Some colleges and universities would be barred from penalizing single-sex student organizations under a measure included in amended legislation to reauthorize the Higher Education Act that was proposed by Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives. The House’s Education and the Workforce Committee will meet on Tuesday to mark up the bill.
The new proposal would bar institutions that have policies allowing single-sex social organizations for students from requiring those groups to “admit as a member an individual who does not meet the organization’s criteria for single-sex status.” Institutions would not be allowed to restrict access to campus housing, deny leadership positions in other campus organizations, or withhold financial assistance from members of the single-sex groups.
Institutions would not, however, be required to have a policy that allows single-sex groups. And the policy would apply only to institutions that officially recognize single-sex groups such as fraternities and sororities.
The new provision appears to take aim at efforts, like that undertaken by Harvard University, to rein in single-gender clubs. This month Drew Gilpin Faust, Harvard’s president, reaffirmed its policy prohibiting members of final clubs, fraternities, and sororities from holding leadership roles in other student organizations and athletic teams. Harvard announced the policy in May 2016.
“Although the fraternities, sororities, and final clubs are not formally recognized by the college, they play an unmistakable and growing role in student life, in many cases enacting forms of privilege and exclusion at odds with our deepest values,” Ms. Faust said at the time.
“The college cannot ignore these organizations if it is to advance our shared commitment to broadening opportunity and making Harvard a campus for all of its students,” Ms. Faust said. “Nor can it endorse selection criteria that reject much of the student body merely because of gender.”
Since the social groups are not recognized at Harvard, it is unclear whether the proposed measure would affect the institution’s effort.
Adam Harris is a breaking-news reporter. Follow him on Twitter @AdamHSays or email him at adam.harris@chronicle.com.
