European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 01, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse Monday february 1, 1993 commentary the stars and stripes b Page 15 time finally Ripe for reinventing government7 David s. Broder As the fights Over Zoc Baird s appointment and the status of Gays in the military show there Are plenty of issues where president Clinton will have trouble in Congress. Sen. William v. Roth jr., r-del., would like him to know there s at least one area where bipartisan help is available. The subject is government reorganization or re inventing government " As Clinton likes to Call it. With the nation s governors in town this week Clin ton Likely will spell out some of his ideas for increasing the flexibility states have in administering something he promised the governors at a or inaugural lunch he would try to do. Another important piece of the reinventing pro Cess got under Way last week when a bipartisan commission of House and Senate members held the first hearing in a scribe that is supposed to produce by december a blueprint for improving the efficiency of the legislative Branch. The big Challenge is what to do about the sprawling Federal bureaucracy. It developed in its present form under the pressures of the great depression world War ii Ana the cold War. Now that those challenges Are past a crying need exists to reinvent government for the tasks at hand. That s where Rotre pcs in. Starting Back in 1981, the first year of the Reagan administration the Dela Ware Republican has been pushing the idea of a com Mission that would like the commissions former president Hoover headed in the immediate Post world War ii period take a top to Bottom look at the Structure and operations of the Federal Behemoth. Oddly neither Ronald Reagan nor George Bush gave any real support to the idea. But now Roth thinks the political planets arc correctly aligned for the Effort. I think the time has come now he said in an inter View. We Sec All the big private corporations restructuring to get ready for 21st-Century Competition. We have to do that with government to make it More efficient and what May take this beyond the talk and Hope state in which it has been mired for the past dozen years is Clinton s commitment to the idea of reinventing government. The president s Domestic policy transition team headed by Al from president of the demo cratic leadership Council that Clinton once led gave him an option paper calling for performance audits of government programs and a bipartisan commission to recommend changes in government Structure. Both suggestions draw heavily on the work of David Osborne the writer who introduced reinventing government into Clinton s Campaign vocabulary. And both arc close to Bills Roth has been pressing for years. One which passed the Senate too late in last year session to be considered by the House would require that Federal agencies develop strategic plans and report annually on their performance in meeting those goals. The Bill also envisages giving the managers much in creased flexibility in reaching those goals a key Clement in what Osborne Calls steering not the companion measure would create a bipartisan commission with a very Broad mandate to recommend in several reports personnel procedural structural an technological changes in government wide operations. To assure that the commission s recommendations would not just a Whir dust Roth proposes that once approved by the president each would take effect in 30 Days unless both houses of Congress vote to reject it. That s the same mechanism which has broken the logjam on the closure of military bases by barring amendments and forcing Congress to vote up or Down on a whole set of shutdowns. / Roth the ranking Republican on the Senate govern mental affairs committee has committee chairman John Glenn a Ohio As a co sponsor of the Bill requiring strategic goals and performance audits. Glenn has introduced his own version of the reinventing government commission Bill but the two arc not too different. While there has been less activity and so far less in Terest on the House Side a key democratic congressional staff member said if Clinton signals that this i something he wants to have happen you la see the legis lation move very it s your move or. President. C Tho Washington Post Vii s victories take Stab at Federal coercion the last time the Federal govern ment tangled with the Virginia military Institute the government s forces got cuffed around at the Battle of new mar Ket by a Confederate contingent leavened by 247 Vii cadets Ages 15 to 17. This event is celebrated in a Large painting in Vii s Chapel Jackson memorial Hall. It is named after Stonewall Jackson who for 10 years taught natural philosophy meaning science and artillery at the Institute in Lexington , the Federal government which always has been a slow learner is engaged in an utterly optional fight with Vii. This time unlike last time it would serve the National interest for the nation Al government to lose. Founded in 1839, Vii is one of this state s 15 publicly supported colleges and universities. Although its most distinguished graduate was a military Man George c. Marshall most graduates pursue civilian careers. However All its graduates Are men and this Given the zeitgeist is the s enrolment is just 1,300 of the 160,000 students a majority of them female in Virginia s state supported four year institutions. But in March 1990, the inscrutable Bush administration s Justice department egged on by the american civil liberties Union and Kindred spirits filed a suit charging that Vii s single sex admission policy violates the constitutional guarantee in the .14th amendment of equal Protection of the the District court had to de cide whether Vii s policy is substantially related to the achievement of important government the court ruled that the six Day trial had produced a record Replete with convincing testimony that single sex under graduate Educa Tion can be beneficial to both males and females. It also held that Vii s and versatile educational system George f. Will Tous Victory. K three judge panel unanimously de that Vii s system is appropriate successful and justifies its admissions would be Funda mentally altered and its distinctive ends thwarted if Vii were forced to accommodate the needs and interests of women. The Adversa Tive system strives to Mold and motivate students by stressing in the court s words physical rigor mental stress absolute Equality of treat ment absence of privacy minute Regula Tion of behaviour and indoctrination in desirable first year cadets Are called rats because the rat is consid ered the lowest animal on this system the court found is Well tailored to the developmental characteristics of some adolescent males. The court also noted the incoherence of the attack on Vii giving women Access to this unique system would necessarily alter the sysum Funda mentally. Nevertheless the Justice department inflamed by the court s conclusion that Vii s system is pedagogically justified appealed the ruling to a higher court. There Vii won what might be a ruinous Victory agree and Success policy. But the judges while adhering to the principle that the 14th amendment does not per be proscribe single sex Edu cation also held that Vii s All male pol icy is an unconstitutional denial of equal Protection unless and until Virginia i ther stops supporting Vii or provides an identical program for females. The court did not explain How to Square this Circle what is for females identical to a system suited Only for adolescent males fj3y the Way women so inclined can participate in the corps of Ca dets at Virginia polytechnic Institute now Vii is asking the supreme court to review this ruling which if allowed to stand will sow uncertainty and hence litigation about such questions As can a Public school operate a single sex sports team say a football team without providing an identical Opportunity for the other sex to participate in the same sport can Virginia continue to give sub Stantial state assistance through tuition subsidy programs to five private women s colleges As Long As there Are not Compa Rable and comparably assisted men s col Leges can government provide facilities for one sex for example for battered wives merely because the policy is based on actual differences Between the needs of the sexes court created confusion is particularly unfortunate regarding permissible educational policies. A 30-year Rush to coeducation has radically reduced the number of single sex educational opportunities. But much recent research suggests that single sex education can be helpful for some Young people in some settings such As inner City adolescent males. Fear of litigation will inhibit potentially useful experimentation. Notice that in the name of expanding diversity and enlarging Freedom governmental coercion is being employed to make schools More alike by snuffing but Vii s nonconformity. Although the Dush. Administration participated in this bullying Vii should expect no better from the new crowd. Vii s corps of cadets marched in i res it Kent Truman s 1949 inaugural Parade and in All but two of the next 10. It was invited both of those times but one Parade fell during exam week and Thi other would not have included the entire corps so Vii declined Vii was no invited to participate in president Clin ton s Parade and it is permissible to suspect that the reason was Vii s deviation from political correctness. Clinton s Parade had passed his administration buckled Down to the pressing business of opening to Gays and lesbians. The Issue his administration says is tolerance of diversity. C the wit Hin ton Post
