Grove City College v. Harris

• Decision Date: 26 June 1980
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 78-1293.
• Citation: 500 F. Supp. 253
• Parties: GROVE CITY COLLEGE, Individually and on behalf of its students, Marianne Sickafuse; Kenneth J. Hockenberry; Jennifer S. Smith, and Victor E. Vouga, Plaintiffs, v. Patricia HARRIS, Secretary of the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare; Roma J. Stewart, Director of the United States Office for Civil Rights, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania

500 F. Supp. 253

GROVE CITY COLLEGE, Individually and on behalf of its students, Marianne Sickafuse; Kenneth J. Hockenberry; Jennifer S. Smith, and Victor E. Vouga, Plaintiffs, v. Patricia HARRIS, Secretary of the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare; Roma J. Stewart, Director of the United States Office for Civil Rights, Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 78-1293.

United States District Court, W. D. Pennsylvania, Civil Division.

March 10, 1980.

As Amended June 26, 1980.

David W. Ketler, Grove City, Pa., David M. Lascell, Rochester, N. Y., for plaintiffs.

Mark C. Rutzick, U. S. Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., F. Allen McDonogh, Dept. of Health, Education & Welfare, Atlanta, Ga., for defendants.

PRELIMINARY STATEMENT, FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW, DISCUSSION AND ORDER

SIMMONS, District Judge.

Preliminary Statement

This litigation was generated by the initiation of a compliance proceeding against Plaintiff, Grove City College alone, (hereinafter referred to as "College") under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq.) and the regulations of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, (hereinafter referred to as "HEW") 45 C.F.R. Parts 80, 81 and 86 as promulgated by the then Secretary of HEW, Joseph Califano.

In July of 1977, Secretary Califano requested that the College execute HEW Form 639A, which is captioned, "Assurance of Compliance with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, and the Regulation Issued by the Department of Health, Education and Welfare in Implementation Thereof". (See Exhibit "A" to Plaintiffs' Complaints for a copy of said form)

HEW insisted that the College must execute Form 639A, and contended that since a good number of the College's students received Basic Educational Opportunity Grants, (hereinafter referred to as "BEOG") and Guaranteed Student Loans, (hereinafter referred to as "GSL") and because these programs were financed with Federal funds and were used by the students to defray educational expenses, that the College was caused to be a "recipient" of Federal financial assistance as that term is defined in 45 C.F.R. Part 86, and the College was therefore duty-bound to execute Form 639A.

Further, the Secretary contended that if the College refused to execute this form, the College and the students at the College would no longer be allowed participation in the GSL and BEOG Programs pursuant to § 902 of Title IX (Title 20 U.S.C. § 1682). There was no allegation or proof offered by HEW that the College was, in fact, guilty of discrimination on the basis of sex in any manner whatsoever.

The College contended that it was not a recipient of Federal financial assistance by virtue of the GSL and BEOG Programs, and to the extent that HEW's regulations deemed the College to be such a recipient, they were an invalid extension of the statute, and that in any event, the HEW regulations were overbroad because they were not limited to regulating those programs that received Federal financial assistance. In addition, the College claimed that HEW has promulgated regulations which, as applied to Plaintiffs, exceed the scope of §§ 901 and 902 of Title IX, (20 U.S.C. §§ 1681, 1682) and that said regulations of HEW as the same were applied to the College, violate the First and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. The College, on the basis of conscience and principle, refused to execute the Assurance of Compliance with Title IX.

Thereupon, HEW initiated a compliance proceeding, and subsequently, an administrative hearing was held before HEW Administrative Law Judge, Albert Feldman, on March 10, 1978, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is important to note that only the College was named as a respondent, and none of the College's students were parties and they were not otherwise represented at the administrative proceeding even though over three hundred of them had a direct interest in the outcome of that hearing.

In his opinion, dated September 18, 1978, Judge Feldman did not address the College's constitutional arguments, ruling that his authority was restricted to determining whether the College complied with HEW's regulations. Significantly, however, Judge Feldman stated on page 9, of his decision that:

"There was not the slightest hint of any failure to comply with Title IX save the refusal to submit an executed assurance of compliance with Title IX. This refusal is obviously a matter of conscience and belief."

And, Judge Feldman further wrote on page 9, of his decision:

"There is, very clearly, given to the Director a total and unbridled discretion to require any certificate of compliance that he may desire, whether the same be reasonable, or, to reasonable men, unreasonable. There are no guidelines. There is no necessary continuity, as from one Director to a successor Director whose opinions as to what constituted compliance might be totally different from those of his predecessor."

"The Administrative Law Judge is not persuaded by any of the cases cited that this authority in the regulations has been struck down. Under the circumstances, the regulations being binding upon the Administrative Law Judge, he must rule in accordance therewith. The Director is given unlimited discretion so that the Administrative Law Judge has no authority to rule and is powerless to rule either that the regulations are unconstitutional or that the regulations exceed the statutory authority."

See in the matter of Grove City College, Docket No. A-22, P. 9 (HEW Administrative Proceeding, Sept. 15, 1978). (Initial Decision)

Since the College conceded that it did not sign the Assurance of Compliance required by the regulations, Judge Feldman found that the College was not in compliance. He, therefore, ordered that students who attended the College were ineligible to receive BEOG's or GSL's, and the following is the full text of the Final Order as drafted by Judge Feldman, and as adopted by the Secretary:

"IT IS HEREBY ORDERED:

1. Federal financial assistance administered by the Department of Health, Education and Welfare under the following authorization is to be terminated and refused to be granted to the respondent institution:

a) Basic Education Opportunity Grant Program, 20 U.S.C. § 1070a.

b) Guaranteed Student Loans Program, 20 U.S.C. § 1071 et seq.

2. Additional Federal financial assistance which the respondent institution would be eligible to receive, either from the Department or through the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, but for its noncompliance with Title IX, is to be refused to be granted.

3. This termination and refusal to grant or continue Federal financial assistance shall remain in force until the respondent institution corrects its noncompliance with Title IX and satisfies the Department that it is in compliance.

4. This initial Decision and Order shall become final unless, within twenty (20) days after mailing the initial Decision and Order, either party submits exceptions to the Reviewing Authority in accordance with 45 C.F.R. § 81.102.

/s/ ALBERT P. FELDMAN Albert P. Feldman Administrative Law Judge

Date: September 15, 1978"

Pursuant to 45 C.F.R. § 81.104, Judge Feldman's Order became final on October 14, 1978. On November 29, 1978, Plaintiffs commenced this suit.

In the action before this District Court, the Plaintiffs are Grove City College, and four of its students, namely, Marianne Sickafuse, Kenneth J. Hockenberry, Jennifer S. Smith and Victor E. Vouga.

The Plaintiffs allege that their action arises under Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972, 86 Stat. 373, as amended, 88 Stat. 1862 (1974), 90 Stat. 2234 (1976), 20 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq. ("Title IX"). Plaintiffs further allege that this Court has jurisdiction for review pursuant to Title IX, 20 U.S.C. § 1682; The Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. § 701 et seq.; The Federal Declaratory Judgment Act, 28 U.S.C. §§ 2201 and 2202; 28 U.S.C. § 1331 and 28 U.S.C. § 1361.

The Plaintiffs request this Court to find that the aforestated Order of the Secretary of HEW requiring the College to execute the Assurance of Compliance or in the alternative suffer the termination of the BEOG and GSL benefits to the College's students, including the individual Plaintiffs, is null and void and of no legal effect.

In due course, HEW filed an Answer to the Complaint filed by the Plaintiffs in this case.

The Plaintiffs responded by filing what their attorneys have described as a "Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings", with supporting affidavits pursuant to Rule 12 of the F.R.C.P., but this Court will treat the Motion as one for Summary Judgment pursuant to Rule 12 c and Rule 56 of F.R.C.P.

The Defendant HEW thereupon filed a cross-motion for Summary Judgment.

There are no disputed and/or triable questions of material fact noticed by this Court, the parties have briefed and argued their respective points, and the matter is ripe for a decision by this Court.

The sub-issues of law that must be decided in order to determine the validity of the administrative Order in question are as follows:

1) Does this Court have jurisdiction to presently adjudicate this case?

2) Does Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972, Title 20 U.S.C. §§ 1681 et seq. apply to Plaintiff Grove City College and/or to the four individual Plaintiffs in this case, and if so, to what extent?

3) Do HEW's regulations (45 C.F.R., Part 86) which purport to implement Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972, Title 20 U.S.C. §§ 1681 et seq. unlawfully exceed the statutory authority and legislative purposes of the sex discrimination provisions of the said Education Amendments of 1972 in the area of:

a) Subject matter coverage:

A. As to Grove City College?

B. As to the individual student Plaintiffs?

b) Enforcement coverage:

A. As to Grove City College?

B. As to individual student Plaintiffs?

4) Are HEW's regulations in this case (45 C.F.R., Part 86) unconstitutionally applied

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