II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4106 

To affirm and protect the First Amendment rights of students and student 

organizations at public institutions of higher education. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 10, 2024 

Ms. ERNST (for herself, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. BUDD, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. 

TILLIS, Mr. BRAUN, and Mr. SCOTT of Florida) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To affirm and protect the First Amendment rights of students and student organizations at public institutions 

of higher education. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Students Bill of Rights 

5 Act of 2024’’. 

6 SEC. 2. STUDENTS BILL OF RIGHTS. 

7 The Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001 

8 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 112 the fol9 lowing new section: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 112A. STUDENTS BILL OF RIGHTS TO FURTHER PRO2 TECT SPEECH AND ASSOCIATION. 

3 ‘‘(a) PROTECTED RIGHTS.—A covered public institu4 tion that receives funds under this Act, including through 

5 participation in a program authorized under title IV, shall 

6 comply with the following requirements: 

7 ‘‘(1) RECOGNIZED STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS.— 

8 A covered public institution that has recognized stu9 dent organizations shall comply with the following 

10 requirements: 

11 ‘‘(A) FACULTY ADVISORS.—A covered pub12 lic institution may not deny recognition to a 

13 student organization solely because the organi14 zation is unable to obtain a faculty advisor or 

15 sponsor, provided that the organization meets 

16 each of the other institutional requirements for 

17 such recognition. The institution shall ensure 

18 that any policy or practice related to the rec19 ognition of a student organization— 

20 ‘‘(i) does not require a faculty or staff 

21 member of the institution to serve as fac22 ulty advisor or to otherwise participate in, 

23 support, or sponsor the organization; or 

24 ‘‘(ii) if the institution does have a re25 quirement that a faculty or staff member 

26 serve as described in clause (i) as a condiVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:59 Apr 19, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4106.IS S4106

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1 tion for recognition of the student organi2 zation, and an organization that meets 

3 each of the other institutional require4 ments for such recognition is unable to se5 cure such a faculty or staff member, pro6 vides for an alternative to such require7 ment, which may include waiver of such re8 quirement or the institution assigning a 

9 faculty or staff member to such organiza10 tion. 

11 ‘‘(B) AFFILIATION.—A covered public in12 stitution may not deny recognition to a student 

13 organization solely because of the organization’s 

14 affiliation with, or status as a chapter of, a na15 tional or other organization. 

16 ‘‘(C) APPEAL OPTIONS FOR RECOGNI17 TION.—A covered public institution shall pro18 vide an appeals process by which a student or19 ganization that has been denied recognition by 

20 the institution may appeal to an institutional 

21 appellate entity for reconsideration. The institu22 tion shall ensure that such appellate entity did 

23 not participate in any prior proceeding related 

24 to the denial of recognition to such organiza25 tion. 


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1 ‘‘(2) DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS TO STUDENT

2 ORGANIZATIONS.—A covered public institution that 

3 collects a mandatory fee from students for the costs 

4 of student activities and events and provides funds 

5 generated from such student fees to one or more 

6 recognized student organizations of the institution 

7 shall— 

8 ‘‘(A) establish and make publicly available 

9 clear, objective, content- and viewpoint-neutral, 

10 and exhaustive standards to be used by the in11 stitution to determine— 

12 ‘‘(i) the total amount of funds made 

13 available for allocations to the recognized 

14 student organizations; and 

15 ‘‘(ii) the allocations of such total 

16 amount to individual recognized student 

17 organizations; 

18 ‘‘(B) ensure that allocations are made to 

19 the recognized student organizations in accord20 ance with the standards established pursuant to 

21 subparagraph (A); 

22 ‘‘(C) upon the request of a recognized stu23 dent organization that has been denied all or a 

24 portion of an allocation described in subpara25 graph (B), provide to the organization, in writVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:59 Apr 19, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4106.IS S4106

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1 ing (which may include electronic communica2 tion) and in a timely manner, the specific rea3 sons for such denial and information of the ap4 peals process described in subparagraph (D); 

5 ‘‘(D) provide an appeals process by which 

6 a recognized student organization that has been 

7 denied all or a portion of an allocation de8 scribed in subparagraph (B) may appeal to an 

9 institutional appellate entity for reconsideration, 

10 and the institution shall ensure that such appel11 late entity did not participate in any prior pro12 ceeding related to such allocation; and 

13 ‘‘(E) have in place policies and procedures 

14 to disqualify an individual or entity from par15 ticipating in a determination described in sub16 paragraph (A) or (B), or an appeal described in 

17 subparagraph (D), if such individual or entity 

18 has failed to apply the standards for determina19 tions established by the institution pursuant to 

20 this paragraph. 

21 ‘‘(3) ASSESSMENT OF SECURITY FEES FOR

22 EVENTS.—A covered public institution shall establish 

23 and make publicly available clear, objective, content24 and viewpoint-neutral, and exhaustive standards to 

25 be used by the institution to— 


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1 ‘‘(A) determine the amount of any security 

2 fee for an event or activity organized by a stu3 dent or student organization; and 

4 ‘‘(B) ensure that a determination of such 

5 an amount may not be based, in whole or in 

6 part, on— 

7 ‘‘(i) the content of expression or view8 point of the student or student organiza9 tion; 

10 ‘‘(ii) the purpose or content of expres11 sion of the event or activity organized by 

12 the student or student organization; 

13 ‘‘(iii) the content of expression or 

14 viewpoint of an invited guest of the student 

15 or student organization; or 

16 ‘‘(iv) an anticipated reaction by stu17 dents or the public to the event or activity 

18 due to the purpose, content of expression, 

19 or viewpoint expressed at the event or ac20 tivity by the student, student organization, 

21 or an invited guest. 

22 ‘‘(4) PROTECTIONS FOR INVITED GUESTS AND

23 SPEAKERS.—A covered public institution shall estab24 lish and make publicly available clear, objective, 

25 content- and viewpoint-neutral, and exhaustive 


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1 standards to be used by the institution related to the 

2 safety and protection of speakers and guests who are 

3 invited to the institution by a student or student or4 ganization. 

5 ‘‘(b) ENFORCEMENT.— 

6 ‘‘(1) CAUSE OF ACTION.— 

7 ‘‘(A) CIVIL ACTION.—Whoever is harmed 

8 by a covered public institution by the mainte9 nance of a policy or practice of the institution 

10 that is in violation of a requirement described 

11 in subsection (a) may bring a civil action in a 

12 Federal court for appropriate relief. 

13 ‘‘(B) APPROPRIATE RELIEF.—For the pur14 poses of this paragraph, appropriate relief in15 cludes— 

16 ‘‘(i) a temporary or permanent injunc17 tion; and 

18 ‘‘(ii) awarding a prevailing plaintiff— 

19 ‘‘(I) compensatory damages; 

20 ‘‘(II) reasonable court costs; and 

21 ‘‘(III) reasonable attorney fees. 

22 ‘‘(C) STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.—A civil 

23 action under this paragraph may not be com24 menced later than 2 years after the cause of ac25 tion accrues. 


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1 ‘‘(2) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a court’s 

2 non-default, final judgment in a civil action brought 

3 under paragraph (1) that a covered public institu4 tion is in violation of a requirement described in 

5 subsection (a), such covered public institution 

6 shall— 

7 ‘‘(A) not later than 7 days after the date 

8 on which the court makes such a non-default, 

9 final judgment, notify the Secretary of such 

10 judgment and submit to the Secretary a copy of 

11 the non-default, final judgment; and 

12 ‘‘(B) not later than 30 days after the date 

13 on which the court makes such a non-default, 

14 final judgment, submit to the Secretary a re15 port that— 

16 ‘‘(i) certifies that the standard, policy, 

17 practice, or procedure that is in violation 

18 of the requirement described in subsection 

19 (a) is no longer in use; and 

20 ‘‘(ii) provides evidence to support such 

21 certification. 

22 ‘‘(3) REVOCATION OF ELIGIBILITY.—In the 

23 case of a covered public institution that does not no24 tify the Secretary as required under paragraph 

25 (2)(A) or submit the report required under paraVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:59 Apr 19, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4106.IS S4106

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1 graph (2)(B), the Secretary shall revoke the eligi2 bility of such institution to receive funds under this 

3 Act, including through participation in a program 

4 authorized under title IV, for each award year fol5 lowing the conclusion of the award year in which a 

6 court made a non-default, final judgment in a civil 

7 action brought under paragraph (1) that the institu8 tion is in violation of a requirement described in 

9 subsection (a). 

10 ‘‘(4) RESTORATION OF ELIGIBILITY.— 

11 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A covered public insti12 tution that loses eligibility under paragraph (3) 

13 to receive funds under this Act may seek to re14 store such eligibility by submitting to the Sec15 retary the report described in paragraph (2)(B). 

16 ‘‘(B) DETERMINATION BY THE SEC17 RETARY.—Not later than 90 days after a cov18 ered public institution submits a report under 

19 subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall review 

20 such report and make a determination with re21 spect to whether such report contained suffi22 cient evidence to demonstrate that such institu23 tion is no longer in violation of a requirement 

24 described in subsection (a). 


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1 ‘‘(C) RESTORATION.—If the Secretary 

2 makes a determination under subparagraph (B) 

3 that the covered public institution is no longer 

4 in violation of a requirement described in sub5 section (a), the Secretary shall restore the eligi6 bility of such institution to receive funds under 

7 this Act, including through participation in a 

8 program authorized under title IV, for each 

9 award year following the conclusion of the 

10 award year in which such determination is 

11 made. 

12 ‘‘(c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec13 tion shall be construed to infringe upon or otherwise im14 pact the protections of an institution of higher education 

15 under title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 

16 2000e et seq.) and title IX of the Education Amendments 

17 of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.). 

18 ‘‘(d) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 1 year 

19 after the date of the enactment of the Students Bill of 

20 Rights Act of 2024 and on an annual basis thereafter, 

21 the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Education 

22 and the Workforce of the House of Representatives and 

23 the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pen24 sions of the Senate a report that includes— 

25 ‘‘(1) a compilation of— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the notifications of violation received 

2 by the Secretary under subsection (b)(2)(A) in 

3 the year for which such report is being sub4 mitted; and 

5 ‘‘(B) the reports submitted to the Sec6 retary under subsection (b)(2)(B) for such year; 

7 and 

8 ‘‘(2) any action taken by the Secretary revoke 

9 or restore eligibility under paragraphs (3) and (4) of 

10 subsection (b) for such year. 

11 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

12 ‘‘(1) COVERED PUBLIC INSTITUTION.—The 

13 term ‘covered public institution’ means an institu14 tion of higher education, as defined in section 101, 

15 that is a public institution. 

16 ‘‘(2) CONTENT- AND VIEWPOINT-NEUTRAL.— 

17 The term ‘content- and viewpoint-neutral’, when 

18 used with respect to a policy, practice, determina19 tion, fee assessment, or allocation applied to a stu20 dent organization, means a policy, practice, deter21 mination, fee assessment, or allocation that does not 

22 take into consideration any purpose of, or viewpoints 

23 held or expressed by, such organization. 

24 ‘‘(3) NON-DEFAULT, FINAL JUDGMENT.—The 

25 term ‘non-default, final judgment’ means a final 


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1 judgment by a court for a civil action brought under 

2 subsection (b) that a covered public institution is in 

3 violation of a requirement described in subsection 

4 (a) that the covered public institution chooses not to 

5 appeal or that is not subject to further appeal. 

6 ‘‘(4) RECOGNIZED STUDENT ORGANIZATION.— 

7 The term ‘recognized student organization’ means a 

8 student organization that has been determined by a 

9 covered public institution to meet institutional re10 quirements to qualify for certain privileges granted 

11 by the institution, such as use of institutional 

12 venues, resources, and funding. 

13 ‘‘(5) SECURITY FEE.—The term ‘security fee’ 

14 means a fee charged to a student or student organi15 zation for an event or activity organized by the stu16 dent or student organization on the campus of the 

17 institution that is intended to cover the costs in18 curred by the institution for additional security 

19 measures needed to ensure the security of the insti20 tution, students, faculty, staff, or surrounding com21 munity as a result of such event or activity.’’. 

22 SEC. 3. PROGRAM PARTICIPATION AGREEMENT. 

23 Section 487(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 

24 (20 U.S.C. 1094(a)) is amended by adding at the end the 

25 following: 


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1 ‘‘(30) In the case of an institution that is a cov2 ered public institution under section 112A, the insti3 tution will comply with the requirements of such sec4 tion.’’. 

Æ 


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