I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2555 
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 
APRIL 1, 2025 
Mrs. HOUCHIN (for herself and Mr. GARCIA of California) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Work-
force 
A BILL 
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide 
for certain freedom of association protections, and for 
other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Freedom of Associa-
tion in Higher Education Act of 2025’’. 
SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 
(a) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are as fol-
lows: 
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(1) Protect any student in a single-sex social 
organization or any single-sex social organization 
from any adverse action by an institution of higher 
education based solely on the membership practice of 
such organization of limiting membership only to in-
dividuals of one sex. 
(2) Ensure any student in a single-sex social or-
ganization or any single-sex social organization is 
treated without bias in comparison to students at an 
institution of higher education who do not partici-
pate in single-sex social organizations, or other so-
cial organizations at an institution of higher edu-
cation that are not single-sex. 
(3) Protect the rights of students to freely asso-
ciate with and participate in social organizations, in-
cluding single-sex social organizations. 
SEC. 3. FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION PROTECTIONS FOR 
STUDENTS IN SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS. 
Part B of title I of the Higher Education Act of 1965 
(20 U.S.C. 1011 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 
the following: 
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‘‘SEC. 124. FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION PROTECTIONS FOR 
STUDENTS IN SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS. 
‘‘(a) UPHOLDING FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION PRO-
TECTIONS.—Any student (or group of students) enrolled 
in an institution of higher education shall— 
‘‘(1) be able to form or apply to join any recog-
nized or unrecognized social organization, including 
any single-sex social organization; and 
‘‘(2) if selected for membership by any social 
organization, be able to join such social organization 
and participate in such social organization. 
‘‘(b) NON-RETALIATION AGAINST STUDENTS OF SIN-
GLE-SEX SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS.—An institution of 
higher education that receives funds under this Act, in-
cluding through an institution’s participation in any pro-
gram under title IV, shall not— 
‘‘(1) take any action to require or coerce a stu-
dent or prospective student who is a member or pro-
spective member of a single-sex social organization 
to waive the protections provided under subsection 
(a), including as a condition of enrolling in the insti-
tution; 
‘‘(2) take any adverse action against a single- 
sex social organization, or a student who is a mem-
ber or a prospective member of a single-sex social 
organization, based solely on the membership prac-
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tice of such organization limiting membership only 
to individuals of one sex; or 
‘‘(3) impose a recruitment restriction (including 
a recruitment restriction relating to the schedule for 
membership recruitment) on a single-sex social orga-
nization recognized by the institution, which is not 
imposed upon other student organizations by the in-
stitution, unless the organization (or a council of 
similar organizations) and the institution have en-
tered into a mutually agreed-upon written agreement 
that allows the institution to impose such restriction. 
‘‘(c) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this 
section shall— 
‘‘(1) require an institution of higher education 
to officially recognize a social organization, including 
a single-sex social organization; 
‘‘(2) prohibit an institution of higher education 
from taking an adverse action against a student who 
joins a social organization, including a single-sex so-
cial organization, for a reason including academic 
misconduct or nonacademic misconduct, or because 
the organization’s purpose poses a clear harm to 
students or employees of the institution, so long as 
that adverse action is not based solely on the mem-
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bership practice of the organization of limiting mem-
bership only to individuals of one sex; 
‘‘(3) prevent a social organization from regu-
lating its own membership; 
‘‘(4) inhibit the ability of the faculty of an insti-
tution of higher education to express an opinion (ei-
ther individually or collectively) about membership in 
a single-sex social organization, or otherwise inhibit 
the academic freedom of such faculty to research, 
write, or publish material about membership in such 
an organization; or 
‘‘(5) create enforceable rights against a social 
organization or against an institution of higher edu-
cation due to the decision of such social organization 
to deny membership to an individual student. 
‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) ADVERSE ACTION.—The term ‘adverse ac-
tion’ includes the following actions taken by an insti-
tution of higher education with respect to a single- 
sex social organization or a member or prospective 
member of a single-sex social organization: 
‘‘(A) Expulsion, suspension, probation, 
censure, condemnation, formal reprimand, or 
any other disciplinary action, coercive action, or 
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scholarship program, or a graduate fellowship 
to which the student applies or seeks to apply. 
‘‘(G) An action to deny participation in 
any sports team, club, or other student organi-
zation, including a denial of any leadership po-
sition in any sports team, club, or other student 
organization. 
‘‘(H) An action to withdraw the institu-
tion’s official recognition of such organization. 
‘‘(I) An action to require any student to 
certify that such student is not a member of a 
single-sex social organization or to disclose the 
student’s membership in a single-sex social or-
ganization. 
‘‘(J) An action to interject an institution’s 
own criteria into the membership practices of 
the organization in any manner that conflicts 
with the rights of such organization under title 
IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (20 
U.S.C. 1681 et seq.) or this section. 
‘‘(2) SINGLE-SEX SOCIAL ORGANIZATION.—The 
term ‘single-sex social organization’ means— 
‘‘(A) a social fraternity or sorority de-
scribed in section 501(c) of the Internal Rev-
enue Code of 1986 which is exempt from tax-
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ation under section 501(a) of such Code, or an 
organization that has been historically single- 
sex, the active membership of which consists 
primarily of students or alumni of an institu-
tion of higher education; or 
‘‘(B) a single-sex private social club (in-
cluding an independent organization located off- 
campus) that consists primarily of students or 
alumni of an institution of higher education.’’. 
Æ 
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