II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 1569
To modify the criteria for recognition of accrediting agencies or associations
for institutions of higher education.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MAY1, 2025
Mr. B
ANKSintroduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred
to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
A BILL
To modify the criteria for recognition of accrediting agencies
or associations for institutions of higher education.
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 Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fairness in Higher 4
Education Accreditation Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. CRITERIA FOR RECOGNITION OF ACCREDITING 6
AGENCIES OR ASSOCIATIONS. 7
Section 496 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 8
U.S.C. 1099b) is amended— 9
(1) in subsection (a)— 10
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:04 May 09, 2025 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1569.IS S1569
mprince on LAP1J3WLY3PROD with $$_JOB 2
•S 1569 IS
(A) in paragraph (5)— 1
(i) in subparagraph (I), by striking 2
‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; 3
(ii) in subparagraph (J), by inserting 4
‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; and 5
(iii) by inserting after subparagraph 6
(J), and before the flush text, the fol-7
lowing: 8
‘‘(K) except in the case of an institution 9
described in subsection (r)(2), success in ensur-10
ing a right of free inquiry (as defined in sub-11
section (r)(1));’’; 12
(B) in paragraph (7), by striking ‘‘and’’ 13
after the semicolon; 14
(C) in paragraph (8), by striking the pe-15
riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 16
(D) by adding at the end the following: 17
‘‘(9) the accrediting agency or association will 18
not impose requirements, establish standards, con-19
duct investigations, or make recommendations con-20
cerning— 21
‘‘(A) the race, color, sex, or national origin 22
composition of the student body, faculty, or 23
staff; 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:04 May 09, 2025 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1569.IS S1569
mprince on LAP1J3WLY3PROD with $$_JOB 3
•S 1569 IS
‘‘(B) the race, color, sex, or national origin 1
of the students, faculty members, or staff mem-2
bers who are in leadership roles; or 3
‘‘(C) the race, color, sex, or national origin 4
of the students, faculty members, or staff mem-5
bers who receive honors or special commenda-6
tions; 7
‘‘(10) an accrediting agency or association may 8
only be determined to be a reliable authority as to 9
the quality of education or training offered for the 10
purposes of this Act or for other Federal purposes 11
if the agency or association permits each institution 12
of higher education that the agency or association 13
accredits (and each component or subpart of each 14
institution of higher education that the agency or as-15
sociation accredits) to adopt any lawful policy with 16
regard to the factors described in subparagraphs (A) 17
through (C) of paragraph (9), notwithstanding the 18
particular mission of an institution of higher edu-19
cation (or component or subpart thereof); and 20
‘‘(11) as part of the accrediting process, an ac-21
crediting agency or association may not consider any 22
factor described in subparagraphs (A) through (C) 23
of paragraph (9).’’; 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:04 May 09, 2025 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1569.IS S1569
mprince on LAP1J3WLY3PROD with $$_JOB 4
•S 1569 IS
(2) in subsection (p), by striking ‘‘Nothing in 1
subsection (a)(5)’’ and inserting ‘‘Subject to sub-2
section (a)(9), nothing in subsection (a)(5)’’; and 3
(3) by adding at the end the following: 4
‘‘(r) F
REEINQUIRY.— 5
‘‘(1) F
REE INQUIRY.—In this section, the term 6
‘free inquiry’ means— 7
‘‘(A) in the case of a public institution of 8
higher education that is legally required to 9
abide by the First Amendment to the Constitu-10
tion, compliance with— 11
‘‘(i) the First Amendment to the Con-12
stitution, including protections for freedom 13
of speech, association, press, religion, as-14
sembly, and petition; and 15
‘‘(ii) the institution’s own written poli-16
cies regarding academic freedom; or 17
‘‘(B) in the case of a private institution of 18
higher education, adherence to the institution’s 19
written institutional policies concerning freedom 20
of speech, association, press, religion, assembly, 21
petition, and academic freedom. 22
‘‘(2) R
ELIGIOUS EXEMPTION .—An institution 23
described in any of subparagraphs (A) through (F) 24
shall not be subject to the free inquiry requirements 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:04 May 09, 2025 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1569.IS S1569
mprince on LAP1J3WLY3PROD with $$_JOB 5
•S 1569 IS
of subsection (a)(5)(K). Such exempt institutions 1
shall include an institution— 2
‘‘(A) that is a school or department of di-3
vinity; 4
‘‘(B) that requires its faculty, students, or 5
employees to be members of, or otherwise en-6
gage in religious practices of, or espouse a per-7
sonal belief in, the religion of the organization 8
by which it claims to be controlled; 9
‘‘(C) that in its charter or catalog, or other 10
official publication, contains an explicit state-11
ment that it is controlled by a religious organi-12
zation or an organ thereof, or is committed to 13
the doctrines or practices of a particular reli-14
gion, and the members of its governing body 15
are appointed by the controlling religious orga-16
nization or an organ thereof, and it receives a 17
significant amount of financial support from 18
the controlling religious organization or an 19
organ thereof; 20
‘‘(D) that has a doctrinal statement or a 21
statement of religious practices, along with a 22
statement that members of the institution com-23
munity must engage in the religious practices 24
of, or espouse a personal belief in, the religion, 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:04 May 09, 2025 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1569.IS S1569
mprince on LAP1J3WLY3PROD with $$_JOB 6
•S 1569 IS
its practices, or the doctrinal statement or 1
statement of religious practices; 2
‘‘(E) that has a published institutional 3
mission that is approved by the governing body 4
of an educational institution and that includes, 5
refers to, or is predicated upon religious tenets, 6
beliefs, or teachings; or 7
‘‘(F) with respect to which there is other 8
evidence sufficient to establish that the institu-9
tion is controlled by a religious organization, 10
pursuant to section 901(a)(3) of the Education 11
Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681(a)(3)).’’. 12
SEC. 3. CIVIL ACTION. 13
An institution of higher education (as defined in sec-14
tion 102 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 15
1002), and including both public and private institutions 16
as so defined) that is subject to a denial, withdrawal, or 17
termination, or imminent threat of denial, withdrawal, or 18
termination, of accreditation as a result of an accrediting 19
agency or association’s violation of the prohibition estab-20
lished in section 496(a)(10) of the Higher Education Act 21
of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1099b(a)), as added by section 2 of 22
this Act, may pursue a civil action in accordance with sub-23
sections (e) and (f) of such section 496. 24
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 09:04 May 09, 2025 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1569.IS S1569
mprince on LAP1J3WLY3PROD with $$_JOB