National Collegiate Athletic Assn. v. Smith, 525 U.S. 459, 8 (1999)

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466

NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC ASSN. v. SMITH

Opinion of the Court

receiving Federal financial assistance." 3 Under the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987 (CRRA), 102 Stat. 28, 20 U. S. C. § 1687, a "program or activity" includes "all of the operations of . . . a college, university, or other postsecondary institution, or a public system of higher education . . . any part of which is extended Federal financial assistance." § 1687(2)(A). The CRRA also provides institution-wide coverage for entities "principally engaged in the business of providing education" services, § 1687(3)(A)(ii), and for entities created by two or more covered entities, § 1687(4).4 Thus, if any part of the NCAA received federal assistance, all NCAA operations would be subject to Title IX.

We have twice before considered when an entity qualifies as a recipient of federal financial assistance. In Grove City College v. Bell, 465 U. S. 555, 563-570 (1984), we held that a college receives federal financial assistance when it enrolls students who receive federal funds earmarked for educational expenses. Finding "no hint" that Title IX distinguishes "between direct institutional assistance and aid received by a school through its students," we concluded that Title IX "encompass[es] all forms of federal aid to education,

3 The scope of several other federal antidiscrimination measures is defined in nearly identical terms. See § 601 of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U. S. C. § 2000d (prohibiting race discrimination in "any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance"); § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U. S. C. § 794(a) (prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability in "any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance"); and § 303 of the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, 42 U. S. C. § 6102 (prohibiting discrimination on the basis of age in "any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance").

4 Congress enacted the CRRA in response to Part III of our decision in Grove City College v. Bell, 465 U. S. 555, 570-574 (1984), which concluded that Title IX, as originally enacted, covered only the specific program receiving federal funding. See Franklin v. Gwinnett County Public Schools, 503 U. S. 60, 73 (1992) (noting that Congress endeavored, in the CRRA, "to correct what it considered to be an unacceptable decision on our part in Grove City").

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