I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2451 

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 30, 2023 

Ms. STEFANIK (for herself and Mrs. MILLER-MEEKS) 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 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 ‘‘Freedom of Associa5 tion in Higher Education Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 

7 (a) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are as fol8 lows: 

9 (1) Protect any student in a single-sex social 

10 organization or any single-sex social organization 


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1 from any adverse action by an institution of higher 

2 education based solely on the membership practice of 

3 such organization of limiting membership only to in4 dividuals of one sex. 

5 (2) Ensure any student in a single-sex social or6 ganization or any single-sex social organization is 

7 treated without bias in comparison to students at an 

8 institution of higher education who do not partici9 pate in single-sex social organizations, or other so10 cial organizations at an institution of higher edu11 cation that are not single-sex. 

12 (3) Protect the rights of students to freely asso13 ciate with and participate in social organizations, in14 cluding single-sex social organizations. 

15 SEC. 3. FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION PROTECTIONS FOR 

16 STUDENTS IN SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS. 

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

18 (20 U.S.C. 1011 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

19 the following: 

20 ‘‘SEC. 124. FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION PROTECTIONS FOR 

21 STUDENTS IN SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS. 

22 ‘‘(a) UPHOLDING FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION PRO23 TECTIONS.—Any student (or group of students) enrolled 

24 in an institution of higher education shall— 


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1 ‘‘(1) be able to form or apply to join any recog2 nized or unrecognized social organization, including 

3 any single-sex social organization; and 

4 ‘‘(2) if selected for membership by any social 

5 organization, be able to join such social organization 

6 and participate in such social organization. 

7 ‘‘(b) NON-RETALIATION AGAINST STUDENTS OF SIN8 GLE-SEX SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS.—An institution of 

9 higher education that receives funds under this Act, in10 cluding through an institution’s participation in any pro11 gram under title IV, shall not— 

12 ‘‘(1) take any action to require or coerce a stu13 dent or prospective student who is a member or pro14 spective member of a single-sex social organization 

15 to waive the protections provided under subsection 

16 (a), including as a condition of enrolling in the insti17 tution; 

18 ‘‘(2) take any adverse action against a single19 sex social organization, or a student who is a mem20 ber or a prospective member of a single-sex social 

21 organization, based solely on the membership prac22 tice of such organization limiting membership only 

23 to individuals of one sex; or 

24 ‘‘(3) impose a recruitment restriction (including 

25 a recruitment restriction relating to the schedule for 


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1 membership recruitment) on a single-sex social orga2 nization recognized by the institution, which is not 

3 imposed upon other student organizations by the in4 stitution, unless the organization (or a council of 

5 similar organizations) and the institution have en6 tered into a mutually agreed-upon written agreement 

7 that allows the institution to impose such restriction. 

8 ‘‘(c) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this 

9 section shall— 

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

11 to officially recognize a social organization, including 

12 a single-sex social organization; 

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

14 from taking an adverse action against a student who 

15 joins a social organization, including a single-sex so16 cial organization, for a reason including academic 

17 misconduct or nonacademic misconduct, or because 

18 the organization’s purpose poses a clear harm to 

19 students or employees of the institution, so long as 

20 that adverse action is not based solely on the mem21 bership practice of the organization of limiting mem22 bership only to individuals of one sex; 

23 ‘‘(3) prevent a social organization from regu24 lating its own membership; 


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1 ‘‘(4) inhibit the ability of the faculty of an insti2 tution of higher education to express an opinion (ei3 ther individually or collectively) about membership in 

4 a single-sex social organization, or otherwise inhibit 

5 the academic freedom of such faculty to research, 

6 write, or publish material about membership in such 

7 an organization; or 

8 ‘‘(5) create enforceable rights against a social 

9 organization or against an institution of higher edu10 cation due to the decision of such social organization 

11 to deny membership to an individual student. 

12 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

13 ‘‘(1) ADVERSE ACTION.—The term ‘adverse ac14 tion’ includes the following actions taken by an insti15 tution of higher education with respect to a single16 sex social organization or a member or prospective 

17 member of a single-sex social organization: 

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

19 censure, condemnation, formal reprimand, or 

20 any other disciplinary action, coercive action, or 

21 sanction taken by an institution of higher edu22 cation or administrative unit of such institution. 

23 ‘‘(B) An oral or written warning with re24 spect to an action described in subparagraph 

25 (A) made by an official of an institution of 


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1 higher education acting in their official capac2 ity. 

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

4 any education program or activity, including the 

5 withholding of any rights, privileges, or oppor6 tunities afforded other students on campus. 

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

8 part, any financial assistance (including schol9 arships and on-campus employment), or deny10 ing the opportunity to apply for financial assist11 ance, a scholarship, a graduate fellowship, or 

12 on-campus employment. 

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

14 to on-campus housing. 

15 ‘‘(F) An act to deny any certification, en16 dorsement, or letter of recommendation that 

17 may be required by a student’s current or fu18 ture employer, a government agency, a licensing 

19 board, an institution of higher education, a 

20 scholarship program, or a graduate fellowship 

21 to which the student applies or seeks to apply. 

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

23 any sports team, club, or other student organi24 zation, including a denial of any leadership poVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:09 Apr 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2451.IH H2451

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1 sition in any sports team, club, or other student 

2 organization. 

3 ‘‘(H) An action to withdraw the institu4 tion’s official recognition of such organization. 

5 ‘‘(I) An action to require any student to 

6 certify that such student is not a member of a 

7 single-sex social organization or to disclose the 

8 student’s membership in a single-sex social or9 ganization. 

10 ‘‘(J) An action to interject an institution’s 

11 own criteria into the membership practices of 

12 the organization in any manner that conflicts 

13 with the rights of such organization under title 

14 IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (20 

15 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.) or this section. 

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

17 term ‘single-sex social organization’ means— 

18 ‘‘(A) a social fraternity or sorority de19 scribed in section 501(c) of the Internal Rev20 enue Code of 1986 which is exempt from tax21 ation under section 501(a) of such Code, or an 

22 organization that has been historically single23 sex, the active membership of which consists 

24 primarily of students or alumni of an institu25 tion of higher education; or 


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1 ‘‘(B) a single-sex private social club (in2 cluding an independent organization located off3 campus) that consists primarily of students or 

4 alumni of an institution of higher education.’’. 

Æ 


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