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[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 10534 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>

118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                               H. R. 10534

 To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require institutions of 
  higher education, as a condition of participating in programs under 
 title IV of such Act, to annually conduct a survey to measure student 
  experiences with discrimination at such institutions, and for other 
                               purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 19, 2024

Ms. Lee of Pennsylvania (for herself, Mr. Carson, Mrs. Watson Coleman, 
 and Ms. Williams of Georgia) introduced the following bill; which was 
        referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
 To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require institutions of 
  higher education, as a condition of participating in programs under 
 title IV of such Act, to annually conduct a survey to measure student 
  experiences with discrimination at such institutions, and for other 
                               purposes.

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

SEC. 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Creating Positive College Campus 
Racial Climates Act''.

SECTION 2. ASSESSING DISCRIMINATION AT INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER 
              EDUCATION.

    (a) National Campus Climate Survey.--Part B of title I of the 
Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1011 et seq.) is amended by 
adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 124. NATIONAL CAMPUS CLIMATE SURVEY.

    ``(a) Survey.--The Secretary shall develop an annual survey to 
measure student experiences with discrimination at institutions of 
higher education that participate in any program under title IV, which 
shall be known as the National Campus Climate Survey (in this section 
referred to as the `Survey'). The Survey shall collect from students 
the following information:
            ``(1) The demographic information of the student, including 
        the number of years of an undergraduate or graduate education 
        the student has completed.
            ``(2) The number of instances of covert and overt acts of 
        racial discrimination the student has experienced on a campus 
        or other property of the institution.
            ``(3) Responses from the student recorded on a numeric 
        scale from 1 to 10 regarding the extent that the student--
                    ``(A) feels prepared to engage in a racially 
                diverse democracy and workforce;
                    ``(B) is concerned about experiencing covert and 
                overt acts of racial discrimination on a campus or 
                other property of the institution; and
                    ``(C) is satisfied with how the institution 
                responds to alleged incidents of racial discrimination 
                reported to the institution.
            ``(4) Any additional information as determined appropriate 
        by the Secretary.
    ``(b) Distribution.--Not later than September 30, 2025, and not 
later than each September 30 thereafter, the Secretary shall--
            ``(1) prepare the content of the Survey; and
            ``(2) distribute the Survey to each institution of higher 
        education that participates in any program under title IV 
        through the portal established under subsection (d)(1).
    ``(c) Response Collection.--Not later than May 31, 2026, and not 
later than each May 31 thereafter, each institution of higher education 
that participates in any program under title IV shall--
            ``(1) conduct the Survey distributed through the portal 
        established under subsection (d)(1) among students of the 
        institution and accept student responses to such Survey for a 
        period of at least 60 days;
            ``(2) publish a report of the results of the Survey 
        collected by the institution that excludes any personally 
        identifiable information on a publically available website of 
        the institution;
            ``(3) notify students and staff of the institution when 
        such report is published; and
            ``(4) upload the results of the Survey collected by the 
        institution to the portal established under subsection (d)(1).
    ``(d) Portal.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall publish a portal on 
        a publically available website of the Department to facilitate 
        the distribution of the Survey to, and to collect responses to 
        the Survey uploaded by, institutions of higher education that 
        participate in any program under title IV.
            ``(2) Database.--The portal established under paragraph (1) 
        shall include a searchable database of the responses to the 
        Survey uploaded to the portal. Such responses shall be--
                    ``(A) disaggregated by the institution of higher 
                education that the response pertains to; and
                    ``(B) anonymized to remove any personally 
                identifiable information.
    ``(e) Assistance.--The Secretary shall establish a website and a 
toll-free telephone number to provide assistance and resources to 
institutions of higher education regarding the collection of responses 
to the Survey.
    ``(f) Anonymous Responses.--The Survey shall include an option for 
students to submit responses anonymously.
    ``(g) Monitoring.--The Office for Civil Rights of the Department--
            ``(1) shall monitor the responses to the Survey uploaded to 
        the portal established under subsection (d)(1); and
            ``(2) may use such responses as the basis for opening an 
        investigation of alleged discrimination at an institution of 
        higher education.

``SEC. 125. TRANSPARENCY REGARDING COMPLAINTS RELATED TO 
              DISCRIMINATION.

    ``(a) Not later than October 31, 2025, and not less than twice each 
year thereafter, each institution of higher education that participates 
in any program under title IV shall post on a publically available 
website of the institution and email students of the institution the 
following information:
            ``(1) A guide of the policies of the institution that 
        prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, or 
        national origin (including discrimination based on actual or 
        perceived shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics), including 
        discrimination against individuals who are or are perceived to 
        be members of a religion.
            ``(2) Data from the most recently completed academic year 
        regarding--
                    ``(A) complaints asserting instances of 
                discrimination described in paragraph (1) against a 
                student that are reported to the institution; and
                    ``(B) complaints asserting instances of 
                discrimination described in paragraph (1) against a 
                student that are reported to the Office for Civil 
                Rights of the Department of Education, to the extent 
                such complaints are known to the institution.
    ``(b) Not later than October 31, 2025, and not less than once every 
4 years thereafter, each institution of higher education that 
participates in any program under title IV shall audit all reporting 
systems of the institution that accept complaints asserting instances 
of discrimination described in subsection (a)(1) against a student. 
Each such audit shall evaluate--
            ``(1) how each such reporting system--
                    ``(A) accepts, processes, and resolves a complaint; 
                and
                    ``(B) solicits input and feedback on the reporting 
                system from the individual who submitted such 
                complaint, including how the institution communicates 
                with such individual on matters regarding the 
                complaint; and
            ``(2) how the institution--
                    ``(A) sanctions an individual found to be non-
                complaint with the policies of the institution 
                regarding instances of discrimination described in 
                subsection (a)(1) against a student; and
                    ``(B) could improve the accessibility and ease of 
                navigation of reporting systems.''.
    (b) OCR Annual Report.--
            (1) In general.--Section 203(b) of the Department of 
        Education Organization Act (20 U.S.C. 3413(b)) is amended by 
        adding at the end the following:
    ``(3) The report required by paragraph (1) shall include an 
analysis of the complaints the Office for Civil Rights has received 
during the period covered by such report regarding alleged 
discrimination against a student or staff of an institution of higher 
education in violation of title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 
U.S.C. 2000d et seq.). Such analysis shall include--
            ``(A) such complaints disaggregated by--
                    ``(i) the race or ethnicity of the alleged victim, 
                to the extent such information is available;
                    ``(ii) in the case of a complaint filed by a 
                student, the number of years of an undergraduate or 
                graduate education the student had completed at the 
                time such complaint was filed;
                    ``(iii) the specific violation of Title VI of the 
                Civil Rights Act of 1964 that is the basis for the 
                complaint; and
                    ``(iv) the name of the institution, if any, upon 
                which the complaint was alleged against; and
            ``(B) information pertaining to the period covered by such 
        report on--
                    ``(i) the number of such complaints, including 
                through what means the complaint was filed and 
                disaggregated by such means, including electronic 
                submissions through forms provided by the Office for 
                Civil Rights; and
                    ``(ii) the number of complaints with waivers 
                approved for filing after the 180-day filing period has 
                expired.''.
            (2) Effective date.--The amendment made by this subsection 
        shall take effect 1 year after the date of enactment of this 
        Act.
    (c) Program Participation Agreement Requirements.--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 will comply with the requirements of 
        section 124(c).
            ``(31) The institution will comply with the requirements of 
        section 125.''.
    (d) Audit.--Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of 
this Act, the Inspector General of the Department of Education shall 
conduct an audit of the complaint process used by the Office of Civil 
Rights of the Department of Education for complaints of alleged 
violations of title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d 
et seq.).
                                 <all>
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