The following article was originally published in the Ohio Capital Journal and published on News5Cleveland.com under a content-sharing agreement.
Hundreds of college students, university faculty and concerned citizens submitted testimony against a controversial bill that would overhaul higher education for Ohio’s public universities, saying it will degrade higher ed in Ohio and make people leave the state.
More than 200 people came to the Ohio Statehouse to testify during Tuesday’s Ohio Senate Higher Education Committee meeting and more than 830 people submitted testimony.
Senate Bill 1 would ban diversity and inclusion efforts, prevent faculty from striking, set rules around classroom discussion, put diversity scholarships at risk, shorten university board of trustees terms from nine years down to six years, and require students take an American history course, among other things.
Regarding classroom discussion, it would set rules around topics involving “controversial beliefs” such as climate policies, electoral politics, foreign policy, diversity and inclusion programs, immigration policy, marriage, or abortion.
A few amendments were adopted to S.B. 1 that clarified some aspects of the bill.
“The bill’s policies regarding DEI and intellectual diversity do not prohibit faculty or students from classroom instruction, discussion, or debate,” said Senate Higher Education Committee Chair State Sen. Kristina Roegner, R-Hudson.
Many who testified against the bill warned university faculty and college students would leave Ohio if S.B 1 passes.
“Had Senate Bill 1 been in effect when I was choosing the appropriate higher education route for myself, leaving the state of Ohio would have been priority one,” said Sabrina Estevez, a second-year student at Ohio State University. “The merit of a degree from the state of Ohio is significantly eroded if this bill passes.”
Tara Godwin moved to Columbus from Salt Lake City, Utah to continue her education at Ohio State.
“If Senate Bill 1 had passed before I decided to attend OSU, I would not have decided to move my family to Ohio,” Godwin, a Ph.D. history student said. “Senate Bill 1 destroys the ability of faculty to determine how to best teach the content of courses in which they are experts.”
Audrey Ansel, a junior at Ohio University who works at the university’s Pride Center, said students like her would look outside Ohio to continue their education.
“Thousands of students will take their unique perspectives, experiences, and skills to other states where they see their freedoms being truly protected,” she said. “On a surface level, there will be a decline in enrollment and therefore a decline in revenue. But the real loss will be suffered in classrooms where diversity has somehow become the villain.”
The potential effects of the diversity and inclusion ban came up repeatedly during testimony.
“S.B. 1 does not protect free speech — it censors it,” said Brielle Shorter, a junior at Ohio State University.
“Silencing discussions on racism does not end racism,” she said. “Banning DEI programs does not erase inequality. It only ensures that students like me have to fight even harder just to exist in spaces that were never meant for us.”
Bobby McAlpine, Ohio State’s undergraduate student body president, discussed the results of a campus survey where more than 80% of the 1,574 student respondents said Ohio State’s diversity and inclusion initiatives were meaningful in some way.
“A resounding 96% of respondents said that DEI at Ohio State was extremely meaningful to their college experience,” McAlpine said.
Justin Robinson, Ohio State’s undergraduate student body vice president, read a letter from student body leaders from Ohio State, Bowling Green State University, John Carroll University, Kent State University, University of Dayton, University of Akron, Denison University, and Case Western Reserve University.
“If passed, this bill would strip institutions of the ability to govern themselves, limit the free exchange of ideas, silence conversations on critical social and historical issues, and impose top-down ideological control over faculty, staff, and students,” Robinson said. “This bill fundamentally undermines the mission of higher education: to create an environment in which students can engage in free thought, challenge perspectives, and grow into informed, engaged citizens.”
S.B. 1 does not contain a definition of DEI, noted Gary Daniels, an ACLU of Ohio lobbyist.
“Whether by design or oversight, the end result is the same that is with almost nothing to limit anyone or everyone’s interpretation of DEI it means everything is on the table for banishment,” Daniels said.
David Jackson, who spoke on behalf of the Ohio Conference of the American Association of University Professors, discussed seven reasons why he opposes the bill — ranging from S.B. 1’s impact on tenure to how it would limit classroom discussions to the elimination of diversity and inclusion initiatives.
“It’s a union-busting bill,” Jackson said. “It would prohibit faculty unions from bargaining over fundamental terms and conditions of employment and also would ban the right to withhold labor due to unfair treatment.”
S.B. 1 would also add more than 100 mandates for public universities, Jackson said.
“The cost to comply with all of the mandates has been projected in the millions,” he said. “These are costs that students will end up bearing.”
Jill Galvan, an Ohio State faculty member, talked about how S.B. 1 would devastate Ohio’s workforce and drive students and faculty out of Ohio.
“This would underprepare students for a competitive workforce, which requires this level of critical thinking and knowledge-building,” she said. “If colleges can’t attract good faculty, that puts those institutions themselves in jeopardy. … If colleges fail, that’s a recipe for communities that take a turn for the worse.
State Sen. Jerry Cirino, R-Kirtland, introduced S.B. 1, which lawmakers said they are attempting to fast-track.
The bill is up for a possible committee vote Wednesday morning. If SB 1 passes out of committee, it could go to the full Ohio Senate Wednesday afternoon.
