Summary: Protecting Students on Campus Act of 2025 (H.R. 6857)

Status: Introduced in the House (December 18, 2025); referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce.

Purpose and intent
- To ensure higher education institutions that participate in Federal student aid programs actively inform students about their rights under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and to increase visibility of the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) resources for reporting discrimination.
- The bill would mandate targeted information sharing, a campus-wide awareness campaign, enhanced congressional reporting, and an oversight/audit framework to monitor Title VI-related complaints.

Key provisions and changes

1) Title VI awareness campaign (Section 2)
- The Secretary of Education, acting through the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, must conduct a public awareness campaign about rights under Title VI (discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin).
- Features of the campaign:
- Appealing visual and auditory elements, updated annually.
- Distribution to higher education institutions for posting in high-traffic places (e.g., student centers) and on high-traffic campus web pages (e.g., student services).
- The Department may perform this directly or contract with a nonprofit with experience in federal public awareness campaigns.
- Integration with HEA: Institutions must prominently display a link on their homepage to the OCR complaint submission page for Title VI discrimination (race/color/national origin) and display the annual public awareness materials on campus in high-traffic areas and pages.

2) Amendments to the Higher Education Act (Section 2)
- Adds a new requirement to 487(a) of the Higher Education Act:
- Subsection (30)(A): Institutions must prominently display on their homepage a link to the OCR complaint submission page for Title VI discrimination.
- Subsection (30)(B): Institutions must annually display the campaign materials created under Section 2(a) in high-traffic campus areas and on campus websites.

3) Congressional briefings (Section 3)
- The Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights must provide monthly briefings to Congress for one year after enactment.
- Briefings cover: number of Title VI complaints received in the prior month, disaggregated by basis of discrimination; how OCR plans to address those complaints; and data on how long complaints remain open.
- A written background report must be provided 48 hours before each briefing, containing the information to be presented.

4) Audit and study by the Inspector General (Section 4)
- Data submission requirement: Each Title IV recipient must submit an annual report to the Inspector General (IG) including:
- Number of Title VI discrimination complaints submitted to the institution in the prior year.
- Analysis of the number and substance of these complaints.
- Narrative of actions taken by the institution regarding those complaints.
- Audit: The IG must annually audit the top 5% of institutions (by per capita number of Title VI complaints, controlling for student population) to review complaint processing and identify any need for OCR referrals.
- Study: The IG must study why there is a disparity between complaints submitted to institutions and those submitted to OCR, and quantify this disparity.

Who is affected
- Institutions of higher education receiving federal funds (participating in Federal student aid programs).
- The Department of Education, particularly the Office for Civil Rights.
- Students and potential complainants alleging discrimination under Title VI.
- The Inspector General for the Department of Education (audits and studies).

Timelines and procedural notes
- Public awareness campaign must be developed and distributed annually.
- Institutions must implement homepage link to OCR complaint page and display annual campaign materials.
- Congressional briefings begin within 30 days of enactment and run for 1 year (monthly).
- IG audits and annual reports/studies to be conducted on an ongoing basis, with emphasis on institutions in the top 5% by complaint rate.

Potential impact
- Increased visibility and accessibility of Title VI rights and OCR complaint channels for students.
- Greater transparency around discrimination complaints through regular congressional briefings and IG oversight.
- Data-driven assessment of Title VI complaints and potential disparities in where complaints are filed.