I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2516
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to prohibit political litmus
tests in accreditation of institutions of higher education, and for other
purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH31, 2025
Mr. O
WENS(for himself, Ms. TENNEY, Mr. MURPHY, Mr. GROTHMAN, Mr.
R
OSE, Mr. BABIN, Mr. ONDER, Mr. MOOREof West Virginia, and Mr.
M
ESSMER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Education and Workforce
A BILL
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to prohibit
political litmus tests in accreditation of institutions of
higher education, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This title may be cited as the ‘‘Accreditation for Col-4
lege Excellence Act of 2025’’. 5
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SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON POLITICAL LITMUS TESTS IN AC-1
CREDITATION OF INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER 2
EDUCATION. 3
(a) O
PERATINGPROCEDURESREQUIRED.—Section 4
496(c) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 5
1099b(c)) is amended— 6
(1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 7
(8); 8
(2) in paragraph (9), by striking the period at 9
the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 10
(3) by adding at the end the following: 11
‘‘(10) confirms that the standards for accredita-12
tion of the agency or association do not— 13
‘‘(A) except as provided in subparagraph 14
(B)— 15
‘‘(i) require, encourage, or coerce any 16
institution to— 17
‘‘(I) support, oppose, or commit 18
to supporting or opposing— 19
‘‘(aa) a specific partisan, po-20
litical, or ideological viewpoint or 21
belief or set of such viewpoints or 22
beliefs; or 23
‘‘(bb) a specific viewpoint or 24
belief or set of viewpoints or be-25
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•HR 2516 IH
liefs on social, cultural, or polit-1
ical issues; or 2
‘‘(II) support or commit to sup-3
porting the disparate treatment of any 4
individual or group of individuals on 5
the basis of any protected class under 6
Federal civil rights law, except as re-7
quired by Federal law or a court 8
order; or 9
‘‘(ii) assess an institution’s or pro-10
gram of study’s commitment to any ide-11
ology, belief, or viewpoint; 12
‘‘(B) prohibit an institution— 13
‘‘(i) from having a religious mission, 14
operating as a religious institution, or 15
being controlled by a religious organization 16
(in a manner described in paragraph (1), 17
(2), (3), (4), (5), or (6) of section 18
106.12(c) of title 34, Code of Federal Reg-19
ulations (as in effect on the date of the en-20
actment of this paragraph)), or from re-21
quiring an applicant, student, employee, or 22
independent contractor (such as an adjunct 23
professor) of such an institution to— 24
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•HR 2516 IH
‘‘(I) provide or adhere to a state-1
ment of faith; or 2
‘‘(II) adhere to a code of conduct 3
consistent with the stated religious 4
mission of such institution or the reli-5
gious tenets of such organization; or 6
‘‘(ii) from requiring an applicant, stu-7
dent, employee, or contractor to take an 8
oath to uphold the Constitution of the 9
United States; or 10
‘‘(C) require, encourage, or coerce an insti-11
tution of higher education to violate any right 12
protected by the Constitution.’’. 13
(b) L
IMITATION ONSCOPE OFCRITERIA.—Section 14
496(g) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 15
1099b(g)) is amended to read as follows: 16
‘‘(g) L
IMITATION ONSCOPE OFCRITERIA.— 17
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall not es-18
tablish criteria for accrediting agencies or associa-19
tions that are not required by this section. 20
‘‘(2) I
NSTITUTIONAL ELIGIBILITY.—An institu-21
tion of higher education shall be eligible for partici-22
pation in programs under this title if the institution 23
is in compliance with the standards of its accrediting 24
agency or association that assess the institution in 25
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accordance with subsection (a)(5), regardless of any 1
additional standards adopted by the agency or asso-2
ciation for purposes unrelated to participation in 3
programs under this title.’’. 4
Æ
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