To amend title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance on the ground of religion, to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide for rigorous enforcement of prohibitions against discrimination by institutions of higher education on the basis of antisemitism, and for other purposes.
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
The Preventing Antisemitic Harassment on Campus Act of 2025 makes two major changes to federal civil rights law. First, it adds religion as a protected category under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which currently covers race, color, and national origin in federally funded programs. Religious organizations are exempted from this new protection. Second, it creates a sanctions framework specifically targeting antisemitic discrimination at colleges and universities: institutions found in violation a second time within five years face fines of at least 10% of their federal funding for the affected program, and a third violation triggers a 33% fine. The bill defines discrimination to include deliberate indifference to severe, pervasive harassment that denies equal educational access. It requires the Department of Education to monitor private antisemitism lawsuits and mandates that violating institutions notify all students, faculty, and staff. Courts may appoint monitors to oversee compliance. The bill includes First Amendment protections and a severability clause.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Adds religion as a protected category under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, defines deliberate indifference to severe harassment as discrimination in higher education, and establishes escalating financial sanctions (10%-33% of federal funding) for institutions with repeated antisemitic discrimination violations.
Who Benefits
- Jewish students on college campuses
- Religious communities broadly (new Title VI protection)
Who Bears Costs
- Institutions of higher education (face significant financial penalties)
- University administrators (compliance and reporting obligations)
Key Policy Areas
{'domain': 'Education', 'evidence': 'Amends Higher Education Act to add sanctions for antisemitic discrimination at colleges and universities'}, {'domain': 'Civil Rights', 'evidence': 'Adds religion to Title VI protected categories and codifies antisemitism definition'}
Primary Purpose
Adds religion as a protected category under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, defines deliberate indifference to severe harassment as discrimination in higher education, and establishes escalating financial sanctions (10%-33% of federal funding) for institutions with repeated antisemitic discrimination violations.
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Use financial penalties tied to federal funding as enforcement mechanism to compel universities to address antisemitism more aggressively than current Title VI voluntary resolution process"
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMr. Scott of Florida introduced the following bill; which was …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Institutions found in violation of Title VI, Institutions of higher education, Institutions subject to Title VI
Positive-direction: Jewish students, Jewish students on college campuses
Negative-direction: Institutions found in violation of Title VI, Institutions of higher education, Institutions subject to Title VI
Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, Federal courts, Federal departments and agencies
Religious communities, Religious organizations
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "federal_departments"
- → Federal departments and agencies administering programs
- "ocr"
- → Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Education
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Education
- "courts"
- → Federal courts
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Includes deliberate indifference to harassment that is so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive, and that so undermines and detracts from a victim's educational experience, that the victim is effectively denied equal access
A certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews, and the rhetorical and physical manifestations of which are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals or their property, or Jewish community institutions or religious facilities
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology