OHIO — The Ohio House passed Senate Bill 1, a major higher education overhaul that would affect public colleges and universities in the state. Opponents of the bill worry it’s attacking higher education, while proponents say it’s stopping indoctrination.
This is the first time the bill has got this far, as it never made it to the House floor during the last legislative session. Not only has it made it, but it’s also passed and it’s stirring up controversy.
Hundreds of students and faculty from around the state rallied Wednesday at Ohio State University and the Ohio Statehouse against the bill. They said one of the biggest issues is that it bans diversity, equity and inclusion from colleges.
“I’m very concerned about many of the provisions in SB 1,” said Janet Duerr, faculty at OSU biological sciences. “Including hurting our students by limiting their access to diversity and equity and inclusion because we want everyone to feel welcome.”
Students rallied while chanting "censorship should be illegal," and "this is what community looks like."
Proponents of the bill said it eliminates indoctrination, but some students disagree.
“SB 1 is an attack on DEI and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with getting a bunch of different perspectives, including diversity, making sure everybody’s involved.” Kody Everts, a student, said.
House Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima, was asked about what he thought of the protesters around the statehouse during the session that SB 1 occupied the floor.
“What I would say is the First Amendment is a great thing. Our republic is a great country,” Huffman said. “I’ve been speaking to hundreds of people over the last — thousands — over the last five years that are frustrated by how our higher education is acting. The folks who make decisions, the trustees and the presidents are often frustrated.”
Another thing that would happen if this bill becomes law is that professors would not be allowed to strike.
Proponents said students’ education shouldn’t stop if professors decided to protest for some reason.
But State Rep. Beryl Piccolantonio, D-Gahanna, said it’s an attack on labor rights and puts teachers in the same list with people who work for emergency agencies.
“Those are our front line first responders. This puts into that category faculty at universities of higher education.” Piccolantionio said. “So, there is absolutely no reason to not think that this isn’t the beginning of stripping away rights of working people by taking away their rights to strike, taking away their right to negotiate over working conditions.”
But the House amendments proposed were getting struck down one after the other. One of those amendments was asking representatives to remove the provision in the bill that would ban diversity scholarships at public colleges and universities.
Opponents said it would make universities more expensive and it would violate donors' rights, but proponents said those scholarships discriminate based on race and they would phase them out instead of abruptly removing them.
The bill’s future is now back to the hands of Ohio’s Senate. If the senators agree with the changes made in the committee hearings, it would go straight to the governor to sign into law. If they don’t agree, it would have to go back to the House.
“I think this begins the reform that the system needs,” Huffman said. “My biggest concern is making sure that the higher education system doesn’t implode from the cost, and again, I think these tools are there for that.”
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