Home / Full timeline / The United States Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, rules that federal law prohibiting racial or sexual discrimination by schools and colleges extends only to the affected program or unit, not to the entire institution.
The United States Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, rules that federal law prohibiting racial or sexual discrimination by schools and colleges extends only to the affected program or unit, not to the entire institution.
1984 (Feb 28)
The United States Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, ruled that federal law prohibiting racial or sexual discrimination by schools and colleges extends only to the affected program or unit, not to the entire institution. The case came to the high Court from Grove College in Pennsylvania, which had refused to sign a required “assurance of compliance” with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. The federal government then began proceedings to disqualify the college from receiving federal scholarship aid. The college and four of its students brought suit in a U.S. District Court in Pennsylvania, challenging the government's actions. Although the district court sided with the college, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that despite the limited nature of the federal assistance received by Grove College, the law applied to the entire institution. The Supreme Court's majority disagreed. Justices Lewis Powell and Sandra Day O'Connor wrote that the case presented "an unedifying example of overzealousness on the part of the federal government" in its previous interpretation of Title IX. While the administration of President Ronald Reagan applauded the decision, many congressmen and women's rights and civil rights groups reacted with alarm. For a while the issue presented by Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 focused on sex discrimination, the broader provisions of the landmark Title VI of the omnibus Civil Rights Act of 1964 contained almost identical language. Thus, these groups feared its application too might be restricted by the Supreme Court's decision in the Grove College case.
References:
- • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.