II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3580 

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 11, 2024 

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. 

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 ‘‘Protecting Students 

5 on Campus Act of 2024’’. 

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•S 3580 IS

1 SEC. 2. TITLE VI AWARENESS CAMPAIGN. 

2 (a) TITLE VI AWARENESS CAMPAIGN.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Education, 

4 acting through the Assistant Secretary for Civil 

5 Rights of the Department of Education, shall carry 

6 out a public awareness campaign regarding the 

7 availability of rights provided to individuals under 

8 title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 

9 2000d et seq.). 

10 (2) AWARENESS CAMPAIGN.—The public aware11 ness campaign shall include appealing visual and au12 ditory elements and shall be updated annually and 

13 distributed to institutions of higher education for 

14 physical posting in 1 or more high traffic public 

15 places, such as student centers, and digital posting 

16 on 1 or more high traffic institution web pages, such 

17 as student services. The campaign shall utilize such 

18 methods and materials as necessary to maximize 

19 student accessibility. 

20 (3) ABILITY TO CONTRACT.—The Secretary 

21 may carry out this subsection directly or through a 

22 contract with a nonprofit organization that special23 izes in public awareness communications. 

24 (b) HEA AMENDMENTS.—Section 487(a) of the 

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

26 amended by adding at the end the following: 

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1 ‘‘(30) The institution— 

2 ‘‘(A) has prominently displayed on the 

3 homepage of the institution a link to the 

4 webpage of the Office for Civil Rights of the 

5 Department of Education where an individual 

6 can submit a complaint regarding discrimina7 tion on the basis of race, color, or national ori8 gin in violation of title VI of the Civil Rights 

9 Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.); and 

10 ‘‘(B) will annually display and post the 

11 public awareness campaign materials created 

12 and distributed under section 2(a) of the Pro13 tecting Students on Campus Act of 2024 in 

14 high traffic public places on campus, such as 

15 student centers, and high traffic institution web 

16 pages, such as student services.’’. 

17 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFINGS. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning not later than 30 days 

19 after the date of enactment of this Act and ending 1 year 

20 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Assistant Sec21 retary for Civil Rights of the Department of Education 

22 shall give a monthly briefing to Congress— 

23 (1) explaining the number of complaints that 

24 the Office for Civil Rights of the Department of 

25 Education (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Office’’) 

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1 has received in the previous month regarding dis2 crimination on the basis of race, color, or national 

3 origin in violation of title VI of the Civil Rights Act 

4 of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.), disaggregated by 

5 the basis of discrimination; 

6 (2) describing how the Office plans to address 

7 those complaints and the investigations opened in re8 sponse to those complaints; and 

9 (3) providing data about the length of time that 

10 those complaints remain open after being received by 

11 the Office. 

12 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 48 hours prior to each 

13 briefing described in subsection (a), the Assistant Sec14 retary for Civil Rights of the Department of Education 

15 shall provide a written report to Congress that contains 

16 the information that will be presented at the next briefing, 

17 in a manner that protects personally identifiable informa18 tion in accordance with applicable privacy laws. 

19 SEC. 4. AUDIT AND STUDY. 

20 (a) REQUIREMENT TO SUBMIT DATA.—Each institu21 tion of higher education receiving Federal funds shall sub22 mit an annual report to the Inspector General of the De23 partment of Education that includes— 

24 (1) the number of complaints regarding dis25 crimination on the basis of race, color, or national 

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1 origin in violation of title VI of the Civil Rights Act 

2 of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.) that were sub3 mitted to the institution in the previous year; 

4 (2) an analysis of the number of such com5 plaints and their substance; and 

6 (3) a narrative of the action the institution took 

7 with respect to such complaints. 

8 (b) AUDIT.—The Inspector General of the Depart9 ment of Education shall complete an annual audit of the 

10 institutions of higher education that are in the top 5 per11 cent of institutions based on the per capita number of 

12 complaints described in subsection (a) received by the in13 stitutions, controlling for student population, to examine 

14 the process for addressing such complaints and the need 

15 for any referrals to the Office for Civil Rights of the De16 partment of Education. 

17 (c) STUDY.—The Inspector General of the Depart18 ment of Education shall conduct a study— 

19 (1) regarding why there is a disparity between 

20 the complaints regarding discrimination on the basis 

21 of race, color, or national origin in violation of title 

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

23 et seq.) that are submitted to institutions of higher 

24 education and such complaints that are submitted to 

25 the Office; and 

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1 (2) quantifying the distinction described in 

2 paragraph (1). 

3 SEC. 5. OCR PROCESS REFORMS. 

4 The Office for Civil Rights of the Department of 

5 Education shall not close or dismiss any complaint due 

6 to resolution by another Federal, State, or local civil rights 

7 enforcement agency or through a recipient’s internal griev8 ance procedures. 

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