H.R. 3282 — Preventing Antisemitic Harassment on Campus Act of 2025

This section amends Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.), which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in programs or activities receiving federal financial assistance, as follows: (1) adds religion to the list of prohibited bases of discrimination; (2) exempts from the religion prohibition any program or activity conducted or controlled by, or otherwise affiliated with, a religious organization, including a student religious organization; (3) defines discrimination, for purposes of postsecondary educational programs or public systems of higher education, to include deliberate indifference to harassment that is so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively denies a victim equal access to educational resources and opportunities; and (4) establishes as U.S. policy the enforcement of Title VI against antisemitism (defined as a certain perception of Jews, expressed as hatred toward Jews, with rhetorical or physical manifestations directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals or property, or Jewish community institutions or religious facilities) no less vigorously than against other prohibited forms of discrimination.

This section establishes sanctions, monitoring requirements, notification duties, and reporting obligations for institutions of higher education receiving federal financial assistance under the Higher Education Act of 1965 that are found by the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights to violate title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, or national origin) with respect to antisemitic discrimination in a particular program, following notification and an opportunity for a hearing. For a second such violation within the prior five years, the Secretary of Education must impose a fine of at least 10% of the federal financial assistance received by that program in the year of the violation (and any subsequent year of noncompliance lasting 90 days or more); for a third violation within the prior five years, the fine is at least 33% of such assistance. The Secretary may waive aggregation of multiple violations if conducted by non-institution persons within 24 hours; must monitor private title VI lawsuits alleging antisemitic discrimination to assess compliance independently; requires institutions to notify all students, faculty, and staff of violation findings; and must report each fine to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, including circumstances.

This section adds a new section 608 to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in federally assisted programs. It requires federal departments and agencies, in determining compliance with Title VI regulations, and courts, in determining violations, to consider (1) the entity's prevention of discrimination and remediation efforts (including disciplining faculty and staff) with respect to discrimination on another Title VI-protected ground, and (2) such efforts with respect to discrimination against another group on the same ground at issue. It further authorizes a court that finds a violation or upholds an agency noncompliance determination to appoint a monitor to review and report on remedy implementation.

This section provides rules of construction stating that nothing in this Act or its amendments may be construed (1) to expand the authority of the Secretary of Education; (2) to infringe on or diminish rights protected under any other provision of law; (3) to create any negative inference as to legal protections for victims of antisemitism or prohibitions on antisemitic discrimination under federal law prior to enactment; or (4) to infringe on, diminish, or conflict with First Amendment rights.

This section establishes a severability clause, providing that if any provision of the Act or its amendments, or its application to any person or circumstance, is held unconstitutional, the remainder of the Act, its amendments, and their application to other persons or circumstances are not affected.