In Case You Missed It, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the End Woke Higher Education Act, a bill under the jurisdiction of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, that ensures colleges and universities uphold key constitutional freedoms while addressing growing concerns over speech restrictions and DEI mandates. The grades are in, and the Daily Signal describes the legislation as an “A+.”
Rarely does a piece of education legislation deserve a grade of A+. But the End Woke Higher Education Act, which has passed the U.S. House of Representatives, has earned it.
The policies in the bill—which passed 213-201 on Sept. 19—are right on point and are articulated well. Freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, and accreditation reform: What’s not to applaud?
Following the anti-Israel, antisemitic encampments and civil rights violations at multiple U.S. universities, it’s especially welcome to see the House clarify where free speech ends and actionable conduct begins.
Being more restrictive risks violating the First Amendment or a college’s own promises of free expression. But being any less restrictive risks violating civil rights.
Colleges have failed on both sides of this equation. The End Woke Higher Education Act, following Supreme Court precedents, shows them what they must and must not do.
In particular, the bill “recognizes that free expression, open inquiry, and the honest exchange of ideas are fundamental to higher education.” In that light, the bill encourages colleges to adopt the Chicago principles of free expression, which the University of Chicago uses as a touchstone and which also follows Supreme Court precedent.
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Overall, this bill mainly puts into law what the Supreme Court and lower courts have been saying for decades about how the First Amendment applies on college campuses.
If colleges had protected these rights in the first place, such a law would not be needed. But free speech violations are so pervasive across so much of American higher education that it is high time to implement policies such as the ones just passed by the House.
