(The Center Square) – A little more than a month after becoming law, Ohio’s higher education overhaul is under fire.
Organizers have moved into the signature-gathering phase to allow voters to decide on a constitutional amendment that would amend Senate Bill 1, a bill opponents believe will destroy the state’s higher education and legalize state-sponsored discrimination and censorship.
Proponents, though, say it requires diverse thought in the higher education system.
Attorney General Dave Yost approved the title and summary of the proposed amendment, which would repeal SB1, a law that eliminates diversity, equity and inclusion programs through the state’s colleges and universities.
“My certification of the title and summary … should not be construed as an affirmation of the enforceability and constitutionality of the referendum petition,” Yost said in a letter to Youngstown State sociology professor Amanda Fehlbaum, who submitted the proposal.
The group must now get signatures from registered voters in at least 44 of the state’s 88 counties. The valid signatures must equal at least 3% of the votes cast for governor in the most recent gubernatorial election.
Statewide, the total number of valid signatures must be at least 6% of the that election vote total.
If the signature requirement is met, the Ohio Ballot Board must certify the proposed amendment contains only one question before it can be placed on the ballot.
Despite thousands of in-person protesters and thousands of people testifying against the bill, SB1 passed the Legislature in late March and was signed into law in early April.
It bans courses, training, litmus tests, required statements, and spending for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives or programs.
It sets parameters around discussions about what it calls controversial topics. Named are climate polices; electoral politics; foreign policy; ban diversity, equity and inclusion; immigrant policy; and marriage and abortion.
It also bans faculty members from striking.
“Gov. DeWine failed the people of Ohio by signing SB 1 into law,” said House Minority Leader Allison Russo, R-Upper Arlington, said after DeWine signed the bill into law. “The governor now has to live with the consequences that will haunt his legacy because signing SB1 into law begins the inevitable destruction of Ohio’s cherished higher education system by legalizing state-sponsored censorship and discrimination, it will damage our economy and future by making Ohio an extremely undesirable place to learn and work, and it radically undermines the collective bargaining rights of workers.”
