Earlier this month, Republican U.S. Senator Jim Banks (Indiana) and Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego (Arizona) introduced the Freedom of Association in Higher Education Act of 2025 to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965.
It clarifies that students enrolled at federally funded colleges and universities have the right to form or join social organizations, including single-sex social organizations and prohibits federally funded colleges and universities from discriminating against single-sex social organizations or students who seek to join single-sex social organizations, because of their single-sex nature
These protections apply to both officially recognized and unrecognized student groups.
The legislation would also prevent universities that receive federal funding from discriminating against a women's-only or men's only group or compel organizations to become co-ed.
"Sadly, this is a necessary step in order to protect women, specifically on college campuses, and safeguard their spaces like bathrooms, locker rooms, and even sororities," Campus Reform's Emily Sturge tells AFN. "It sends a very clear message that women deserve environments where they can feel safe and respected on their campuses without the intrusion of men or radical gender ideology."
Campus Reform has reported on what Sturge calls the "erasure" of women's spaces, where their bathrooms, locker rooms, dorms, sports teams, award ceremonies, scholarships, and sorority houses have been pervaded by men.
She laments that colleges like the University of Chicago and Carnegie Mellon University have sacrificed women's privacy and safety to push radical gender ideology.
"We've also seen other universities like Georgetown offer gender-inclusive housing, where students can choose to live based on their 'gender identity' – quote unquote – and not their biological gender," Sturge adds.
She also makes note of the University of Wyoming, which allowed a male to join a sorority and live in the sorority house. His housemates accused him of peeping and staring at them, making them uncomfortable in their living space, but when they sued Kappa Kappa Gamma, a federal judge ignored the 6'2" tall, 260 lb. man's misconduct and ruled that he could remain in the house.
"These women would certainly benefit from that bipartisan legislation to protect their space," Sturge says. "This argument isn't about being inclusive; it's about very basic safety for young women on campuses. No woman should have to feel like they are in danger when they're in their living space, their bathroom, [or] their locker room on a college campus."
The measure still allows schools to take action in cases of misconduct or harm, but not solely because a group is single-sex.
Single-sex organizations include fraternities, sororities, and off-campus clubs made up mostly of students or alumni.
