Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB1569 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 1569
5	5	To modify the criteria for recognition of accrediting agencies or associations
6	6	for institutions of higher education.
7	7	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
8	8	MAY1, 2025
9	9	Mr. B
10	10	ANKSintroduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred
11	11	to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
12	12	A BILL
13	13	To modify the criteria for recognition of accrediting agencies
14	14	or associations for institutions of higher education.
15	15	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
16	16	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
17	17	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
18	18	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fairness in Higher 4
19	19	Education Accreditation Act’’. 5
20	20	SEC. 2. CRITERIA FOR RECOGNITION OF ACCREDITING 6
21	21	AGENCIES OR ASSOCIATIONS. 7
22	22	Section 496 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 8
23	23	U.S.C. 1099b) is amended— 9
24	24	(1) in subsection (a)— 10
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27	27	•S 1569 IS
28	28	(A) in paragraph (5)— 1
29	29	(i) in subparagraph (I), by striking 2
30	30	‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; 3
31	31	(ii) in subparagraph (J), by inserting 4
32	32	‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; and 5
33	33	(iii) by inserting after subparagraph 6
34	34	(J), and before the flush text, the fol-7
35	35	lowing: 8
36	36	‘‘(K) except in the case of an institution 9
37	37	described in subsection (r)(2), success in ensur-10
38	38	ing a right of free inquiry (as defined in sub-11
39	39	section (r)(1));’’; 12
40	40	(B) in paragraph (7), by striking ‘‘and’’ 13
41	41	after the semicolon; 14
42	42	(C) in paragraph (8), by striking the pe-15
43	43	riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 16
44	44	(D) by adding at the end the following: 17
45	45	‘‘(9) the accrediting agency or association will 18
46	46	not impose requirements, establish standards, con-19
47	47	duct investigations, or make recommendations con-20
48	48	cerning— 21
49	49	‘‘(A) the race, color, sex, or national origin 22
50	50	composition of the student body, faculty, or 23
51	51	staff; 24
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54	54	•S 1569 IS
55	55	‘‘(B) the race, color, sex, or national origin 1
56	56	of the students, faculty members, or staff mem-2
57	57	bers who are in leadership roles; or 3
58	58	‘‘(C) the race, color, sex, or national origin 4
59	59	of the students, faculty members, or staff mem-5
60	60	bers who receive honors or special commenda-6
61	61	tions; 7
62	62	‘‘(10) an accrediting agency or association may 8
63	63	only be determined to be a reliable authority as to 9
64	64	the quality of education or training offered for the 10
65	65	purposes of this Act or for other Federal purposes 11
66	66	if the agency or association permits each institution 12
67	67	of higher education that the agency or association 13
68	68	accredits (and each component or subpart of each 14
69	69	institution of higher education that the agency or as-15
70	70	sociation accredits) to adopt any lawful policy with 16
71	71	regard to the factors described in subparagraphs (A) 17
72	72	through (C) of paragraph (9), notwithstanding the 18
73	73	particular mission of an institution of higher edu-19
74	74	cation (or component or subpart thereof); and 20
75	75	‘‘(11) as part of the accrediting process, an ac-21
76	76	crediting agency or association may not consider any 22
77	77	factor described in subparagraphs (A) through (C) 23
78	78	of paragraph (9).’’; 24
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81	81	•S 1569 IS
82	82	(2) in subsection (p), by striking ‘‘Nothing in 1
83	83	subsection (a)(5)’’ and inserting ‘‘Subject to sub-2
84	84	section (a)(9), nothing in subsection (a)(5)’’; and 3
85	85	(3) by adding at the end the following: 4
86	86	‘‘(r) F
87	87	REEINQUIRY.— 5
88	88	‘‘(1) F
89	89	REE INQUIRY.—In this section, the term 6
90	90	‘free inquiry’ means— 7
91	91	‘‘(A) in the case of a public institution of 8
92	92	higher education that is legally required to 9
93	93	abide by the First Amendment to the Constitu-10
94	94	tion, compliance with— 11
95	95	‘‘(i) the First Amendment to the Con-12
96	96	stitution, including protections for freedom 13
97	97	of speech, association, press, religion, as-14
98	98	sembly, and petition; and 15
99	99	‘‘(ii) the institution’s own written poli-16
100	100	cies regarding academic freedom; or 17
101	101	‘‘(B) in the case of a private institution of 18
102	102	higher education, adherence to the institution’s 19
103	103	written institutional policies concerning freedom 20
104	104	of speech, association, press, religion, assembly, 21
105	105	petition, and academic freedom. 22
106	106	‘‘(2) R
107	107	ELIGIOUS EXEMPTION .—An institution 23
108	108	described in any of subparagraphs (A) through (F) 24
109	109	shall not be subject to the free inquiry requirements 25
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112	112	•S 1569 IS
113	113	of subsection (a)(5)(K). Such exempt institutions 1
114	114	shall include an institution— 2
115	115	‘‘(A) that is a school or department of di-3
116	116	vinity; 4
117	117	‘‘(B) that requires its faculty, students, or 5
118	118	employees to be members of, or otherwise en-6
119	119	gage in religious practices of, or espouse a per-7
120	120	sonal belief in, the religion of the organization 8
121	121	by which it claims to be controlled; 9
122	122	‘‘(C) that in its charter or catalog, or other 10
123	123	official publication, contains an explicit state-11
124	124	ment that it is controlled by a religious organi-12
125	125	zation or an organ thereof, or is committed to 13
126	126	the doctrines or practices of a particular reli-14
127	127	gion, and the members of its governing body 15
128	128	are appointed by the controlling religious orga-16
129	129	nization or an organ thereof, and it receives a 17
130	130	significant amount of financial support from 18
131	131	the controlling religious organization or an 19
132	132	organ thereof; 20
133	133	‘‘(D) that has a doctrinal statement or a 21
134	134	statement of religious practices, along with a 22
135	135	statement that members of the institution com-23
136	136	munity must engage in the religious practices 24
137	137	of, or espouse a personal belief in, the religion, 25
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140	140	•S 1569 IS
141	141	its practices, or the doctrinal statement or 1
142	142	statement of religious practices; 2
143	143	‘‘(E) that has a published institutional 3
144	144	mission that is approved by the governing body 4
145	145	of an educational institution and that includes, 5
146	146	refers to, or is predicated upon religious tenets, 6
147	147	beliefs, or teachings; or 7
148	148	‘‘(F) with respect to which there is other 8
149	149	evidence sufficient to establish that the institu-9
150	150	tion is controlled by a religious organization, 10
151	151	pursuant to section 901(a)(3) of the Education 11
152	152	Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681(a)(3)).’’. 12
153	153	SEC. 3. CIVIL ACTION. 13
154	154	An institution of higher education (as defined in sec-14
155	155	tion 102 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 15
156	156	1002), and including both public and private institutions 16
157	157	as so defined) that is subject to a denial, withdrawal, or 17
158	158	termination, or imminent threat of denial, withdrawal, or 18
159	159	termination, of accreditation as a result of an accrediting 19
160	160	agency or association’s violation of the prohibition estab-20
161	161	lished in section 496(a)(10) of the Higher Education Act 21
162	162	of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1099b(a)), as added by section 2 of 22
163	163	this Act, may pursue a civil action in accordance with sub-23
164	164	sections (e) and (f) of such section 496. 24
165	165	Æ
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