The legislation would block universities from offering diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, prohibit full-time university faculty from striking, and require universities to “affirm and declare that the state institution will not encourage, discourage, require or forbid students, faculty, or administrators to endorse, assent to, or publicly express a given ideology, political stance, or view of a social policy, nor will the institution require students to do any of those things to obtain an undergraduate or post-graduate degree.”
Additionally, the bill would:
- Require students to take a state-designed American civics or history class before being awarded a bachelor’s degree;
- Automatically eliminate any university degree program that awards fewer than five degrees per year on a three-year rolling average;
- Require state training for university trustees and reduce trustee terms from nine years to six.
Bobby Rubin, president of the American Association of University Professors at Wright State University, said the Wright State chapter stands with many students and professors in Ohio in opposition to the bill.
Rubin said several groups have asked state Sen. Jerry Cirino, who proposed the bill, to meet with them to talk about their opposition, which Rubin said Cirino has refused to do.
“As with previous iterations of the bill, it is a ‘solution’ in search of a non-existent problem,” Rubin said. “It will create unfunded mandates and needless administrative and regulatory bloat.”
He said the bill is also an attack on unions.
“Shared governance is the hallmark of effective higher education administration, with faculty voices having a prominent seat at the table,” he said. “This bill removes faculty from having a say in what we have devoted our lives and professions to doing: providing world-class education to our students.”
University students protested the bill’s announcement on Wednesday, with chants of “Higher ed will be dead.”
“This extremist and unnecessary bill would gut Ohio higher ed, going as far to require professors to teach ‘neutrality’— even when it comes to the holocaust, racism, and other “controversial concepts’,” said the Ohio Student Association in an Instagram post. The organization opposed the original Senate Bill 83.
Two organizations that represent Ohio’s public higher educational institutions released statements saying they looked forward to working with Cirino on the bill.
“As a top workforce partner for Ohio employers and the best education value for students, Ohio’s community colleges commend the transparent and collaborative process that helped shape SB 83,” said Avi Zaffini, president and CEO of the Ohio Association of Community Colleges.
Zaffini said the organization looks forward to meeting with Cirino, Rep. Tom Young, R-Washington Twp., who introduced an identical companion bill in the Ohio House, and Sen. Kristina Roegner, R-Hudson, who chairs the Senate Higher Education Committee, “to advance their goals of providing more Ohioans with access to high-quality, affordable postsecondary education.”
At the organization that represents public universities, leaders said they had not yet been able to review the bill.
“The Inter-University Council of Ohio applauds legislative leaders for making higher education a top priority,” said Laura Lanese, president and CEO of the Inter-University Council of Ohio, which represents 14 public universities in Ohio. “While the IUC has not yet had a chance to review the proposal that was discussed at today’s press conference, we look forward to working with the bill’s sponsors and other legislative leaders in both chambers on this important legislation.”
Local universities and colleges, including Central State University and Cedarville University, declined to comment on the bill.
The American Council for Trustees and Alumni, a national organization, applauded the legislation.
“It is especially promising to see that the bill requires public universities to adopt policies of institutional neutrality,” said Steven McGuire, ACTA’s Paul & Karen Levy fellow in campus freedom. “By instructing these institutions to refrain from taking political sides, Senator Cirino and his colleagues are doing a great service for Ohio students, helping to ensure that they are free to express their views and think about political issues for themselves rather than being indoctrinated or silenced by administrators who misuse their offices to suggest that everyone on campus must agree with them.”
