As the state waits to see if changes could come to higher education, In Focus host Mike Kallmeyer talked with a college professor about the potential changes.

Mark Vopat is a professor at Youngstown State University. Two elements of the proposal stand out most to him. One includes the ability to fire tenured faculty and prohibition on strikes. The other deals with what he can and cannot say in the classroom.

“Some of the examples of things that I’m prohibited from speaking about, that I shouldn’t raise because they are controversial or would make people feel badly... that becomes problematic,” he said.

Vopat is a professor of philosophy and told Kallmeyer that as an educator in that field, it is hard not to discuss some things that the proposal considers controversial.

“I think it would be less problematic if it weren’t going directly to the content of what people in my discipline, in philosophy, sociology and psychology would necessarily have to cover to provide a proper education to students,” he said.