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The president of a leading fraternity organization has come out in support of federal legislation that seeks to protect single-sex student groups on campuses.
Jud Horras, president of the North American Interfraternity Conference, told The College Fix he agrees with the legislation because it would “even the playing field” for all student organizations.
The bill, H.R. 2555, would prohibit colleges and universities from taking adverse or retaliatory actions against students or single-sex student groups based on their gender-exclusive membership policies.
Titled the “Freedom of Association in Higher Education Act of 2026,” the legislation was introduced earlier this year by Rep. Erin Houchin, an Indiana Republican.
The bill was passed by the House Education and Workforce Committee over the summer and is eligible to be scheduled for a full vote on the House floor.
The law would protect “students’ ability to form and join single-sex organizations” as well as prohibit “colleges from discriminating against those organizations,” the committee stated in a news release.
Houchin joined fellow Indiana Sen. Jim Banks, as well Democrat Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona, adding her companion legislation to their 2025 proposal.
“I cannot imagine my college experience without my fraternity brothers,” Gallego previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “As a first-generation student in a completely new environment, having a strong community to lean on was essential. I’m proud to support this bill to protect students’ access to Greek life, since no student should be penalized for finding a home away from home.”
Houchin’s and Bank’s office did not respond to The College Fix’s requests for comments.
Horras, of the North American Interfraternity Conference, said universities have a long history of attempting to restrict single-sex associations and told The Fix administrators should not be able to determine which single-sex organizations students are allowed to join.
“The North American Interfraternity Conference commends Senators Banks and Gallego for their commitment to protecting students’ rights to association on college campuses,” he said. “Their leadership ensures that college men can continue to shape their futures and foster communities that enrich their educational experience.”
The bills come after many years of student concerns and disputes over how universities have handled gender‑exclusive organizations.
In 2016, for example, Harvard adopted policies that restricted student involvement in unrecognized single‑sex organizations. Campus leaders decided that all clubs were to be formally approved in order to receive recognition on campus, and members of single-gender groups were deemed ineligible to hold leadership positions on campus.
Students, national fraternities, and sororities strongly pushed back, arguing the university was unnecessarily punishing them for what they viewed as a direct violation of the Constitutional rights to free speech and freedom of assembly.
“In August 2019, in a case brought against Harvard by fraternities, sororities, and members of single-sex organizations, a United States District Court judge, Nathaniel M. Gorton, held that Harvard’s policy plausibly violated Title IX, which prohibits discrimination based on sex in any educational program or activity receiving federal funds,” LCW law firm reported.
Harvard rescinded the policy in 2020.
Complicating matters in recent years is the push by some to allow transgender students into fraternities or sororities that do not match their biological sex.
As The College Fix recently reported, members of the University of Wyoming’s Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority have returned to federal court to challenge national leaders’ decision to admit a transgender woman to the sorority, arguing they violated the sorority’s bylaws.
