I 

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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SEC. 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Creating Positive Col5 lege Campus Racial Climates Act’’. 


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1 SECTION 2. ASSESSING DISCRIMINATION AT INSTITUTIONS 

2 OF HIGHER EDUCATION. 

3 (a) NATIONAL CAMPUS CLIMATE SURVEY.—Part B 

4 of title I of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

5 1011 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol6 lowing: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 124. NATIONAL CAMPUS CLIMATE SURVEY. 

8 ‘‘(a) SURVEY.—The Secretary shall develop an an9 nual survey to measure student experiences with discrimi10 nation at institutions of higher education that participate 

11 in any program under title IV, which shall be known as 

12 the National Campus Climate Survey (in this section re13 ferred to as the ‘Survey’). The Survey shall collect from 

14 students the following information: 

15 ‘‘(1) The demographic information of the stu16 dent, including the number of years of an under17 graduate or graduate education the student has 

18 completed. 

19 ‘‘(2) The number of instances of covert and 

20 overt acts of racial discrimination the student has 

21 experienced on a campus or other property of the in22 stitution. 

23 ‘‘(3) Responses from the student recorded on a 

24 numeric scale from 1 to 10 regarding the extent that 

25 the student— 


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1 ‘‘(A) feels prepared to engage in a racially 

2 diverse democracy and workforce; 

3 ‘‘(B) is concerned about experiencing cov4 ert and overt acts of racial discrimination on a 

5 campus or other property of the institution; and 

6 ‘‘(C) is satisfied with how the institution 

7 responds to alleged incidents of racial discrimi8 nation reported to the institution. 

9 ‘‘(4) Any additional information as determined 

10 appropriate by the Secretary. 

11 ‘‘(b) DISTRIBUTION.—Not later than September 30, 

12 2025, and not later than each September 30 thereafter, 

13 the Secretary shall— 

14 ‘‘(1) prepare the content of the Survey; and 

15 ‘‘(2) distribute the Survey to each institution of 

16 higher education that participates in any program 

17 under title IV through the portal established under 

18 subsection (d)(1). 

19 ‘‘(c) RESPONSE COLLECTION.—Not later than May 

20 31, 2026, and not later than each May 31 thereafter, each 

21 institution of higher education that participates in any 

22 program under title IV shall— 

23 ‘‘(1) conduct the Survey distributed through the 

24 portal established under subsection (d)(1) among 

25 students of the institution and accept student reVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 Jan 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H10534.IH H10534

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1 sponses to such Survey for a period of at least 60 

2 days; 

3 ‘‘(2) publish a report of the results of the Sur4 vey collected by the institution that excludes any 

5 personally identifiable information on a publically 

6 available website of the institution; 

7 ‘‘(3) notify students and staff of the institution 

8 when such report is published; and 

9 ‘‘(4) upload the results of the Survey collected 

10 by the institution to the portal established under 

11 subsection (d)(1). 

12 ‘‘(d) PORTAL.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall publish 

14 a portal on a publically available website of the De15 partment to facilitate the distribution of the Survey 

16 to, and to collect responses to the Survey uploaded 

17 by, institutions of higher education that participate 

18 in any program under title IV. 

19 ‘‘(2) DATABASE.—The portal established under 

20 paragraph (1) shall include a searchable database of 

21 the responses to the Survey uploaded to the portal. 

22 Such responses shall be— 

23 ‘‘(A) disaggregated by the institution of 

24 higher education that the response pertains to; 

25 and 


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1 ‘‘(B) anonymized to remove any personally 

2 identifiable information. 

3 ‘‘(e) ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary shall establish a 

4 website and a toll-free telephone number to provide assist5 ance and resources to institutions of higher education re6 garding the collection of responses to the Survey. 

7 ‘‘(f) ANONYMOUS RESPONSES.—The Survey shall in8 clude an option for students to submit responses anony9 mously. 

10 ‘‘(g) MONITORING.—The Office for Civil Rights of 

11 the Department— 

12 ‘‘(1) shall monitor the responses to the Survey 

13 uploaded to the portal established under subsection 

14 (d)(1); and 

15 ‘‘(2) may use such responses as the basis for 

16 opening an investigation of alleged discrimination at 

17 an institution of higher education. 

18 ‘‘SEC. 125. TRANSPARENCY REGARDING COMPLAINTS RE19 LATED TO DISCRIMINATION. 

20 ‘‘(a) Not later than October 31, 2025, and not less 

21 than twice each year thereafter, each institution of higher 

22 education that participates in any program under title IV 

23 shall post on a publically available website of the institu24 tion and email students of the institution the following in25 formation: 


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1 ‘‘(1) A guide of the policies of the institution 

2 that prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, 

3 color, or national origin (including discrimination 

4 based on actual or perceived shared ancestry or eth5 nic characteristics), including discrimination against 

6 individuals who are or are perceived to be members 

7 of a religion. 

8 ‘‘(2) Data from the most recently completed 

9 academic year regarding— 

10 ‘‘(A) complaints asserting instances of dis11 crimination described in paragraph (1) against 

12 a student that are reported to the institution; 

13 and 

14 ‘‘(B) complaints asserting instances of dis15 crimination described in paragraph (1) against 

16 a student that are reported to the Office for 

17 Civil Rights of the Department of Education, to 

18 the extent such complaints are known to the in19 stitution. 

20 ‘‘(b) Not later than October 31, 2025, and not less 

21 than once every 4 years thereafter, each institution of 

22 higher education that participates in any program under 

23 title IV shall audit all reporting systems of the institution 

24 that accept complaints asserting instances of discriminaVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 Jan 28, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H10534.IH H10534

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1 tion described in subsection (a)(1) against a student. Each 

2 such audit shall evaluate— 

3 ‘‘(1) how each such reporting system— 

4 ‘‘(A) accepts, processes, and resolves a 

5 complaint; and 

6 ‘‘(B) solicits input and feedback on the re7 porting system from the individual who sub8 mitted such complaint, including how the insti9 tution communicates with such individual on 

10 matters regarding the complaint; and 

11 ‘‘(2) how the institution— 

12 ‘‘(A) sanctions an individual found to be 

13 non-complaint with the policies of the institu14 tion regarding instances of discrimination de15 scribed in subsection (a)(1) against a student; 

16 and 

17 ‘‘(B) could improve the accessibility and 

18 ease of navigation of reporting systems.’’. 

19 (b) OCR ANNUAL REPORT.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 203(b) of the De21 partment of Education Organization Act (20 U.S.C. 

22 3413(b)) is amended by adding at the end the fol23 lowing: 

24 ‘‘(3) The report required by paragraph (1) shall in25 clude an analysis of the complaints the Office for Civil 


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1 Rights has received during the period covered by such re2 port regarding alleged discrimination against a student or 

3 staff of an institution of higher education in violation of 

4 title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d 

5 et seq.). Such analysis shall include— 

6 ‘‘(A) such complaints disaggregated by— 

7 ‘‘(i) the race or ethnicity of the alleged vic8 tim, to the extent such information is available; 

9 ‘‘(ii) in the case of a complaint filed by a 

10 student, the number of years of an under11 graduate or graduate education the student had 

12 completed at the time such complaint was filed; 

13 ‘‘(iii) the specific violation of Title VI of 

14 the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that is the basis 

15 for the complaint; and 

16 ‘‘(iv) the name of the institution, if any, 

17 upon which the complaint was alleged against; 

18 and 

19 ‘‘(B) information pertaining to the period cov20 ered by such report on— 

21 ‘‘(i) the number of such complaints, includ22 ing through what means the complaint was filed 

23 and disaggregated by such means, including 

24 electronic submissions through forms provided 

25 by the Office for Civil Rights; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) the number of complaints with waiv2 ers approved for filing after the 180-day filing 

3 period has expired.’’. 

4 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made 

5 by this subsection shall take effect 1 year after the 

6 date of enactment of this Act. 

7 (c) PROGRAM PARTICIPATION AGREEMENT RE8 QUIREMENTS.—Section 487(a) of the Higher Education 

9 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094(a)) is amended by adding 

10 at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘(30) The institution will comply with the re12 quirements of section 124(c). 

13 ‘‘(31) The institution will comply with the re14 quirements of section 125.’’. 

15 (d) AUDIT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 

16 of enactment of this Act, the Inspector General of the De17 partment of Education shall conduct an audit of the com18 plaint process used by the Office of Civil Rights of the 

19 Department of Education for complaints of alleged viola20 tions of title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 

21 2000d et seq.). 

Æ 


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