Grove City College v. Bell, 82-792
| Citation | 465 U.S. 555,104 S.Ct. 1211,79 L.Ed.2d 516 |
| Decision Date | 28 February 1984 |
| Docket Number | No. 82-792,82-792 |
| Parties | GROVE CITY COLLEGE, Individually and on Behalf of its Students, et al., Petitioners v. Terrel H. BELL, Secretary of Education, et al |
| Court | United States Supreme Court |
Section 901(a) of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits sex discrimination in "any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance," and § 902 provides that a recipient's compliance with regulations of a federal agency awarding assistance may be secured by termination of assistance "to the particular program, or part thereof, in which . . . noncompliance has been . . . found." Under the statute a federally assisted program must be identified before Title IX coverage is triggered. Petitioner Grove City College (College), a private, coeducational, liberal arts college, accepts no direct federal assistance, nor does it participate in the Regular Disbursement System (RDS) of the Department of Education (Department), whereby amounts for federal grants to students are advanced to the institution, which then itself selects eligible students and calculates and distributes the grants. However, the College enrolls students who receive direct federal Basic Educational Opportunity Grants (BEOG's) under the Department's Alternative Disbursement System (ADS). The Department concluded that, under applicable regulations, the College was a "recipient" of "Federal financial assistance," and when the College refused to execute an Assurance of Compliance with Title IX's nondiscrimination provisions, as required by the regulations, the Department initiated administrative proceedings, which resulted in an order terminating assistance until the College executed an Assurance of Compliance and satisfied the Department that it was in compliance with the regulations. The College and four of its students then filed suit in Federal District Court, which held that the students' BEOG's constituted "Federal financial assistance" to the College but that the Department could not terminate the students' aid because of the College's refusal to execute an Assurance of Compliance. The Court of Appeals reversed, holding that the Department could terminate the students' BEOG's to force the College to execute an Assurance of Compliance.
Held:
1. Title IX coverage is triggered because some of the College's students receive BEOG's to pay for their education. In view of the structure of the Education Amendments of 1972, the clear statutory lan- guage, the legislative history (including postenactment history) showing Congress' awareness that the student assistant programs established by the Amendments significantly aided colleges and universities, and the longstanding administrative construction of the phrase "receiving Federal financial assistance" as including assistance to a student who uses it at a particular institution, Title IX coverage is not foreclosed merely because federal funds are granted to the students rather than to the College's educational programs. Pp. 563-570.
2. However, the receipt of BEOG's by some of the College's students does not trigger institutionwide coverage under Title IX. In purpose and effect, BEOG's represent financial assistance to the College's own financial aid program, and it is that program that may properly be regulated under Title IX's nondiscrimination provision. Under the program-specific limitations of §§ 901 and 902, the College's choice of participating in the ADS rather than the RDS mechanism for administering the BEOG program neither expands nor contracts the breadth of the "program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance." The fact that federal funds eventually reach the College's general operating budget cannot subject it to institutionwide coverage. Pp. 570-574.
3. A refusal to execute a proper program-specific Assurance of Compliance warrants the Department's termination of federal assistance to the student financial aid program. The College's contention that termination must be preceded by a finding of actual discrimination is not supported by § 902's language. Pp. 574-575.
4. Requiring the College to comply with Title IX's prohibition of discrimination as a condition for its continued eligibility to participate in the BEOG program infringes no First Amendment rights of the College or its students. Pp. 575-756.
687 F.2d 684 (CA3 1982), affirmed.
David M. Lascell, Rochester, N.Y., for petitioners.
Paul M. Bator, Cambridge, Mass., for respondents.
Section 901(a) of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Pub.L. 92-318, 86 Stat. 373, 20 U.S.C. § 1681(a), prohibits sex discrimination in "any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance," 1 and § 902 directs agencies awarding most types of assistance to promulgate regulations to ensure that recipients adhere to that prohibition. Compliance with departmental regulations may be secured by termination of assistance "to the particular program, or part thereof, in which . . . noncompliance has been . . . found" or by "any other means authorized by law." § 902, 20 U.S.C. § 1682.2
This case presents several questions concerning the scope and operation of these provisions and the regulations established by the Department of Education. We must decide, first, whether Title IX applies at all to Grove City College, which accepts no direct assistance but enrolls students who receive federal grants that must be used for educational purposes. If so, we must identify the "education program or activity" at Grove City that is "receiving Federal financial assistance" and determine whether federal assistance to that program may be terminated solely because the College violates the Department's regulations by refusing to execute an Assurance of Compliance with Title IX. Finally, we must consider whether the application of Title IX to Grove City infringes the First Amendment rights of the College or its students.
Petitioner Grove City College is a private, coeducational, liberal arts college that has sought to preserve its institutional autonomy by consistently refusing state and federal financial assistance. Grove City's desire to avoid federal oversight has led it to decline to participate, not only in direct institutional aid programs, but also in federal student assistance programs under which the College would be required to assess students' eligibility and to determine the amounts of loans, work-study funds, or grants they should receive.3 Grove City has, however, enrolled a large number of students who receive Basic Educational Opportunity Grants (BEOGs), 20 U.S.C. § 1070a, under the Department of Education's 4 Alternate Disbursement System (ADS).5 The Department concluded that Grove City was a "recipient" of "Federal financial assistance" as those terms are defined in the regulations implementing Title IX, 34 CFR §§ 106.2(g)(1), (h) (1982),6 and, in July 1977, it requested that the College execute the Assurance of Compliance required by 34 CFR § 106.4 (1982). If Grove City had signed the Assurance, it would have agreed to
"[c]omply, to the extent applicable to it, with Title IX . . . and all applicable requirements imposed by or pursuant to the Department's regulation . . . to the end that . . . no person shall, on the basis of sex, be . . . subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity for which [it] receives or bene- fits from Federal financial assistance from the Department." App. to Pet. for Cert. 126-127.7
When Grove City persisted in refusing to execute an Assurance, the Department initiated proceedings to declare the College and its students ineligible to receive BEOGs.8 The Administrative Law Judge held that the federal financial assistance received by Grove City obligated it to execute an Assurance of Compliance and entered an order terminating assistance until Grove City "corrects its noncompliance with Title IX and satisfies the Department that it is in compliance" with the applicable regulations. App. to Pet. for Cert. 97.
Grove City and four of its students then commenced this action in the District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, which concluded that the students' BEOGs constituted "Federal financial assistance" to Grove City but held, on several grounds, that the Department could not terminate the students' aid because of the College's refusal to execute an Assurance of Compliance. Grove City College v. Harris, 500 F.Supp. 253 (1980).9 The Court of Appeals reversed. 687 F.2d 684 (CA3 1982). It first examined the language and legislative history of Title IX and held that indirect, as well as direct, aid triggered coverage under § 901(a) and that institutions whose students financed their educations with BEOGs were recipients of federal financial assistance within the meaning of Title IX. Although it recognized that Title IX's provisions are program-specific, the court likened the assistance flowing to Grove City through its students to nonearmarked aid, and, with one judge dissenting, declared that "[w]here the federal government furnishes indirect or non-earmarked aid to an institution, it is apparent to us that the institution itself must be the 'program.' " 687 F.2d, at 700.10 Finally, the Court of Appeals concluded that the Department could condition financial aid upon the execution of an Assurance of Compliance and that the Department had acted properly in terminating federal financial assistance to the students and Grove City despite the lack of evidence of actual discrimination.
We granted certiorari, 459 U.S. ----, 103 S.Ct. 1181, 75 L.Ed.2d 429 (1983), and we now affirm the Court of Appeals' judgment that the Department could terminate BEOGs received by Grove City's students to force the College to execute an Assurance of Compliance.
In defending its refusal to execute the Assurance of Compliance required by the...
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