NEWS
November 15, 2002
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.
SPORTS
By THE NEW YORK TIMES | October 29, 2002
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.
NEWS
By BOSTON GLOBE | February 11, 1999
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."
NEWS
By Tracy Wilkinson and Tracy Wilkinson,LOS ANGELES TIMES | March 8, 1997
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.
NEWS
By HAROLD S. WILSON | September 29, 1996
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.
NEWS
By Lyle Denniston and Lyle Denniston,SUN NATIONAL STAFF | September 22, 1996
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.