Admit Women

The all-white, all-male Annapolis Elks Lodge 622 took a step this week toward admitting women, a move that could result in every Elks lodge in the nation following suit.By a 48-3 vote Wednesday night, the lodge membership asked the Elks national convention to change its bylaws to admit women.If approved by the national convention next summer, the change would mean that every Elks lodge in the country would have to admit women, lodge Exalted Ruler George Bond said, because individual lodges can't change their bylaws.

BOSTON -- Once more we approach Aug. 26, the anniversary of women's suffrage, with mixed feelings. It's been 84 years since women won the right to vote and still the only women in the race for White House housing are ladies, as in first lady. This year, Iraqi women, under their new constitution, will hold 25 percent of the government seats, but American women, under their venerable old Constitution, will hold only 13.8 percent of the congressional seats. "Failure is impossible," said Susan B. Anthony.

Dartmouth College, which helped inspire the drunken and debauched antics in the movie "Animal House," says its storied fraternities will begin admitting women next fall, the first step toward what is likely to be the complete transformation of the Greek system on campus.The trustees and college President James Wright said in a letter announcing the decision Tuesday that it was aimed at encouraging "respectful relations between women and men" and ensuring "opportunities to meet and learn from, as well as develop enduring friendships with, others who have different backgrounds, experiences, and expectations."

AUGUSTA, Ga. - Martha Burk arrived yesterday. She conducted a series of interviews at the house of a local lawyer. They weren't at her hotel because she doesn't want people to know where she is staying in Augusta. Going out to a local restaurant also is out of the question. She will take all of her meals in. "I'm pretty well insulated," said Burk, sipping coffee at the dining room table. "I haven't been near the club." That will change today when the head of the National Council of Women's Organizations will make her long-awaited appearance.

The laid-back college town of Lexington, Va., cherishes its Revolutionary and Civil War history along with its local eccentrics. And the state-supported Virginia Military Institute is just part of the community -- albeit a part of the community where women need not apply.Any day now, after six years of legal wrangling, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether VMI has been violating the Constitution by refusing to admit women and, if so, what should be done about that.But in Lexington, the residents -- even those who support women's rights and believe VMI's policies can't be defended -- take a more neighborly view.

AUGUSTA, Ga. - Martha Burk arrived yesterday. She conducted a series of interviews at the house of a local lawyer. They weren't at her hotel because she doesn't want people to know where she is staying in Augusta. Going out to a local restaurant also is out of the question. She will take all of her meals in. "I'm pretty well insulated," said Burk, sipping coffee at the dining room table. "I haven't been near the club." That will change today when the head of the National Council of Women's Organizations will make her long-awaited appearance.

WASHINGTON -- Short on legal options and unsure about its financial future, the Virginia Military Institute marched reluctantly away from 157 years of tradition as it agreed yesterday to open its cadet ranks to women next year.Facing a new court order to obey the Constitution's demand for equality and ending weeks of internal debate over its future, VMI's Board of Visitors split 9-8 in voting to remain a public college but to go coed.VMI Superintendent Josiah M. Bunting III said the college would make "absolutely minimal" changes to accommodate women, but would take steps to assure their personal privacy in the barracks.

VIENNA, Austria -- The men of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra play a music they say is unique. It is a sound of distinctly full brass and velvety strings, with masterfully balanced rests and fortes, a sound shaped by Brahms and Mahler, a sound -- some musicians say -- that only this all-male, all-white orchestra can make.The claims of some members that the exclusionary policies of the philharmonic give the ensemble its greatness have created a furor -- one quieted but not resolved when the orchestra voted last week to admit women for the first time in its 155-year history.

The head of the women's group pressing Augusta National Golf Club to admit women as members demanded yesterday that the PGA Tour dissociate itself from the Masters tournament until the membership issue was resolved. Martha Burk, the chairwoman of the National Council of Women's Organizations, called on Tim Finchem, the commissioner of the PGA Tour, to withdraw recognition of the Masters, which is at Augusta National, before the start of the Tour Championship on Thursday. Burk said that the PGA Tour's policy against holding events at golf clubs that practice race or sex discrimination did not square with Augusta's refusal to admit women as members.

A few weeks ago, President Bush, congratulating the 1,000 female graduates of West Point, called the U.S. military the "greatest equal opportunity employer around." Someone ought to let Judge Jackson Kiser know. Kiser, a U.S. District Court judge in Roanoke, Va., ruled this week that Virginia Military Institute's 152-year-old male-only policy should remain intact.Fifteen months ago the Justice Department brought a sex-discrimination case against VMI, charging that the school -- whose budget is one-third taxpayer funded -- violated the 14th amendment of the Constitution by refusing to admit women.

THE REALLY shocking thing about the flare-up over the Augusta National Golf Club's recent vow to admit women members only when it's ready is that both the protagonist and antagonist have been nicknamed "Hootie." Otherwise, this is a familiar American socio-drama, with old rich guys hectored -- in this case, by women's rights activists -- until they catch up with the times. It has legs because it involves the prestigious Masters Tournament, a worldwide TV audience of 150 million, and big-time corporate interests.

The head of the women's group pressing Augusta National Golf Club to admit women as members demanded yesterday that the PGA Tour dissociate itself from the Masters tournament until the membership issue was resolved. Martha Burk, the chairwoman of the National Council of Women's Organizations, called on Tim Finchem, the commissioner of the PGA Tour, to withdraw recognition of the Masters, which is at Augusta National, before the start of the Tour Championship on Thursday. Burk said that the PGA Tour's policy against holding events at golf clubs that practice race or sex discrimination did not square with Augusta's refusal to admit women as members.

Dartmouth College, which helped inspire the drunken and debauched antics in the movie "Animal House," says its storied fraternities will begin admitting women next fall, the first step toward what is likely to be the complete transformation of the Greek system on campus.The trustees and college President James Wright said in a letter announcing the decision Tuesday that it was aimed at encouraging "respectful relations between women and men" and ensuring "opportunities to meet and learn from, as well as develop enduring friendships with, others who have different backgrounds, experiences, and expectations."

VIENNA, Austria -- The men of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra play a music they say is unique. It is a sound of distinctly full brass and velvety strings, with masterfully balanced rests and fortes, a sound shaped by Brahms and Mahler, a sound -- some musicians say -- that only this all-male, all-white orchestra can make.The claims of some members that the exclusionary policies of the philharmonic give the ensemble its greatness have created a furor -- one quieted but not resolved when the orchestra voted last week to admit women for the first time in its 155-year history.

In admitting women, the Virginia Military Institute has lost a valiantly contested skirmish, but it may have won the next war.The transformed nature of military conflict in the next century may require the merging of the cavalier-warrior tradition with that of the embattled, heroic frontier womanhood of Virginia. Such a merger may strengthen rather than weaken the conduct of battle.This assumes that there are conditions and situations where well-trained women of talent and honor can serve with distinction, but the "killing fields" will remain the preserve of men.Founded in 1839, shortly after Nat Turner's bloody slave insurrection in Southhampton County, VMI was pre-eminently a Southern and Virginia institution dedicated to producing the warrior prince, the disciplined gentleman who knew the secrets of the military arts, so scorned in peace and honored in war.Modeled after West Point, the graduates, mostly sons of planters, generally pursued peace in business, law, and the ministry.

WASHINGTON -- Short on legal options and unsure about its financial future, the Virginia Military Institute marched reluctantly away from 157 years of tradition as it agreed yesterday to open its cadet ranks to women next year.Facing a new court order to obey the Constitution's demand for equality and ending weeks of internal debate over its future, VMI's Board of Visitors split 9-8 in voting to remain a public college but to go coed.VMI Superintendent Josiah M. Bunting III said the college would make "absolutely minimal" changes to accommodate women, but would take steps to assure their personal privacy in the barracks.

The Annapolis Elks Lodge 622 will get more time to comply with a newcity anti-discrimination law, despite opposition from the City Council's two black aldermen.By a vote of 5-2, the council passed the extension Monday night, giving the Elks Lodge another year to comply with the law, which took effect Jan. 1. The law denies city liquor licenses to private clubs with discriminatory bylaws.Of 12 private clubs in the city, only the Elks Lodge is likely tobe affected by the law. The lodge's bylaws, which are adopted by members nationwide, deny membership to women but not to blacks.

THE REALLY shocking thing about the flare-up over the Augusta National Golf Club's recent vow to admit women members only when it's ready is that both the protagonist and antagonist have been nicknamed "Hootie." Otherwise, this is a familiar American socio-drama, with old rich guys hectored -- in this case, by women's rights activists -- until they catch up with the times. It has legs because it involves the prestigious Masters Tournament, a worldwide TV audience of 150 million, and big-time corporate interests.

The laid-back college town of Lexington, Va., cherishes its Revolutionary and Civil War history along with its local eccentrics. And the state-supported Virginia Military Institute is just part of the community -- albeit a part of the community where women need not apply.Any day now, after six years of legal wrangling, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether VMI has been violating the Constitution by refusing to admit women and, if so, what should be done about that.But in Lexington, the residents -- even those who support women's rights and believe VMI's policies can't be defended -- take a more neighborly view.

There is nothing wrong with people of common backgrounds and interests forming clubs and enjoying each other's company. Sometimes these groups limit membership. This is not always a sign of prejudice. Certainly no one who was in Annapolis this week for a legislative hearing attended by the Elks and other clubs that exclude women could say they sensed malicious intent. Indeed, these people came across as well-meaning and dedicated to good works.Nonetheless, the legislation they came to Annapolis to denounce -- a bill that would strip their clubs' liquor licenses unless bylaws are changed to admit women -- has merit and ought to be passed.