One month before the interview scheduled by her state committee, Lach received a letter from William Barber. Barber, secretary of the Rhodes Scholarship Committee in America. In that letter, Barber told Lach he had instructed the Minnisota state committee to void her application because of her sex.

Lach yesterday said the American Civil Liberties Union is currently deciding how to handle her case. She said she does not expect a decision from them before 1974.

Reached yesterday at the American Rhodes Scholarship Committee headquarters in Wesleyan, Conn., Barber said the state Rhodes committees can only act in conjunction with the criteria for candidacy established in the Parliamentary statute.

"As guests beneficiaries of this scholarship, American colleges have no right to violate the criteria for eligibility," Barber said.

He added that any candidates who do not fulfill the stipulated criteria will be disqualified from the competition.

However, an administrator in the Office of Civil Rights in Washington D.C., yesterday said the attitude of the American Rhodes Scholarship Committee is "unnecessarily cautious."

Gwendolyn Gregory, special assistant to the director of the Civil Rights office, said she has had informal contact with the British trustees of the scholarship fund and she said she believes they are willing to consider a change in the sex requirement.

"If there is enough pressure from the United States, the Rhodes trustees could encourage Parliament to pass an act that would allow women to receive Rhodes scholarships," Gregory said.

She said it is likely that Parliament would consent to any changes in the statute recommended by the trustees.

Gregory outlined two courses of action available to achieve alteration of the criteria.

The first and more difficult course would be for the Office of Civil Rights to threaten American colleges with federal fund cut offs pending their endorsement of women applicants, Gregory explained.

According to title 9 of the 1972 Education Act, Gregory said, colleges could be forced to withdraw.

Title 9 prohibits discrimination in educational institutions on the basis of sex, race or religion. The withdrawal of Americans from the Rhodes competition could place pressure on the Rhodes trustees to alter the stipulations, Gregory said. Or it could simply result in America's permanent withdrawal from the fund, which is unlikely, she said.

The more reasonable action would be to formalize negotiations with the British trustees. The Civil Rights Office will do this is enough women apply for the Rhodes, she added. She declined to estimate how many women applicants would be needed to precipitate federal action.

Few women at Yale and Princeton have thus far filed applications for the Rhodes.

Edward Cox, the associate dean of Princeton University, yesterday said no woman have filed applications for the scholarship. An aide to the associate dean at Yale yesterday said one woman has filed an application but the college has not yet endorsed any candidates