judge's ruling will
be released today, pending possible rewording
of the order last night by Justice Robert H.
Merhige.

Indications are that another hearing will be
held in November to further consider the
constitutionality of the University's admission
policy.

The ACLU is acting on behalf of four
women who have attempted to gain admittance
to the University's College of Arts and Sciences.
The women have charged that the University's
policy of limiting acceptance to the College to
males only is barred by the Constitution on the
grounds that it is discrimination on the basis of
sex.

The four women were offered admittance to
the College when, at a preliminary hearing
earlier this month, a state court issued a
temporary injunction forcing the University to
accept applicants without regard to sex.

Of the four, only Virginia Anne Scott has
enrolled in the College although Mrs. Jo Anne
Kirstein and Mrs. Nancy Jaffe have entered the
School of General Studies. Nancy L. Anderson,
the fourth plaintiff, is waiting for the final
decision to be handed down by the court.

The order handed down today will only
immediately affect the four plaintiffs although
it may have some effect on the University's
long range admissions policy.

The University, through a report issued by
the Board of Visitors last February, has
instigated plans for implementing coeducation
in the College next year.

However, many persons who have examined
those plans charge that the University is
establishing a quota system for the admission of
women. According to these people, the Board
supposedly ruled that the admission of women
to the College could in no way affect the
number of men admit to the College.