Opinion ID: 380476
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Subpoena Enforcement Proceedings

Text: 8 The College refused to comply voluntarily with the EEOC's request for information that the Commission considered necessary to investigate Summers' charge. The EEOC issued a SUBPOENA AD TESTIFICANDUM/DUCES TECUM, seeking information concerning: (1) the characteristics of each member of the College's faculty and administration, including race, sex, religion, job classification, and pay; (2) sources from which the College recruited faculty members; (3) any studies of faculty pay for the 1975-76 year; (4) all promotions of members of the faculty or administration for the 1975-76 and 1976-77 school years; (5) the employment records of Summers and Bailey; (6) all employment applications for the years 1975-76 and 1976-77; and (7) the most recent EEO-6 report filed by the College. 3 The College responded to the subpoena by filing a petition with the EEOC seeking revocation of the subpoena. The EEOC denied the College's petition. The College still declined to comply with the subpoena and the EEOC brought this action in the district court seeking enforcement of the subpoena under § 710 of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-9. 4 After a hearing on the merits, the district court denied enforcement of the petition. EEOC v. Mississippi College, 451 F.Supp. 564 (S.D.Miss.1978). 9 The district court found that the College was a religious educational institution, that by written policy the College accorded a preference in hiring to Baptists except where necessary to maintain academic standards, that Summers was Presbyterian, and that the male whom the College hired for the position sought by the charging party was Baptist. After stating that the EEOC's investigation of Summers' charge did not involve any question of race discrimination, the district court concluded (1) that under § 702 of Title VII 5 the EEOC could not investigate Summers' claim of employment discrimination except to determine whether the College's allegation that it hired Bailey because of his religion was true; (2) that because an investigation of the College's employment practices by the EEOC would result in excessive entanglement of the government in church affairs, the application of Title VII to a religious educational institution violated the establishment clause of the first amendment; (3) that because an investigation of the College's employment practices by the EEOC potentially would inhibit the College's practice of preferring Baptists in hiring, the EEOC's exercise of jurisdiction over the College violated the free exercise clause of the first amendment; and (4) that the College's selection of faculty members involved matters of church administration, that are exempt from the application of Title VII under this court's decision in McClure v. Salvation Army, 460 F.2d 553 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 896, 93 S.Ct. 132, 34 L.Ed.2d 153 (1972). 10 On this appeal the EEOC contends that the district court erred in denying its petition for enforcement. First, it asserts that Summers, although white, can assert a charge of race discrimination against the College because she has standing to assert discrimination that affects her working environment. Second, it argues that § 702 does not exempt race or sex discrimination by a religious education institution from the scope of Title VII. Third, it maintains that its investigation of the College's hiring practices violates neither the establishment clause nor the free exercise clause of the first amendment. 11