[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 153 (Thursday, September 18, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6732-S6734]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. LANKFORD (for himself, Mr. Scott of South Carolina, Mr. 
        Cassidy, Mr. Scott of Florida, Mr. Cramer, Mr. Hawley, Mr. 
        Grassley, Ms. Lummis, Mrs. Hyde-Smith, Mr. Cruz, Mr. Cotton, 
        Mr. Budd, Mr. Young, Mrs. Blackburn, Mr. Banks, Mrs. Britt, Mr. 
        Crapo, Mr. Tillis, Mr. Daines, Mr. Risch, Mrs. Capito, Mr. 
        Graham, Mr. Rounds, Mr. Ricketts, Mr. Kennedy, and Mr. Cornyn):
  S. 2859. A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to ensure 
campus access at public institutions of higher education for religious 
groups; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. LANKFORD. Mr. President, this week, I filed a bill, as I do 
multiple different weeks. I don't come every week

[[Page S6733]]

to be able to talk about the bills that I file, but I want to be able 
to talk about this a little bit and some context that comes into it.
  I also don't come to this floor very often and read an entire bill to 
this body, but I want to do that today. It is not long. It is literally 
just half a page. But it reaffirms something that I think should be 
pretty simple for all of us but for some reason has become 
controversial in the past few decades.
  Here is the whole bill. It says:

       None of the funds made available under this Act may be 
     provided to any public institution of higher education that 
     denies to a religious student organization any right, 
     benefit, or privilege that is otherwise afforded to other 
     student organizations at the institution (including full 
     access to the facilities of the institution and official 
     recognition of the organization by the institution) because 
     of the religious beliefs, practices, speech, leadership 
     standards, or standards of conduct of the religious student 
     organization.

  Now, this should be pretty simple for us as Americans. We should 
treat religious organizations on a college campus the same as every 
other organization. The university shouldn't be able to reach into some 
organizations and say ``Because you are religious, we need to tone you 
down'' or ``Because you are religious, we need to pick your leadership 
for you because we want to pick your leadership.''
  I will tell you, most Americans would say ``No one does that 
anyway''--except they did. Under the Biden administration, this became 
an issue, where multiple different colleges and universities would 
reach into different religious organizations on campus and would deny 
them access to be able to be on campus and use campus facilities at all 
or they would say: We don't like the way you pick your leadership. You 
need to have a broader perspective of leadership from multiple 
different perspectives of the campus. It can't just be your particular 
faith in your religious organization.
  It became the most bizarre set of ideas that came out of the 
Department of Education to say a Jewish organization had to pick non-
Jewish leaders to be the leadership of their organization or non-
Christians had to also be selected as leaders of their Christian 
organization on campus.
  We are like, what in the world? What happened to the basic right of 
association and affiliation that is a constitutionally protected right?
  That never happened to nonreligious organizations; it seemed to only 
happen to religious organizations.
  So while we have common agreement on this as Americans and while that 
rule is now not being applied under the Trump administration, I raise a 
very simple bill to say: Why can't we, as all Americans, agree that 
religious organizations on college campuses should be treated exactly 
the same as every other organization on any college campus? That should 
be basic.
  So I bring a very simple bill to be able to resolve that one big 
issue and to say let's make this once and for all just a policy that we 
have as Americans.
  Now, I bring this up because it needs to be addressed, but I also 
bring this up because next week, there is a significant event that is 
going to happen all around the country--quite frankly, all around the 
world--that some people won't even notice but, quite frankly, is Earth-
shattering.
  Thirty-five years ago, a group of students gathered around a flagpole 
early in the morning to be able to pray for their school. It was in 
1990. It ended up being about 46,000 total students in 4 different 
States, including my State of Oklahoma, that just kind of gathered. The 
word kind of spread organically that one Wednesday morning in 
September, students--high school and middle school students--would just 
go and do one day publicly what they do privately other days; that is, 
pray for their teachers, pray for their faculty at school, pray for 
each other, pray for their parents, and pray for the Nation.
  So in September of 1990, around 46,000--we don't know the exact 
number--students in 4 different States just quietly gathered to pray. 
Now, that may not seem like a big deal, but in 1990, there was a great 
debate that was still spinning on this issue. In fact, that year, that 
September day, at at least one of those gatherings, the sheriff's 
department came out and arrested the students for praying--praying--on 
their school campus before class started.
  The result of that was that the next September, a million students 
showed up to pray--a million, documented. From almost every State in 
America, teenagers showed up at their high school or their middle 
school campus just to be able to pray. They didn't have teachers with 
them; they didn't have youth pastors with them--just students. They 
gathered at their pole. It was a simple thing called See You at the 
Pole--just that simple. They would encourage each other just to be able 
to show up that one day in September to be able to pray publicly for 
their parents, for their Nation, for their campus, and for what was 
going on in their community.
  It became the largest student prayer movement that we know of in the 
history of the Nation. Year after year in September, one Wednesday, 
students from around the Nation would gather. It was about 3 years 
later that it started spreading globally, to where literally students 
from around the world were just going to their flagpole, and they would 
just gather to be able to pray.
  Now, people have said over the years: Why a flagpole? Well, it is 
because every school has a flagpole, and so it became just a common 
cry. It kind of seems like ``See you at the principal's office'' 
doesn't ring as true. But it was just like, what does every single 
campus have? Every single campus has a flagpole. So that simple 
statement, ``See you at the pole,'' became really a challenge to say 
``See you at a spot where we can pray.''
  There is a lot going on in the country right now--a lot. There is a 
lot of anger, there is a lot of frustration, and there are a lot of 
questions about what happens next.
  For 35 years, students have gone to their flagpole and have prayed 
for the Nation. My simple request of them again this year is to do it 
again. This Nation could use some prayer. This Nation could use a 
generation rising up to be able to say: No one is going to stop us from 
praying.
  It is the most simple request that we have--to not go to government 
but to go to God and say: We need your help. We need your intervention.
  I am always proud of a group of students at a high school football 
game that finish the game or that start the game just taking a knee to 
be able to pray for each other, pray for safety, and then go out and 
hit each other as hard as they possibly can on the football field. But 
it is always fun for me to be able to watch the sportsmanship that 
begins with two teams that gather together to pray, and it is almost 
always just one player on each of the teams that drops that idea and 
says: We should do this. Our team should do this.
  It is not led by the coaches. It is not led by the teachers. It is 
led by students that just say: Let's ask God to help us in this.
  I am always impressed when I am on high school and junior high 
campuses as I walk around the campus during lunch, and I see everyone 
kind of gathering for lunch and all the conversation happening, and I 
will see a couple students over in the corner, as they sit down at 
their lunch, to be able to just bow their heads for just a simple 
moment to be able to thank God for their food.
  I am always impressed when I hear about groups of students that get 
together on a regular basis just to be able to have Bible study 
together, just to be able to pray for each other. They face a lot of 
pressure. They face a lot of challenges in this day and age. It is 
resetting and centering when they actually stop to say: Let's pray 
about that.
  I am tremendously impressed that for 35 years--now a second 
generation of students are gathering at their flagpoles the fourth 
Wednesday of September to be able to just pray for each other, pray for 
their teachers, pray for their school, and this time, an earnest plea 
to God to help our Nation.
  I am proud of students of faith and how they gather to be able to 
say: These days are dark, but we believe in a God who gives light, and 
we will choose to be a light on our own campus and do what we can to be 
able to serve each other and to be able to serve our schools.
  Those are the role models that we need in a new generation. Those are 
the folks that we look forward to seeing what they do in the days 
ahead.

[[Page S6734]]

  As fun as it is to me, students that are gathering this year are the 
children of the first generation that gathered 35 years ago to start a 
movement to be able to pray. Thirty-five years ago, I was a youth 
minister. I was a part of that first See You at the Pole in 1990. I was 
in leadership, helping organize students in getting the word out, to be 
able to say ``What can we do''--what can we do--``to serve each other 
and the Nation?'' The obvious answer began with ``Let's pray.''
  See You at the Pole was born. It wasn't my idea. It was a group of 
students' idea. I just got to help fan the flame.
  Students of this Nation need the encouragement of this body to be 
able to say ``well done'' and set a fresh new example; be the next 
generation of leaders; be the people who will rise up and do what is 
right; be the role models that are desperately needed; be individuals 
who will actually not only have a faith but live your faith--all the 
principles of the faith.
  We can certainly use individuals in our Nation right now who are 
living the most basic principles of loving God with all your heart, 
soul, mind, and strength and loving your neighbor as yourself.
  To the students of this Nation, I would encourage them to ``see you 
at the pole'' next Wednesday morning.
  This coming Wednesday morning, September 24, you can be assured I am 
going to be parked across the street from a campus watching a group of 
students pray for a Nation that needs help. I will join them and say, 
``God help us. We need your help.'' I will see you at the pole.
                                 ______