Ohio Senate passes controversial Senate Bill 83
Opponents of a multifaceted higher education bill protest across the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio, Wednesday, May 17, 2023. The bill, which cleared the Republican-dominated state Senate on Wednesday, 21-10, would severely limit diversity, equity and inclusion training at Ohio’s public universities, prohibit faculty from striking and bar public universities from taking stances on “controversial” topics. It next goes to the House for consideration.
May 17, 2023
Senate Bill 83, also known as the Ohio Higher Education Enhancement Act, passed 21-10 in the Ohio Senate Wednesday.
The controversial bill is expected to require changes to public higher education in the state, such as banning faculty strikes and restricting diversity efforts.
Sen. Jerry Cirino, R-Kirtland, who sponsored the bill, spoke to recommend the bill’s passage before the senate vote.
“We the legislature now have the opportunity to change the direction of higher ed if we are willing to be courageous,” he said. “If we do not act now, I fear we will continue down the path of servitude to a woke agenda from which there may be no return.”
According to the Associated Press, the multifaceted bill would drastically change the way that students learn and faculty teach across the nation’s fourth-largest public university system, and comes as other Republican-led states target diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education. Just this week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed bills that prohibit universities from spending money on these types of programs and using related statements in hiring or admission decisions.
Cirino said he proposed the bill with the intention of protecting conservative students and staff from pressure to conform to liberal ideologies.
“To the students first, […] if you want your professors to welcome and encourage true intellectual diversity, free from the pressure to agree with a single ideological perspective which dominates our campuses today, this bill is for you,” Cirino said.
The bill has been criticized by AAUP-KSU President Deb Smith and representatives of Kent State’s Undergraduate Student Government. Those who oppose the bill say it is unnecessary and will inhibit academic freedom.
Minority Whip Sen. Kent Smith, D-Euclid, said the bill could weaken Ohio higher education.
“I believe this is the worst assault on academic freedom that Ohio has ever seen,” he said before the vote Wednesday. “This bill will short change our students, undermine our faculty and diminish our state’s position as a global leader in higher education.”
The bill still needs to pass in the Ohio House. A companion bill, House Bill 151, is currently in hearings.
Grace Springer is Editor-in-Chief. Contact her at [email protected].
Samantha Hendrickson of the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Robert • May 17, 2023 at 10:50 pm
I am a professor, and I fully support this bill. For too long radical leftists have controlled our universities and have force fed their “ideas” (dare I call them that) to the entire university community. Tenured professors who make six figures a year and literally do absolutely nothing will now (if the bill becomes law) have their feet held to the fire. The sham of diversity has been exposed. If faculty truly cared about diversity, equity, and inclusion, they would be alarmed at the near complete absence of conservative thought from the academy. Yet these hypocrites couldn’t care less about that. The bill levels the playing field, and that’s what terrifies them. The near universal negative reaction of professors and administrators to the bill proves its absolute, dire necessity. All communications I received regarding the bill were critical. Not a single “pro” was raised. The assumption is that ALL of us must agree that the bill is bad. This is what happens when intellectual diversity is absent and irrational groupthink takes root. Leftist faculty and administrators are at risk of losing their hegemonic control of students’ minds, and their DEI re-education camps might be shut down. And their illegal hiring practices are in jeopardy as well. So, now they’re all running around like frantic ants on a disturbed hill. After years of living in their intellectual prison and having to put up with their smugness and lunatic, dangerous ideas, all this is a real joy to watch. They’re panicking, claiming erroneously that the “sky is falling,” and inundating the world with pathetic, pointless, ineffectual “statements” of protest. Who cares? Your days of complete control are numbered. The fringe members of our university communities are free at last. We can finally have OUR voices heard without threat of subtle or not-so-subtle professional penalties. This is a huge victory for intellectual freedom. They’ll tell you otherwise, but that’s only because they face losing the formal and informal infrastructure they have at their disposal for suppressing views they don’t like and for enforcing their radical policies. Education in colleges and universities across Ohio is about to improve by leaps and bounds despite what a bunch of unproductive, identity-obsessed ideologues command you to believe. They cry that the bill is a threat to freedom—that their policies promote free thought. Laughable. Free thought is impossible in a context so ideologically lop-sided and radical. Maybe you’ll be able to keep your job for expressing unpopular conservative views (if you’re lucky), but your life will be made a living hell at work. Without question. So, ignore their silly hysterics. The cult is just in a state of alarm over loss of power. In reality, we are looking at a big victory for higher ed in Ohio. It will be a big victory for the principles of merit and competition that make intellectual communities flourish. Outstanding.