Last Thursday the House of Representatives passed, and sent on to the Senate, the College Access and Opportunity Act (H.R. 609). (Reuters report.) The House Committee has issued a Summary of the bill's complex provisions.
Sec. 112 of the bill amends the current 20 USC Sec. 1011a to include a provision stating that it is the sense of Congress that students at institutions of higher education "should not be intimidated, harassed, discouraged from speaking out, discriminated against, or subject to official sanction because of their personal political, ideological, or religious beliefs...." It also adds a provision attempting to insure that sanctions imposed on students for disrupting a college sponsored class, performance or speech are imposed "objectively, fairly, and without regard to the student’s personal political, ideological, or religious beliefs".
Also Section 495 of the bill amends the current 20 USC Sec. 1099b to provide that the criteria for federal recognition of higher education accrediting agencies must include as one factor whether the accrediting agency consistently applies and enforces standards "that consider the stated missions of institutions of higher education, including such missions as inculcation of religious values".
