Senators introduce bill pushing Dept of Education to investigate higher ed anti-Semitism
'No student should be afraid to walk around campus because of who they are,' Sen. Cassidy told Campus Reform.
'Jewish students should not be forced to risk their safety in pursuit of an education,' Sen. Joni Ernst said in a statement provided to Campus Reform.
Members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions have proposed a bill to hold universities accountable for addressing anti-Semitic discrimination on campuses.
The Restoring Civility on Campus Act, which was introduced on Wednesday, would push the Department of Education and institutions of higher education to “immediately address civil rights complaints if a student experiences violence or harassment on campus because of their heritage.”
Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) introduced the bill to build upon prior legislation aimed at curbing violence on college campuses. Previously, the Protecting Students on Campus Act of 2024 was introduced by Sen. Cassidy as a response to heightened anti-Semitism on campuses in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.
“The Secretary of Education … shall direct the Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Education … to send an investigator, in-person, to each covered entity that participates in a program under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070 et seq.) and that was the site of a covered complaint of alleged discrimination, in order to conduct an investigation of, and meet with the president or chancellor of the covered entity regarding, such complaint,” the Restoring Civility on Campus Act states.
The committee’s website description of the legislation states that it will require the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to “initiate an immediate investigation of civil rights complaints involving alleged discrimination on the basis of shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics on or after October 7, 2023.”
Students who file with the OCR would be updated every 30 days on the status of their complaints, and also learn “the result of institutional disciplinary proceedings.”
The legislation would also require the Department of Education to “[c]onduct Annual Security Report audits for documented campus crimes motivated by prejudice at institutions with a pending Title VI complaint.” Fines for schools that “fail to disclose a crime motivated by antisemitism” would temporarily be increased from $69,733 to $1 million.
In a statement provided by her office to Campus Reform, Sen. Ernst said she has been “demanding answers from this administration about what they are doing to combat the abhorrent and un-American spike in antisemitism on college campuses, and their inaction speaks volumes.”
“Jewish students should not be forced to risk their safety in pursuit of an education,” the statement continued. “The Restoring Civility on Campus Act will force the Department of Education to stop sitting on its hands and comply with the law to protect students from the hate and violence that have exploded across the country.”
Sen. Cassidy’s committee staff shared with Campus Reform the following statement from the senator: “The threats and violence against Jewish students demand action. No student should be afraid to walk around campus because of who they are. Universities and the Department of Education have failed to meet their legal obligation to protect Jewish students from harm. This bill forces accountability and ensures discrimination is never ignored.”
Campus Reform has contacted the office of Sen. Bill Cassidy and the Director of Communications for the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
