Senate Bill 1: First, some background. Senate Bill 1 has many aspects, including prohibiting faculty from striking and eliminating certain degree programs. This story from when the measure passed the Senate gives a good overview.
Here are five takeaways from our investigation:
1. Public records: For this story, we focused on the part of the bill prohibiting public colleges and universities from having diversity, equity and inclusion offices. To assess the impact, we requested from local universities records showing what DEI offices they have, their staffing and budget.
- It took more than a month to obtain all of the records, and even then some university officials said our request — which uses the same language as the bill — is too vague to fully fulfill.
2. What we found: Go here for the full story, but here are some highlights:
- Miami University has six departments that are involved in DEI work with a total budget of $3.7 million.
- Wright State University has a Division of Inclusive Excellence with a budget of roughly $650,000
- Central State University — Ohio’s only public historically Black university — says it spends zero dollars on diversity, equity and inclusion.
3. Zoom out: According to the Inter-University Council of Ohio, which represents Ohio’s public universities, 13 of its 14 member universities report a total of 240.5 DEI full-time equivalent positions and about $27.5 million total in operating expenses.
4. Big caveat: Senate Bill 1 doesn’t actually define DEI, leaving it up to each institution to define it for themselves. In our story, we asked the bill’s primary sponsor what it means to him and why he believes it should be banned.
5. DEI Debate: Last month, we brought together supporters and opponents of S.B. 1 for perspective from both sides. Read their views here.