A Republican state senator has re-introduced a controversial proposal for sweeping changes to Ohio’s higher education, including a ban on diversity and inclusion efforts and a ban on labor strikes among faculty and staff.
State Sen. Kirtland’s proposed Republican Bill 1 – the Advance Ohio Higher Education Act – was introduced during Wednesday’s news conference and is similar to the bill Cirino introduced during the last General Assembly, with some additions.
“There’s a reason it’s called Senate Bill 1,” Cirino said. “This is our top priority and we intend to achieve it quickly. … We have already had multiple hearings on Senate Bill 83.”
He said work on the bill would move at a rapid pace, and Senate Higher Education Committee Chair Kristina Roegner said hearings on the bill would likely begin next week.
“We are promoting more speech, not less speech as some of our opponents have said, more discussion and debate on all issues, less indoctrination, institutional support in the form of trustee actions and policy moves that we require trustees to make to support an environment of diversity of thought.” – Cirino said.
SB 1 includes “virtually everything that Senate Bill 83 covers,” said Cirino, vice chairwoman of the Ohio Senate Higher Education Committee.
Cirino’s previous higher education bill, Senate Bill 83, could not be passed across the finish line during the previous General Meeting. It passed in the Senate and House committees, but former Ohio House Speaker Jason Stephens, R-Kitt Hill, never brought it to a vote. The previous bill had 11 amendments.
Cirino made good on his promise to reintroduce a similar bill in January, and now that the House speaker is Matt Huffman, R-Lima, the bill may have an easier time in the House. Lawmakers in the Ohio House plan to introduce companion legislation.
What’s in SB 1?
SB 1 has not yet been posted online, but Cirino said the bill includes a post-tenure review, annual reviews of faculty performance and a layoff provision that would prevent unions from negotiating on constant tenure and public education programs. Bill yes prohibit political and ideological litmus tests in hiring, promotion and hiring decisions.
The massive change in SB 1 is the ban on diversity, equity and inclusion courses in addition to training. The previous bill would have banned mandatory diversity, equity and inclusion training unless required to meet state and federal law, professional licensing requirements, or to receive accreditation or grants.
“(DEI) has become institutionalized discrimination that taxpayers are paying for,” Cirino said.
Ohio House Rep. Bob Young, D-Dayton, said the bill should not focus on a DEI ban.
“Let’s really focus on why we are here and who we are when it comes to higher education, and that is to educate the workforce to compete globally, grow Ohio, jobs and families, and bring more people to work,” he said Young.
Sort of like faculty and staff going on strike again Cirino argued that this was not an anti-worker issue.
“When a student signs up for classes for a semester, they pay in advance or they can’t come to class,” Cirino said. “It means there is a contract between students and the institution, and because there are public institutions, and therefore a contract with the state, they have to provide the instructions and trade for dollars per pen.”
Employees at Youngstown State University went on strike for several days in 2020 over wage disputes, and at Wright State University in January 2019, they went on strike for nearly three weeks over wage and health care disputes.
“The threat (of a strike) is used and students are used as pawns to get better work hours, a better dental plan or whatever,” Cirino said. “If we value higher education so much, we should also value the fact that this contract must be fulfilled and nothing short of force majeure should ever stand in the way of students receiving what they have paid for in advance.”
SB 1 would shorten the term of office of the university’s board of trustees from nine to six years.
“It was difficult to find trustees willing to make a nine-year commitment, and the governor agrees with that,” Cirino said. “We’re talking about not only changing their terms, but also requiring new trustee training programs that would be adjudicated by the Chancellor’s Office.”
The bill reintroduced the requirement for students to take an American history course.
“Over time since we wrote the bill, I have become more and more convinced of this necessity as I talk to more and more newborn people who have no idea about many critical issues regarding our history, our founding documents and so on – Cirino said.
Opposition to SB 1
Cirino acknowledged there will be mighty opposition to SB 1, as there was with his previous bill.
“Senate Bill 1 is a misguided attempt to micromanage higher education in Ohio, imposing unnecessary restrictions on our universities, faculty and students,” Sen. Casey Weinstein, D-Hudson, said in a statement.
More than a dozen students from the Ohio Student Association protested SB 1, chanting, “What do we do when Black studies are under attack? Stand Up, Fight” and “The Higher Will Be Dead” among others.
“The students who protested here will likely gain additional recognition for their presence here,” he added. – said Cirino. “I don’t think they have studied the bill and all the implications of this legislation and the impact on higher education in Ohio. I believe they were asked to come here by their professors.
Brielle Shorter, a 20-year-old Ohio State University student, was among the students who protested against the bill on Wednesday.
“No, we’re not here for extra credit,” she said. “That’s not how it works. “I think this bill is being pushed through very quickly and very quickly.”
Pranav Jani, president of the Ohio State University chapter of the American Association of University Professors and an English professor, said Cirino’s joke about students protesting for extra credit is “one of the most offensive things I’ve ever heard about students.”
“It shows how much he is out of touch with what is happening in the classroom,” Jani said.
If the bill becomes law, Shorter – who is from Cincinnati and wants to become a psychiatrist – said she would travel out of state to continue her education.
“I’m afraid I can’t call Ohio home anymore,” Shorter said. “I feel like students are being pushed out and I feel like I could be one of them.”
Many college students said they would move out of Ohio if the bill was signed into law, but Cirino called it “a red herring” during Wednesday’s press conference.
Educational organizations quickly opposed SB 1.
“(SB 1) uses culture war politics to attack workers’ rights and transform campuses into hostile environments for people of color, immigrants and other marginalized communities.” Ohio Federation of Teachers President Melissa Cropper said in a statement.
Ohio Conference Executive Director of the American Association of University Professors Sara Kilpatrick hopes Cirino will listen to students’ concerns about this bill.
“He is not interested in hearing opposing views, which shows that this bill is not about intellectual diversity but actually about pushing a partisan agenda,” Kilpatrick said in a statement.
Follow the OCJ reporter Megan Henry in Bluesky.
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