I 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6978 

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide for certain freedom 

of association protections, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 8, 2022 

Mr. GALLEGO (for himself and Mrs. MURPHY of Florida) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide 

for certain freedom of association protections, 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 ‘‘Collegiate Freedom 

5 of Association Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION PROTECTIONS. 

7 Part B of title I of the Higher Education Act of 1965 

8 (20 U.S.C. 1011 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

9 the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 124. FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION PROTECTIONS. 

2 ‘‘(a) NON-RETALIATION AGAINST STUDENTS OF SIN3 GLE-SEX SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS.—An institution of 

4 higher education that receives funds under this Act shall 

5 not— 

6 ‘‘(1) take any action to require or coerce a stu7 dent or prospective student who is a member or pro8 spective member of a single-sex social organization 

9 to waive the requirements of paragraph (2), includ10 ing as a condition of enrolling in the institution; or 

11 ‘‘(2) take any adverse action against a student 

12 who is a member or a prospective member of a sin13 gle-sex social organization based solely on the mem14 bership practice of such organization limiting mem15 bership to only individuals of one sex. 

16 ‘‘(b) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this 

17 section shall— 

18 ‘‘(1) require an institution of higher education 

19 to officially recognize a single-sex organization; 

20 ‘‘(2) prohibit an institution of higher education 

21 from taking an adverse action against a student who 

22 joins a single-sex social organization for a reason in23 cluding academic misconduct or nonacademic mis24 conduct, or because the organization’s purpose poses 

25 a clear harm to the students or employees, so long 

26 as that adverse action is not based solely on the 


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1 membership practice of the organization of limiting 

2 membership to only individuals of one sex; or 

3 ‘‘(3) inhibit the ability of the faculty of an insti4 tution of higher education to express an opinion (ei5 ther individually or collectively) about membership in 

6 a single-sex social organization, or otherwise inhibit 

7 the academic freedom of such faculty to research, 

8 write, or publish material about membership in such 

9 an organization. 

10 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

11 ‘‘(1) ADVERSE ACTION.—The term ‘adverse ac12 tion’ means any of the following actions taken by an 

13 institution of higher education with respect to a 

14 member or prospective member of a single-sex social 

15 organization: 

16 ‘‘(A) Expulsion, suspension, probation, 

17 censure, condemnation, formal reprimand, or 

18 any other disciplinary action, coercive action, or 

19 sanction taken by an institution of higher edu20 cation or administrative unit of such institution. 

21 ‘‘(B) An oral or written warning with re22 spect to an action described in subparagraph 

23 (A). 

24 ‘‘(C) An action to deny participation in 

25 any education program or activity. 


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1 ‘‘(D) An action to withhold, in whole or in 

2 part, any financial assistance (including schol3 arships and on campus employment), or deny4 ing the opportunity to apply for financial assist5 ance, a scholarship, a graduate fellowship, or 

6 on-campus employment. 

7 ‘‘(E) An action to deny or restrict access 

8 to on-campus housing. 

9 ‘‘(F) An act to deny any certification, en10 dorsement, or letter of recommendation that 

11 may be required by a student’s current or fu12 ture employer, a government agency, a licensing 

13 board, an institution of higher education, a 

14 scholarship program, or a graduate fellowship 

15 to which the student seeks to apply. 

16 ‘‘(G) An action to deny participation in 

17 any sports team, club, or other student organi18 zation, including a denial of any leadership po19 sition in any sports team, club, or other student 

20 organization. 

21 ‘‘(H) An action to require any student to 

22 certify that such student is not a member of a 

23 single-sex social organization or to disclose the 

24 student’s membership in a single-sex social or25 ganization. 


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1 ‘‘(2) SINGLE-SEX SOCIAL ORGANIZATION.—The 

2 term ‘single-sex social organization’ means a social 

3 fraternity or sorority described in section 501(c) of 

4 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 which is exempt 

5 from taxation under section 501(a) of such Code, or 

6 an organization that has been historically single-sex, 

7 the active membership of which consists primarily of 

8 students or alumni of an institution of higher edu9 cation.’’. 

Æ 


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