H.R. 3518 — To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to prohibit graduate medical schools from receiving Federal financial assistance if such schools adopt certain policies and requirements relating to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

This section establishes a limitation on federal funding and financial assistance—including participation in federally funded or guaranteed student loan programs—for graduate medical schools at institutions of higher education. No such school is eligible unless the institution certifies to the Secretary of Education that (1) it does not and will not (A) direct or compel faculty, staff, or students to express specified tenets on oppression/oppressor categories, adverse treatment by protected characteristics (sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color, national origin), inherent responsibility for past actions of group members, or claims of systemic racism in America as a precondition for benefits, access, employment, or admission; (B) deprive students of opportunities or adversely affect their status based on race, ethnicity, color, or national origin (e.g., distinctions, privileges, or courses solely on those bases); (C) require courses compelling adoption of those tenets; (D) establish, maintain, or contract with a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) office or equivalent; or (E) require or incentivize diversity statements for admission or employment; and (2) it will comply with specified civil rights laws (Titles IV and VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Age Discrimination Act of 1975). The section defines DEI office (any unit compelling expression violating Titles IV or VI), diversity statement (assertions of inherent superiority/inferiority, adverse/advantageous treatment, or collective guilt by protected characteristics), and institution of higher education (per HEA §102).

This section establishes a new criterion (496(a)(9)) for accrediting agency recognition under the Higher Education Act of 1965, requiring that any agency with or seeking scope of recognition for graduate medical education programs demonstrate it does not condition accreditation on institutions or programs adopting policies or requirements contravening section 124. (As background, accrediting agencies recognized under HEA §496 determine institutional and programmatic eligibility for federal student aid programs administered by the Department of Education.)

This section provides rules of construction clarifying that nothing in this Act or its amendments prohibits (1) a graduate medical school at an institution of higher education from providing instruction on unique medical needs or conditions related to an individual’s sex, race, or other characteristics or from collecting and maintaining demographic data on students solely for informational purposes; (2) requires or incentivizes a religious institution to act contrary to its tenets; or (3) restricts First Amendment rights, academic instruction (except as required under specified provisions of the Higher Education Act), research operations, student organizations, guest speakers, or compliance with federal and state anti-discrimination laws at an institution of higher education.