Equal Campus Access Act of 2025
Key claim: Public colleges that deny religious student groups the same rights, benefits, or privileges other student groups get—because of those groups’ beliefs, speech, leadership rules, or conduct standards—would lose federal Higher Education Act funding.
Abstract
(HR5505 · 119th Congress) Equal Campus Access Act of 2025 This bill prohibits funding made available under the Higher Education Act of 1965 from being provided to any public institution of higher education (IHE) that denies certain campus rights to religious student organizations. Specifically, the bill prohibits a public IHE from receiving these funds if it denies a religious student organization any right, benefit, or privilege that is otherwise afforded to other student organizations at the IHE because of the religious student organization’s beliefs, practices, speech, leadership standards, or standards of conduct. Latest action (2026-06-25): Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 18 - 15.
Why this matters
The bill would give religious student groups at public colleges a federal enforcement lever—loss of Higher Education Act funds—against ‘all-comers’ or nondiscrimination policies that condition recognition on dropping belief-based leadership or conduct requirements. It reframes a long-running campus dispute (traceable to CLS v. Martinez) as a funding-conditionality question, with practical stakes for LGBTQ students, minority-faith groups, and university administrators who must balance equal-access rules against anti-discrimination policies.