# Plain Language Summary: Freedom of Association in Higher Education Act of 2023

This bill protects students' rights to join and participate in single-sex social organizations like fraternities and sororities without facing punishment from their college or university. Currently, some schools have policies that penalize students for joining these groups or threaten to take away benefits like scholarships, housing, or leadership positions if students don't leave single-sex organizations. This bill would make those punishments illegal at any school that receives federal funding (which includes virtually all colleges and universities through student loan programs).

The core protection works like this: colleges cannot take "adverse actions" against students simply because they're members of fraternities, sororities, or other single-sex clubs. Adverse actions include suspension, probation, warnings, loss of scholarships or housing, denial of campus jobs, removal from sports teams or other clubs, or even requiring students to disclose their membership. Schools also cannot impose stricter recruitment rules on single-sex organizations than they do on other student groups, unless both sides agree to it in writing. Additionally, colleges cannot force students to promise they won't join these organizations as a condition of enrollment.

However, the bill includes important limits. Schools can still discipline students for actual misconduct like academic cheating, violence, or other rule-breaking—they just can't punish someone solely for the fact that their organization limits membership to one sex. Schools also don't have to officially recognize single-sex organizations, and the organizations themselves can still choose who joins. The bill also protects professors' freedom to express opinions about these organizations and doesn't give students the right to sue if they're rejected for membership.

Freedom of Association in Higher Education Act of 2023

Stefanik, Elise M.

Freedom of Association in Higher Education Act of 2023 This bill addresses freedom of association protections for college students in single-sex social organizations. Specifically, the bill gives students (or groups of students) enrolled at institutions of higher education (IHEs) the right to form or join social organizations, including single-sex social organizations. Additionally, the bill prohibits IHEs that participate in federal student-aid programs from <ul> <li>taking adverse actions against single-sex social organizations or students who are members or prospective members of such organizations based solely on the practice of limiting membership to only individuals of one sex;</li> <li>taking actions that require or coerce members or prospective members of such organizations to waive protections provided under the bill, including as a condition of enrolling in the IHE; or</li> <li>imposing a recruitment restriction on a single-sex social organization that is not imposed upon other student organizations, unless the organization and IHE have entered into a written agreement allowing the restriction.</li> </ul>