Sundae Punch

Grove City vs. Form 639A

Nestled in the rolling farm land of western Pennsylvania since 1876, little Grove City College has never bothered anybody. Especially not the Government. Especially not about money. Like other institutions in the Christian College Coalition, G.C.C. is fiercely protective of its independence, both fiscal and spiritual. Dreading secular influence, the Presbyterian-affiliated school prides itself on never having taken a nickel from Washington, even in a time when private colleges get over a third of their operating budgets directly or indirectly from federal sources. Frugal Grove City provides its 2,200 students with a strong academic program, particularly notable in engineering and accounting, plus room and board, all for just $3,250 a year.

Grove City is fully coed, too, with equal facilities for women. So when the Department of Health, Education and Welfare sent along Form 639A (Assurance of Compliance with Title IX) to be filled out, Grove City's President Charles MacKenzie ignored it. Since the Government was not funding the college, and since Grove City has no sexual discrimination, MacKenzie reasoned, the form did not apply. HEW did not agree. Its weapon, in cases of noncompliance, is to cut off Government funds.

While Grove City was getting no direct federal aid, its students were receiving some $618,000 a year total in individual loans and $110,000 in Basic Educational Opportunity Grants (BEOG). Unless Form 639A was filled out and returned, warned HEW, the Government would cut off all that money. Given such a threat, Grove City College and four students sued to block the HEW action.

Last week G.C.C. won the case. Pittsburgh Federal District Court Judge Paul Simmons ruled that the loans are not Government aid to the college, since students (or parents) ultimately pay them back. As to BEOG money, while it does go to the college, Simmons ruled that the Government has no legal right to penalize individual students as "a remedy for coercing the college." In perhaps the unkindest cut of all, Simmons declared HEW guilty of bad forms. Number 639A technically should not be used to check up on Title IX compliance, said he, because it contains a passage about sexual discrimination in faculty hiring, though Title IX applies only to students.

G.C.C. staged a sinful victory celebration: an orgy of ice cream sundaes served to the entire student body. In Washington HEW declined to comment on the decision. HEW may or may not appeal. But the issue will be hotly contested if it ever winds up in court again, for the question of federal influence in U.S. colleges troubles academics as deeply as Title IX compliance concerns the Government. As for Form 639A, even though 19,500 completed copies are now sitting in HEW files, a new version will no doubt come rattling through some bureaucratic typewriter.

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