NCAA v. Smith
National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Smith, 525 U.S. 459 (1999), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the NCAA's receipt of dues payments from colleges and universities which received federal funds, was not sufficient to subject the NCAA to a lawsuit under Title IX. Background Renee M. Smith, an intercollegiate volleyball player, had played volleyball for two seasons from the fall of 1991 to 1993 at St. Bonaventure University. Smith graduated from St. Bonaventure University during the 1994 - 1995 athletic year and later enrolled in a postgraduate program at the University of Pittsburgh for the 1995 - 1996 athletic year. Smith had hoped to play volleyball for the University of Pittsburgh but was denied athletic eligibility by the NCAA on the basis of its Post Baccalaureate restrictions. Smith and The University of Pittsburgh applied for a waiver from the National Collegiate Athletic Association, to lift the restrictions on the athletic eligibility of graduate students. However the waiver was denied by the NCAA. Procedural history In August 1996, Smith filed a lawsuit pro se against the NCAA, alleging that the NCAA’s decision to not allow her to play intercollegiate volleyball at the University