Sponsors (24)
The bill strengthens student protections, support, and enforcement options against harassment and funds evaluated prevention programs, but it increases administrative, compliance, privacy, and litigation burdens for institutions (and some cost to taxpayers), with smaller colleges at a competitive disadvantage.
Students and campus staff gain clearer protections and support: colleges must prohibit harassment (including online), publish prevention programs and reporting procedures, notify available counseling and mental-health services, and provide transparency about disciplinary outcomes and possible sanctions.
Institutions of higher education receive dedicated federal grant funding ($50M/year, FY2026–FY2031) to implement or expand anti-harassment programs, increasing resources available for prevention and response.
Covered individuals keep existing civil-rights remedies and can bring parallel claims: people protected by Title VI, Title IX, section 504, and the ADA retain their rights and may pursue additional enforcement paths under this Act.
Colleges and universities face new administrative, reporting, and compliance costs (including mandated data collection, evaluation, and publication), which can divert staff time from student services and raise costs for institutions and taxpayers.
Students and staff may face privacy and free-speech risks because detailed reporting of harassment patterns and broad definitions of electronic communications could expose sensitive information and extend institutional oversight to off‑campus or digital conduct.
Institutions may see more legal disputes and litigation: mandated transparency about sanctions and overlapping enforcement under multiple statutes could increase challenges from accused parties and concurrent enforcement actions that divert institutional resources.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Requires U.S. colleges to include detailed anti-harassment policies and incident reporting (including electronic harassment) in their HEA annual reports and funds a competitive prevention/response grant program.
Requires U.S. colleges and universities to include a written anti-harassment policy and detailed reporting in the existing annual higher education report, including protections for harassment carried out by electronic messaging or other technology, and to designate staff responsible for receiving and tracking reports. Establishes a competitive grant program (authorized $50 million/year FY2026–FY2031) to help institutions prevent, address, and respond to harassment and requires evaluations, grantee reports, and an Education Department best-practices report to Congress.
Introduced September 18, 2025 by Patty Murray · Last progress September 18, 2025