The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

Volume 5 Number 1

THE CONTINUING IMPACT OF GROVE CITY

While the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1935 remains stalled in Congress, the Grove City decision continues to have a harmful impact on the Federal Government's ability to enforce the nation's civil rights laws.

The Grove City decision, 104 S.Ct. 1211 (1984), which found that the anti discrimination prohibitions of four civil rights statutes extend only to the specific program or activity receiving the funds and not to the entire institution or entity receiving the funds, continues to limit severely the ability of the Federal Government to prevent discrimination. A report that provides numerous examples of the decision's impact on federal enforcement of the nation's civil rights statutes is available from the NAACP LDF, 806 15th Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20005 (202)638-3273 or ACLU, 122 Maryland Avenue, NE, Washington, D.C. 20002 (202)544-1631. On large orders, shipping or postage may be charged. Excerpts from the report, Justice Denied: The Loss of Civil Rights After the Grove City College Decision., follow:

Limitations on the enforcement of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 ...

-When traveling, what is the destination? Neil Jacobson, a man with cerebral palsy, found that the place to which he was flying was the key factor in determining the extent of his civil rights. When he attempted to buy a plane ticket for a trip from Birmingham, Alabama, to Los Angeles, California, Delta Air Lines refused to let him board the flight unless he signed a "medical release form." The form would allow the airline to refuse service or remove him at any point in the flight if it became necessary for the comfort and safety of other passengers. Mr. Jacobson sued in federal court, claiming that the airline was the recipient of three types of federal assistance and therefore was in violation of Section 504. Delta benefited from the following forms of federal funding:

1. direct payments for carrying U.S. mail;

2. subsidies for serving small communities; and

3.indirect assistance through federal support for airport construction, provision of weather reports, air traffic controllers, etc.

Despite Delta's obvious benefit from a broad range of federal programs, Mr. Jacobson lost his case. Why? Since he was traveling between two large cities, there was no jurisdiction. If, on the other I-land, he had been flying between two small communities, based on the special subsidy program to the airline, he might have had a successful case under the post-Grove City College narrow interpretation of Section 504.

Segregated schools permissible in Fort Wayne, Indiana ...

Race-based pupil assignment plans have been a way of life in Fort Wayne (Indiana) Community Schools for decades. In 1984 the Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Education (OCR/ED) issued formal findings based on extensive evidence that the school system had maintained Segregated schools through the construction, expansion and closing of facilities, manipulation of attendance boundaries and assignment of teachers. When Fort Wayne officials refused to comply voluntarily with Title VI, OCR/ED sent the case to an administrative law judge, the first enforcement stage leading to a cutoff of federal funds. The school system responded by filing suit in federal court against the Department, claiming that the discrimination does not occur in any federally-assisted programs and therefore funds should not be terminated. [Administrative proceedings were delayed for three months while the issue was litigated.]

Age discrimination cases affected...

A student at the University of Vermont charged that her dismissal from the Master's English program violated the Age Discrimination Act. [She said that] the professor who caused her dismissal had said that she was "too old" to get a degree. Despite federal money going to the University in the form of student financial aid money, this woman's complaint was never investigated. The Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR/ED) wrote back that "Your dismissal from the Graduate English Program was not investigated because we found that the affected program was not funded by the Department of Education."

Sex discrimination permissible on college campuses...

Frances Zangrillo was a professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City which received almost a quarter of a million dollars in federal funds in 1983 and 1984. When she was denied seniority rights while on maternity leave, Ms. Zangrillo took two steps: she filed a Title IX complaint with the federal government and brought suit in federal court. Her case, it turned out, hinged not on whether she had indeed suffered discrimination, but on the definition of the program in which she was employed. Despite the large federal contribution to the Fashion Institute of Technology, both the administrative complaint and the lawsuit were dismissed because the funds could not be tied directly to the curriculum area in which she taught.

The Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1985 (H.R. 700/S. 431) which would restore full coverage to the civil rights statutes continues to be stalled in the House. The delay is due to amendments which would repeal long-standing Title IX regulations protecting students and employees against discrimination in education programs if they choose to have an abortion, and would broaden a Title IX "religious tenets" -exemption so that it could be invoked by institutions that are religiously "affiliated" not just those that are religiously controlled. The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights continues to hold firm on its position that the bill should simply restore the civil rights statutes, and any amendments that change substantive are unacceptable.