II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 826
To amend title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit discrimination
under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance
on the ground of religion, to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965
to provide for rigorous enforcement of prohibitions against discrimination
by institutions of higher education on the basis of antisemitism, and
for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH4, 2025
Mr. S
COTTof Florida introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
A BILL
To amend title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit
discrimination under any program or activity receiving
Federal financial assistance on the ground of religion,
to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide
for rigorous enforcement of prohibitions against discrimi-
nation by institutions of higher education on the basis
of antisemitism, 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
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Preventing Antisemitic 2
Harassment on Campus Act of 2025’’. 3
SEC. 2. PROHIBITION OF DISCRIMINATION ON THE 4
GROUND OF RELIGION. 5
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 601 of the Civil Rights 6
Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d) is amended by striking 7
‘‘or national origin’’ and inserting ‘‘national origin, or reli-8
gion’’. 9
(b) N
ON-APPLICATION.—Title VI of the Civil Rights 10
Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.) is amended by add-11
ing at the end the following: 12
‘‘SEC. 607. NON-APPLICATION OF PROHIBITION OF DIS-13
CRIMINATION ON THE GROUND OF RELIGION 14
TO RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS. 15
‘‘The prohibition of discrimination under any pro-16
gram or activity receiving Federal financial assistance on 17
the ground of religion under this title shall not apply to 18
a program or activity that is conducted or controlled by, 19
or is otherwise affiliated with, a religious organization, in-20
cluding a student religious organization.’’. 21
(c) H
ARASSMENT.—Section 601 of the Civil Rights 22
Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d) is amended— 23
(1) by striking ‘‘No person’’ and inserting the 24
following: ‘‘
PROHIBITION OF DISCRIMINA -25
TION.— 26
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‘‘(a) INGENERAL.—No person’’; and 1
(2) by adding at the end the following: 2
‘‘(b) I
NCLUSION OF INDIFFERENCE TO HARASS-3
MENT.—The term ‘discrimination’, for purposes of this 4
title and with respect to an educational program or activ-5
ity of a college, university, or other postsecondary institu-6
tion, or a public system of higher education, includes delib-7
erate indifference to harassment that is so severe, perva-8
sive, and objectively offensive, and that so undermines and 9
detracts from a victim’s educational experience, that the 10
victim is effectively denied equal access to the resources 11
and opportunities of the educational program or activity.’’. 12
(d) P
OLICY.— 13
(1) I
N GENERAL.—It shall be the policy of the 14
United States to enforce title VI of the Civil Rights 15
Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.) against pro-16
hibited forms of discrimination rooted in anti-17
semitism no less vigorously than against all other 18
forms of discrimination prohibited by such title VI. 19
(2) D
EFINITION OF ANTISEMITISM .—In this 20
subsection, the term ‘‘antisemitism’’ means a certain 21
perception of Jews, which may be expressed as ha-22
tred toward Jews, and the rhetorical and physical 23
manifestations of which are directed toward— 24
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(A) Jewish or non-Jewish individuals or 1
their property; or 2
(B) Jewish community institutions or reli-3
gious facilities. 4
SEC. 3. AMENDMENT TO THE HIGHER EDUCATION ACT OF 5
1965. 6
Part B of title I of the Higher Education Act of 1965 7
(20 U.S.C. 1011 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 8
the following: 9
‘‘SEC. 124. SANCTIONS FOR NONCOMPLIANCE WITH TITLE 10
VI. 11
‘‘(a) D
EFINITION OFINSTITUTION OFHIGHEREDU-12
CATION.—In this section, the term ‘institution of higher 13
education’ has the meaning given the term in section 102. 14
‘‘(b) S
ANCTIONS FORCERTAINVIOLATIONS.— 15
‘‘(1) S
ANCTIONS.— 16
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding sec-17
tion 602 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 18
U.S.C. 2000d–1), an institution of higher edu-19
cation that receives Federal financial assistance 20
under this Act and is found, by the Office for 21
Civil Rights of the Department, to be in viola-22
tion of title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 23
(42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.) with respect to 24
antisemitic discrimination in a program or ac-25
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tivity as described in subparagraph (B) or (C) 1
shall be subject to the sanction provided in sub-2
paragraph (B) or (C), after the Secretary— 3
‘‘(i) notifies the institution of such 4
finding; and 5
‘‘(ii) provides the institution with an 6
opportunity for a hearing. 7
‘‘(B) T
WO VIOLATIONS.—In the case of a 8
particular program of an institution that vio-9
lates title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 10
(42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.) with respect to 11
antisemitic discrimination for a second time 12
within the 5-year period preceding the date of 13
the second violation, the Secretary shall impose 14
a fine on the institution in an amount that is 15
not less than 10 percent of the Federal finan-16
cial assistance received under this Act by the 17
particular program of the institution in which 18
the violation was found during the year of the 19
second violation (regardless of how long the in-20
stitution remains in violation) and any subse-21
quent year during which the institution remains 22
in violation for not less than 90 days. 23
‘‘(C) T
HREE VIOLATIONS.—In the case of 24
a particular program of an institution that vio-25
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lates title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 1
(42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.) with respect to 2
antisemitic discrimination for a third time with-3
in the 5-year period preceding the date of the 4
third violation, the Secretary shall impose a fine 5
on the institution in an amount that is not less 6
than 33 percent of the Federal financial assist-7
ance received under this Act by the particular 8
program of the institution in which the violation 9
was found during the year of the third violation 10
(regardless of how long the institution remains 11
in violation) and any subsequent year during 12
which the institution remains in violation for 13
not less than 90 days. 14
‘‘(2) W
AIVER.—For purposes of imposing sanc-15
tions under paragraph (1), the Secretary may treat 16
violations described in paragraph (1) as a single vio-17
lation if the violations— 18
‘‘(A) are in relation to discrimination that 19
was conducted by a person other than the insti-20
tution or its faculty or staff; and 21
‘‘(B) occurred within a span of not more 22
than 24 hours. 23
‘‘(c) M
ONITORING.—The Secretary shall monitor pri-24
vate lawsuits brought against institutions of higher edu-25
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cation that receive Federal financial assistance under this 1
Act for a violation of title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 2
1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.) with respect to antisemitic 3
discrimination to independently evaluate whether the insti-4
tution violated title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 5
(42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.) with respect to antisemitic dis-6
crimination. 7
‘‘(d) N
OTIFICATION TOSTUDENTS, FACULTY, AND 8
S
TAFF.—An institution of higher education that receives 9
Federal financial assistance under this Act and is found 10
to be in violation of title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 11
1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.) with respect to antisemitic 12
discrimination shall provide a notification of such finding 13
to all enrolled students, faculty, and staff of the institu-14
tion. 15
‘‘(e) R
EPORT.—The Secretary shall submit a full 16
written report to the Committee on Health, Education, 17
Labor, and Pensions of the Senate and the Committee on 18
Education and the Workforce of the House of Representa-19
tives with respect to each action to impose a fine under 20
subsection (b) that includes the circumstances and 21
grounds for such action.’’. 22
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SEC. 4. AMENDMENTS TO CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964. 1
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2
2000d et seq.), as amended by section 2, is further amend-3
ed by adding at the end the following: 4
‘‘SEC. 608. FACTORS IN DETERMINATION OF NONCOMPLI-5
ANCE; MONITOR. 6
‘‘(a) F
ACTORS.—Each Federal department and agen-7
cy in determining whether a person is in compliance with 8
a requirement adopted pursuant to section 602, and court 9
in determining whether a person has violated this title, 10
shall make considerations, including of the following fac-11
tors: 12
‘‘(1) The person’s prevention of discrimination, 13
and remediation (including disciplining faculty and 14
staff) with respect to discrimination, on the basis of 15
another ground provided in section 601. 16
‘‘(2) The person’s prevention of discrimination, 17
and remediation (including disciplining faculty and 18
staff) with respect to discrimination, against another 19
group on the basis of the same ground for which the 20
determination of compliance or a violation is being 21
made. 22
‘‘(b) M
ONITOR.—A court that finds a violation of this 23
title or upholds a department or agency determination of 24
noncompliance with a requirement adopted pursuant to 25
section 602 may appoint a monitor to review and report 26
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on the implementation of any remedy with respect to such 1
finding or determination.’’. 2
SEC. 5. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION. 3
Nothing in this Act, or any of the amendments made 4
under this Act, shall be construed— 5
(1) to expand the authority of the Secretary of 6
Education; 7
(2) to infringe on, or otherwise diminish, the 8
rights protected under any other provision of law; 9
(3) to create any negative inference as to either 10
the legal protections provided to victims of anti-11
semitism or the prohibitions on antisemitic discrimi-12
nation by Federal law prior to date of enactment of 13
this Act; and 14
(4) to infringe on, diminish, or otherwise con-15
flict with any right protected under the First 16
Amendment to the Constitution of the United 17
States. 18
SEC. 6. SEVERABILITY. 19
If any provision of this Act, an amendment made by 20
this Act, or the application of such provision or amend-21
ment to any person or circumstance is held to be unconsti-22
tutional, the remainder of this Act, the amendments made 23
by this Act, and the application of such provisions and 24
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amendments to any other person or circumstance shall not 1
be affected. 2
Æ
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