119-s163

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 163 Introduced in Senate

    (IS) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 S. 163

 To require institutions of higher education participating in Federal 
 student aid programs to share information about title VI of the Civil 
 Rights Act of 1964, including a link to the webpage of the Office for 
 Civil Rights where an individual can submit a complaint regarding 
 discrimination in violation of such title, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

 January 21, 2025

 Mr. Cassidy (for himself and Mr. Fetterman) introduced the following 
 bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, 
 Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To require institutions of higher education participating in Federal 
 student aid programs to share information about title VI of the Civil 
 Rights Act of 1964, including a link to the webpage of the Office for 
 Civil Rights where an individual can submit a complaint regarding 
 discrimination in violation of such title, and for other purposes.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``Protecting Students on Campus Act of 
2025''.

SEC. 2. TITLE VI AWARENESS CAMPAIGN.

    (a) Title VI Awareness Campaign.--

    (1) In general.--The Secretary of Education, acting through 
 the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights of the Department of 
 Education, shall carry out a public awareness campaign 
 regarding the availability of rights provided to individuals 
 under title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d 
 et seq.).

    (2) Awareness campaign.--The public awareness campaign 
 shall include appealing visual and auditory elements and shall 
 be updated annually and distributed to institutions of higher 
 education for physical posting in 1 or more high traffic public 
 places, such as student centers, and digital posting on 1 or 
 more high traffic institution web pages, such as student 
 services. The campaign shall utilize such methods and materials 
 as necessary to maximize student accessibility.

    (3) Ability to contract.--The Secretary may carry out this 
 subsection directly or through a contract with a nonprofit 
 organization that specializes in public awareness 
 communications.

    (b) HEA Amendments.--

Section 487

    (a) of the Higher Education Act of 
1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094

    (a) ) is amended by adding at the end the following:
 ``

    (30) The institution--
 ``
        (A) has prominently displayed on the homepage of 
 the institution a link to the webpage of the Office for 
 Civil Rights of the Department of Education where an 
 individual can submit a complaint regarding 
 discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national 
 origin in violation of title VI of the Civil Rights Act 
 of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.); and
 ``
        (B) will annually display and post the public 
 awareness campaign materials created and distributed 
 under 

section 2

    (a) of the Protecting Students on Campus 
 Act of 2025 in high traffic public places on campus, 
 such as student centers, and high traffic institution 
 web pages, such as student services.''.

SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFINGS.

    (a) In General.--Beginning not later than 30 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act and ending 1 year after the date of enactment of 
this Act, the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights of the Department of 
Education shall give a monthly briefing to Congress--

    (1) explaining the number of complaints that the Office for 
 Civil Rights of the Department of Education (referred to in 
 this Act as the ``Office'') has received in the previous month 
 regarding discrimination on the basis of race, color, or 
 national origin in violation of title VI of the Civil Rights 
 Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.), disaggregated by the 
 basis of discrimination;

    (2) describing how the Office plans to address those 
 complaints and the investigations opened in response to those 
 complaints; and

    (3) providing data about the length of time that those 
 complaints remain open after being received by the Office.

    (b) Report.--Not later than 48 hours prior to each briefing 
described in subsection

    (a) , the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights 
of the Department of Education shall provide a written report to 
Congress that contains the information that will be presented at the 
next briefing, in a manner that protects personally identifiable 
information in accordance with applicable privacy laws.

SEC. 4. AUDIT AND STUDY.

    (a) Requirement To Submit Data.--Each institution of higher 
education receiving Federal funds shall submit an annual report to the 
Inspector General of the Department of Education that includes--

    (1) the number of complaints regarding discrimination on 
 the basis of race, color, or national origin in violation of 
 title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et 
 seq.) that were submitted to the institution in the previous 
 year;

    (2) an analysis of the number of such complaints and their 
 substance; and

    (3) a narrative of the action the institution took with 
 respect to such complaints.

    (b) Audit.--The Inspector General of the Department of Education 
shall complete an annual audit of the institutions of higher education 
that are in the top 5 percent of institutions based on the per capita 
number of complaints described in subsection

    (a) received by the 
institutions, controlling for student population, to examine the 
process for addressing such complaints and the need for any referrals 
to the Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Education.
            (c) Study.--The Inspector General of the Department of Education 
shall conduct a study--

    (1) regarding why there is a disparity between the 
 complaints regarding discrimination on the basis of race, 
 color, or national origin in violation of title VI of the Civil 
 Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.) that are submitted 
 to institutions of higher education and such complaints that 
 are submitted to the Office; and

    (2) quantifying the distinction described in paragraph

    (1) .

SEC. 5. OCR PROCESS REFORMS.

 The Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Education shall 
not close or dismiss any complaint due to resolution by another 
Federal, State, or local civil rights enforcement agency or through a 
recipient's internal grievance procedures.
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