University of Virginia Library

visitors reject
hereford plan

adopt instead
plan for
unlimited
coeducation by 1972

by michael b. russell
cavalier daily staff writer

Meeting Wednesday, Thursday and
Friday of last week, the Board of Visitors
set down in a resolution released Friday
afternoon a plan for coeducation of the
University that they hope would satisfy
the requirements of the Richmond
district court which earlier ordered the
University to file such a plan.

At Friday's meeting, the Board of
Visitors discovered that their meeting was
being monitored by "an electronic
eaves-dropping device... attached to the
underside of the table in the board room
in Pavilion VIII," according to a
statement made by the Rector of the
University Frank W. Rogers. In his release
Mr. Rogers continued, "It was apparently
operative during much of today's meeting
of the board and possibly during previous
meetings held in that room. An
investigation is under way."

The Visitors coeducation resolution,
which provides for a two-year transitional
program, was adopted instead of a plan
which was drawn up by Mr. Frank
Hereford, the University's Provost, which
established a ten year transitional
program.

Mr. Hereford's report was challenged
from several quarters as being a "quota"
system. Further, the University's entire
admissions policy with regard to women
was challenged in May in a Richmond
District Court by four women who
charged the University with
discrimination. As a result of the court
action, one young lady was admitted to
the college and the University was
ordered to provide the court with a
coeducation plan by October 31, 1969.

The University will now present to the
court the resolution adopted Friday in
which "the Board desires to make it
absolutely clear its intent in removing the
restriction on the admission of women to
the College of Arts and Sciences..."

Instead of the ten-year transition
period as Mr. Hereford proposed, the
Board has established a two-year program
which will remove all restrictions on the
admission of women by the fall of 1972.

By phasing admissions, new and transfer,
over two years instead of ten was
indicated by the Board as being the
fastest possible plan that the University
could institute within the framework of
present and planned building and
financial forecasts.

Fall 1970 will see the admission of
450 women, 50 more than Mr. Hereford's
report called for, and, in the fall of 1971,
the admission of 550 women.

Continuing, the resolution states,
"with the 1972-73 session, there shall be
no limitation on the number of women
admitted either as entering or transfer
students within the overall limitations of
the total number of all such male and
female entering or transfer students; and
that this constitutes the University of
Virginia's plan for the admission of
women as required by order of the special
three-judge federal court dated 30
September 1969.

Richard Boote, President of the
Human Relations Council, commented,
"I'm more satisfied with the Board's
resolution than with the Hereford
report." "Believe it or not it is a good
thing," said Kevin Mannix, a member of
the subcommittee of the University's
Future of the University Committee. "I
believe the courts had a lot to do with the
decision as well as the Student Council
efforts to persuade the Visitors that a
quota system wouldn't work." Mr.
Mannix presented the Visitors with his
minority report Wednesday, encouraging
them not to adopt the Hereford plan.

As for the matter of the Board
meeting being "bugged", according to an
article which appeared in Saturday
evening's Daily Progress, the device itself
has, or will be sent to the FBI for an
analysis of the parts. Wade Bromwell,
Director of Security, refused to allow a
reporter from the Progress to photograph
the device, indicating that the University
felt that too much information might
influence the investigation.

In accordance with this, the Progress
article continues, Raymond Bice, the
Secretary of the Board, and one of the
people present when the "bug" was
found, refused to discuss the incident.