Student Protection and University Accountability Act

Key Points

• Colleges and universities would be required to create formal investigative processes for discrimination complaints under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and publish those processes on their websites and in student orientation materials so students and families know how to report problems.
• Schools must respond to every complaint within 30 days, telling the student whether an investigation has been opened and, if not, explaining why. After an investigation concludes, they have another 30 days to share the outcome and any remedial actions taken.
• Schools that fail to comply with these transparency rules for two consecutive years would lose eligibility for all federal student aid programs for at least two years, creating a major financial incentive for compliance.
• The Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights would be required to brief Congress every two months on Title VI discrimination complaints, including those involving shared ancestry, for a two-year period after enactment.
• The Office for Civil Rights would be blocked from closing or delaying an investigation just because a similar complaint was filed with another federal, state, or local agency, or a court, ensuring students can pursue multiple avenues at once.