Higher education bill stalls at Ohio Statehouse

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Two more votes stand in the way of a sweeping revision to higher education in Ohio for public universities and community colleges.

“We had a chance to be out front here on higher education reform to make it better in Ohio,” State Sen. Jerry Cirino (R-Kirtland) said. “And we have allowed too much time to lapse.”

“The potential impact is devastating,” professor at the University of Cincinnati and president of the university’s American Association of University Professors Steve Mockabee said. “We've taken to calling this the Higher Education Destruction Act, and I don't think that's hyperbole.”

Senate Bill 83, or the Higher Education Enhancement Act, sponsored by Cirino, was introduced more than a year ago and is now on its eleventh version. The bill could have been on the governor’s desk seven months ago but has been stalled in the Ohio House.

“Ohio needs higher education reform and the time to display leadership in the House on this bill has come and gone,” Cirino said.

Despite the bill passing from the Ohio Senate more than a year ago, going through 11 changes, and it being ready for a House vote since December, the bill has yet to get to the governor’s desk, and time is running out this General Assembly.

“If it starts fresh in the new year then all bets are off,” Cirino said.

“[SB83] would undermine the quality of higher education in Ohio to such a degree that we might never recover from that,” Mockabee said.

Ohio House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) said his caucus has been talking about SB83 “for a long time” and it is important that college campuses have freedom of expression. But he said he has been “straightforward” of where the caucus and Ohio House stand on this bill.

“There’s always opportunity to discuss, I never want to shut down any opportunity to discuss an issue, that’s not how I operate,” Stephens said. “I think it’s important you stand up for what you believe in and what your issues are, but there’s always opportunity for discussion.”

The bill has more than 20 provisions. It does things like prohibit state institutions from providing or requiring training for any faculty that promotes certain concepts regarding race and sex and requires an American government class with certain mandatory readings as prescribed by the bill.

“SB 83 is a big government overreach in our view,” Mockabee said. “It's an attempt to control higher education in a way that would deny students access to an honest education that's informed by the expertise of faculty.”

“That is the biggest chilling effect on academic freedom?” Cirino said. “To educate our students about our country and our history, the good, the bad and the ugly of our history. Anything that challenges the status quo has a chilling effect on something. That's the way they operate. And I understand why they don't like some of the aspects of this bill, but they need to be thinking about what's best for the students.”

SB83 also prohibits schools from endorsing or opposing controversial beliefs or policies, as defined in the bill, to include things like immigration policy and abortion.

“One of the ironies of SB 83 is that it purports to be about intellectual diversity and free speech, but it actually prescribes the way that we would have to teach certain topics that the bill deems to be controversial, things like climate change or even elections,” Mockabee said.

But Cirino said, in part, the legislation is about ensuring the” best kind of campus” so students “on the conservative side” do not feel the need to self-censor. 

“This bill is about creating more speech opportunities, about creating an environment in our universities, of more opportunities for diverse opinions to be expressed so it's been accused, I've been accused of promoting something that is limiting speech,” Cirino said. “How could something that creates more speech and more subject matter for speech at the same time reduce free speech?”

Mockabee called it a “myth” that faculty indoctrinate students.

“Universities are a marketplace of ideas,” Mockabee said. “Some ideas fare better than others in that marketplace, and the sponsors of this legislation have their own ideas, many of which do not fare well in the marketplace of ideas. And so they like to impose those ideas on students.”

The legislation also changes tenure review policies and expands prohibitions on collective bargaining for faculty.

“Yes, it has an impact on collective bargaining, but we need to give our presidents and their boards the ability to make movements and changes to meet the changing needs that their institutions are facing,” Cirino said.

“Tenure is not a guaranteed job for life,” Mockabee said. “It doesn't mean that faculty don't still have to do their jobs. What it means is we can't be fired for writing or saying or teaching controversial things that administrators or state senators may not like. This myth that there are all these lazy faculty hanging out, doing nothing is just false. And frankly, it's offensive.”

The legislation also makes several changes to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) laws by, in part, prohibiting any mandatory training regarding DEI.

“It's really just about helping students to be successful,” Mockabee said/ “So, whether that's, you know, a first-generation college student that doesn't understand how to navigate going to a university, whether it's a person with disabilities who needs some assistance to be able to manage their coursework, that’s all DEI. The vast majority of so-called DEI programs are just about helping students to be successful. They're not disadvantaging anyone.”

“This bill is about creating more speech opportunities, about creating an environment in our universities, of more opportunities for diverse opinions to be expressed,” Cirino said.

SB 83 has brought out nearly 600 opponents to the statehouse, and about two dozen supporters have testified. Mockabee said that should make the message about this bill clear.

 “You would think that legislators would get the message that Ohioans don't like this bill. It's not popular,” he said.

But Cirino said when he asks supporters, who have told him they favor the legislation privately, to come forward and testify, they said they are worried to do so for fear of retribution by other faculty or students. He said that alone has “strengthened” his resolve to push ahead with SB83.

“I don't care where you are in the political spectrum, you should not have to hesitate to make your opinions known about things,” Cirino said. “You shouldn't have to worry about losing your job or being ostracized at cocktail parties.”

When asked, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said SB83 remains a “work in progress.”

“It is my hope that this bill will get to a position where we have a consensus in favor of the bill,” DeWine said. “I think that we will end up with a bill that will get passed and that I can sign. But it is still a work in progress and we continue to see reiterations of that bill. So I think it's premature for me to make much comment beyond that at this point.”