End Woke Higher Education Act

The bill was renamed from 'Accreditation for College Excellence Act of 2023' to 'End Woke Higher Education Act,' signaling a broader ideological framing.

An entirely new Title II ('Respecting the First Amendment on Campus') was added, expanding the bill from regulating only accrediting agencies to imposing direct obligations on public institutions of higher education that participate in federal student aid programs.

A new rule of construction (Section 103) was added clarifying that nothing in the accreditation title prevents religious accreditors from holding and enforcing religious standards on institutions they choose to accredit.

The accreditation prohibition language was broadened: 'partisan or political belief' became 'partisan, political, or ideological viewpoint or belief'; 'social or political issue' became 'social, cultural, or political issues'; and 'sex, race, or ethnicity' was replaced with the broader 'any protected class under Federal civil rights law.'

Institutions must now annually disclose their free speech, freedom of association, and freedom of religion policies to current and prospective students and faculty as a condition of participating in Title IV federal student aid programs.

Public institutions are required to treat publicly accessible outdoor campus areas as traditional public forums for expressive activity, with time, place, and manner restrictions subject to strict content-neutral standards.

Public institutions are prohibited from using 'political tests' in admission, hiring, employment, promotion, or tenure decisions. The term is defined to include compelling anyone to express support for or opposition to DEI initiatives beyond existing federal law, or to any theory holding that systems upholding federal law are racist or oppressive.

Public institutions must provide written First Amendment education and free speech orientation materials to new and transfer students, and post these on their public websites.

Extensive new protections for single-sex social organizations (fraternities and sororities) were added, including prohibitions on retaliation against members or the organizations themselves, restrictions on recruitment limitations, and a detailed definition of 'adverse action' covering discipline, financial aid denial, housing denial, and more.

Public institutions must establish content- and viewpoint-neutral standards for distributing student activity funds to recognized student organizations, assessing security fees for events, and protecting invited speakers and guests.

The Secretary of Education must submit an annual report to Congress compiling all violation notifications, compliance reports, and eligibility revocations or restorations.

The limitation on scope of accrediting agency criteria (Section 496(g)) was rewritten to state that the Secretary shall not establish criteria beyond what the section requires, and that institutional eligibility for federal programs depends only on compliance with standards assessing the institution in accordance with specified provisions, regardless of additional unrelated standards.

A private right of action was created allowing aggrieved individuals or organizations to sue public institutions in federal court for violations, with remedies including injunctive relief, compensatory damages, court costs, and attorney's fees. The statute of limitations is 2 years, with each day a violation persists counting as a new accrual.

Institutions that lose a civil judgment must notify the Secretary of Education within 7 days and submit a compliance report within 30 days. Failure to do so results in automatic revocation of Title IV federal student aid eligibility.

States and local governments that receive Title IV funding are deemed to have waived sovereign immunity under the 11th Amendment for civil actions brought under this section.