COLUMBIA Act of 2025
Officially: “COLUMBIA Act of 2025” Read the full text
What it does
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1Short title
This section would give the Act the short title "College Oversight and Legal Updates Mandating Bias Investigations and Accountability Act of 2025," also called the "COLUMBIA Act of 2025."
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1. Short title This Act may be cited as the College Oversight and Legal Updates Mandating Bias Investigations and Accountability Act of 2025 or the COLUMBIA Act of 2025 .
2Antisemitism monitors
This section would require the Secretary of Education, no later than 180 days after the Act becomes law, to set up a program that appoints independent, third-party antisemitism monitors to monitor colleges and universities. A college or university could be monitored only if it both receives funds under the Higher Education Act of 1965 and has been identified by the Secretary, based on data from the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, as having a high incidence of antisemitic activity. The Secretary would have to develop a standard antisemitism monitorship agreement, to be signed by the monitor and the institution, that sets the terms and conditions of the monitorship and requires the institution to cover the monitor's reasonable expenses. Each antisemitism monitor assigned to an institution would have to operate under that signed agreement; provide quarterly reports evaluating the institution's progress in combating antisemitism on campus, which must be made publicly available and posted on both the institution's website and the Department of Education's website; and provide an annual report to Congress, the Secretary of Education, State and local governments as needed, and the institution, that recommends actions, policies, and sanctions, as appropriate, to prevent and reduce antisemitism at the institution. For purposes of this section, "institution of higher education" has the meaning given that term in section 102 of the Higher Education Act of 1965.
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2. Antisemitism monitors (a) Authority Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Education shall establish a program to appoint independent, third-party, antisemitism monitors to monitor institutions of higher education that the Secretary has determined, based on data received from the Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Education, have a high incidence of antisemitic activity and that receive funds under the Higher Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 1001 et seq. ). The Secretary shall develop an antisemitism monitorship agreement, to be entered into by an antisemitism monitor and an institution of higher education, that designates the terms and conditions of the monitorship and that requires the institution of higher education to provide for the reasonable expenses of the antisemitism monitor. (b) Duties of antisemitism monitor An antisemitism monitor appointed to an institution of higher education by the Secretary of Education shall— (1) operate under the antisemitism monitorship agreement developed by the Secretary and entered into with the institution of higher education; (2) provide quarterly reports, which shall be made publicly available and posted on the website of the institution of higher education and the Department of Education, evaluating the progress that the institution has made toward combating antisemitism on campus; and (3) provide an annual report to Congress, the Secretary of Education, State and local governments, as needed, and the institution of higher education, that includes recommendations of actions, policies, and sanctions, as appropriate, to prevent and reduce antisemitism at the institution. (c) Definition of institution of higher education In this section, the term institution of higher education has the meaning given such term in section 102 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 1002 ).
Where it is
In the House.