Tuesday’s Opponent Hearing
Once again, we broke an Ohio Senate record with the number of opponent testimonies that were submitted for Senate Bill 1! There were 837 opponent testimonies posted on the Senate Higher Education Committee website. These testimonies came from professors, students, parents, and other members of our communities who understand the damage that this bill will inflict.

If you submitted testimony, please ensure that the committee did, in fact, post it on their website. If you do not see yours posted, email Sen. Roegner’s office at roegner@ohiosenate.gov and ask that they post your testimony. It is a matter of public record, and we have already heard from a number of people that their testimonies were submitted on time but not posted.

Thank you to Prof. David Jackson from BGSU for giving our testimony. Understanding the political realities, we advocated that the committee adopt very specific amendments that would ameliorate some of the worst parts of the bill. We made it clear that the union-busting provisions and other attacks on professors are unacceptable, and that these changes to higher education will lead to vast instability.

At the beginning of the committee meeting, a substitute version of the bill was adopted. Most of the changes were low-level adjustments that do not get to the heart of the biggest issues with the bill. Perhaps the most significant change was an amendment that specified that public syllabi do not have to include locations or times of classes. While this is a step in the right direction, it certainly does not fully assuage the concern of how public syllabi could facilitate the intimidation and harassment of faculty, as well as stolen intellectual property.

Wednesday’s Committee and Floor Votes
In spite of the fact that there were 837+ opponent testimonies, hundreds of people who showed up to the Statehouse to protest, as well as tens of thousands of emails sent in opposition, the majority of senators completely ignored The People. At this point, we must be blunt: the hearing on Tuesday was held in bad faith. They “heard” the testimony, but they did not “listen.” They had the theatrics of democracy, but they never intended to make any changes to their politically-motivated legislation.

During the Wednesday Senate Higher Education Committee meeting, Democratic Senators Catherine Ingram and Casey Weinstein offered a series of amendments that mirrored our suggestions. Sen. Cirino, SB 1’s sponsor, initiated the motions to table each and every one of the amendments, and each was tabled along a party line vote of 5-2. This is particularly disappointing, given that we had met with Sen. Cirino two weeks prior, who indicated he was open to amendments. Clearly, that was not true, as the senator failed to correspond with us about the amendments and then led the effort to defeat them.

Eventually, SB 1 cleared the committee along the 5-2 party lines, and was sent to the Senate floor for a full vote by the chamber. After a series of lengthy and impassioned speeches (including ones that disparaged students and faculty), as well as additional unsuccessful attempts to amend the bill, SB 1 passed the Senate by a vote of 21-11. All 9 Democrats, plus Republican Senators Blessing and Patton, voted against the bill. One Republican senator was absent.

While the end result is unsurprising, it is still incredibly disappointing to see such a disingenuous and undemocratic process lead to this point. The reality is that the Republican majority knows that this is indeed The Higher Education Destruction Act. While they may say things like “reform” and “more free speech,” their true intent is to undermine public higher education. It’s part of the age-old playbook: defund, blame workers, then privatize. This isn’t just about “our issues.” This is about defending and preserving public higher education.

What happens next
The bill has now been sent to the Ohio House of Representatives. It will be referred to the House Workforce and Higher Education Committee, which is chaired by the same state representative as the previous legislative session: Rep. Tom Young. Reportedly, Young already has said he will not entertain amendments to the bill. His office still has not responded to our request for a meeting.

It is unclear when exactly the House committee will start hearings on SB 1. Because state budget deliberations have begun in the House, and this committee is serving as the budget subcommittee on higher education, the committee may defer taking up SB 1 until March. Whenever the hearings do start, we expect it to be another fast process.

We are working closely with the Ranking Democrat on the committee: Rep. Beryl Brown Piccolantonio. We are fortunate to have such a knowledgeable and thoughtful state representative to work with on these matters. Rep. Piccolantonio thoroughly understands the issues and is passionate about defending labor rights.

We are working on SB 1 day and night. We are doing everything in our power to engage lawmakers, keep members informed, talk to the media, and work with our valuable coalition partners in labor and education to either stop this bill or mitigate the worst aspects. We will continue to update you as the process unfolds, and as we have more information about other legislation that will impact our members. Stay tuned.

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Other ways to take action.

There are a number of other ways that you can help us fight the legislation:

1) E-mail House members.

Our easy online form above has been updated to reflect where we are now in the legislative process, and messages will be sent to House members only. We are asking state representatives to reject the bill or at least work with stakeholder groups on changes. Over 55,000 emails have been sent already. Let’s keep up the pressure!

2) E-mail Gov. DeWine

Due to the fast-track nature of the bill, we have to put pressure on the governor now to veto the bill. This link also has been updated to reflect the current situation. Gov. DeWine has been less inclined than other Republicans to buy into culture war politics, and we believe he understands the importance of a higher education system that maintains integrity.

3) Talk to your state representative.

Regardless of party affiliation, now is the time to reach out to your state representative. They need to hear from their constituents that SB 1 will harm higher education and its economic impact on Ohio. Visit https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/ to find your legislators.

4) Write an op-ed.

Consider writing an op-ed to your local newspaper about the ways that this bill will hurt your institutions. You can also point out that the legislators who are pushing this bill once again have failed to listen to the overwhelming opposition from stakeholder groups and the broader public.

The Columbus Dispatch published this op-ed from the president of our Ohio State chapter.

5) Donate to our new “Advocacy & Defense Fund.”

THANK YOU to our generous members who already have made critical donations! OCAAUP is a small organization with one staff member that has kept dues as low as possible for our chapters and members. The challenges we face are going to require more resources, and 100% of the money donated to this fund will be used to fight political attacks and/or future legal challenges. ANY amount is welcome and appreciated. Please note: the Ohio Conference AAUP is a 501(c)(6) organization; as a result, donations are not tax deductible. 

What to expect this week

Today (Tuesday, 2/11), the Ohio Senate Higher Education Committee is holding a hearing for all testimony on SB 1, the new iteration of last session’s SB 83–what has been dubbed “The Higher Education Destruction Act.”

The hearing will be dominated by an anticipated large volume of opponent testimonies. Despite the fact that the Senate Republicans know there is massive opposition to this bill, they are only giving opponents this one opportunity to make their voices heard.

What is more appalling, however, is that the Republican majority on the committee is slated to vote SB 1 out of committee tomorrow morning (Wednesday, 2/12), which very likely means that the bill will be brought to the Senate floor Wednesday afternoon to be passed by the full chamber.

Let’s be clear: the Senate committee will hear hours of opponent testimony today, likely ignore the multitude of valid concerns raised by those who are fighting for public higher education, and move forward with a vote tomorrow.

We are asking the Senate to slow down their process to allow more time for stakeholder input. As we reference in our testimony, OCAAUP has submitted a number of amendments to the bill’s sponsor and full committee that would assuage our most serious concerns with this bill.

What you can do

First, we want to thank the numerous AAUP members who submitted testimony for today’s hearing, many of whom will be showing up in person to the Statehouse this afternoon. If you can’t be there, you can watch the hearing live on The Ohio Channel beginning at 2:00 pm. Look for the live stream of the Senate Higher Education Committee.

There are two opportunities on Wednesday, February 12 to show up to the Statehouse and send a message to lawmakers that we’re watching:

1) The Senate Higher Education Committee vote on SB 1 at 9:00 am in the South Hearing Room (Statehouse, 2nd floor); and

2) Senate session (Senate chambers) at 1:30 pm, where it is expected SB 1 will be brought to the floor for a vote.

We know that most of you can’t make it to Columbus, but you can still help by making phone calls to the Senate Republican offices today and tomorrow. Below is a sample script, followed by the list of senators and their office numbers.

Sample script: Hello, [name and other identifying info, if you choose] I’m calling to let the senator know that I oppose Senate Bill 1. This bill is the epitome of big-government overreach, and it will destabilize higher education in Ohio. At the very least, it needs more thorough consideration and stakeholder input. If the bill is voted on this week, I strongly encourage the senator to vote no.

List of senators to call:

Senate President Rob McColley: (614) 466-8150

Higher Education Committee Chair Kristina Roegner: (614) 466-4823

Vice Chair and SB 1 Sponsor Jerry Cirino: (614) 644-7718

Committee Member Kyle Koehler: (614) 466-3780

Committee Member Jane Timken: (614) 466-0626

Committee Member Bill Reineke: (614) 466-8049

Nathan Manning: (614) 644-7613

Michele Reynolds: (614) 466-8064

Al Cutrona: (614) 466-8285

Mark Romanchuk: (614) 466-7505

George Lang: (614) 466-8072

Stephen Huffman: (614) 466-6247

Steve Wilson: (614) 466-9737

Susan Manchester: (614) 466-6344

Terry Johnson: (614) 466-8082

Shane Wilkin: (614) 466-8156

Tim Schaffer: (614) 466-8076

Brian Chavez: (614) 466-6508

Al Landis: (614) 466-5838

Sandra O’Brien: (614) 466-7182

Theresa Gavarone: (614) 466-8060

Andrew Brenner: (614) 466-8086

Thomas F. Patton: (614) 466-8056

Louis W. Blessing III: (614) 466-8068

Calling all of these offices is helpful, but if you have limited time, calling the first 9 on the list would be most productive.

We will send another message later this week recapping the events and sharing next steps.

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Other ways to take action.

There are a number of other ways that you can help us fight the legislation:

1) E-mail Senate and House members.

You can use our easy online form above, which will send messages to all state legislators asking them to vote no on the bills. We believe we have to contact all legislators right away given the quick timeline that is expected. More than 40,000 emails have been sent already. Let’s keep up the pressure!

2) E-mail Gov. DeWine

Due to the fast-track nature of the bills, we have to start asking the governor now to veto the bill. Gov. DeWine has been less inclined than other Republicans to buy into culture war politics, and we believe he understands the importance of a higher education system that maintains integrity.

3) Talk to your state legislators.

Talk to state legislators you know, and get to know the lawmakers who represent you, if you don’t already. Regardless of party affiliation, they need to hear from their constituents that SB 1/HB 6 will harm higher education and its economic impact on Ohio. Visit https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/ to find your legislators.

4) Write an op-ed.

Consider writing an op-ed to your local newspaper about the ways that this bill will hurt your institutions. You can also point out that the legislators who are pushing this bill once again have failed to listen to the overwhelming opposition from stakeholder groups and the broader public.

The Columbus Dispatch published this op-ed from the president of our Ohio State chapter.

5) Donate to our new “Advocacy & Defense Fund.”

THANK YOU to our generous members who already have made critical donations! OCAAUP is a small organization with one staff member that has kept dues as low as possible for our chapters and members. The challenges we face are going to require more resources, and 100% of the money donated to this fund will be used to fight political attacks and/or future legal challenges. ANY size donation is welcome and appreciated. Please note: the Ohio Conference AAUP is a 501(c)(6) organization; as a result, donations are not tax deductible. 

We have received notification that the opponent hearing for SB 1 will occur on Tuesday, February 11 at 2:00 pm in the North Hearing Room (2nd Floor) of the Ohio Statehouse.

The committee also announced a hearing for the morning of Wednesday, February 12 at 9:00 am in the South Hearing Room, and it appears they are slated to pass the bill out of committee at that time (no additional testimony opportunities). That means the full Ohio Senate could pass SB 1 in session later that day. Session begins at 1:30 pm Wednesday.

Important Testimony Instructions: Whether you’re testifying in-person or submitting written testimony only, you must fill out the witness form (link below). In order to be included in the official record, your witness form and testimony must be emailed as separate PDF documents at least 24 hours in advance of the hearing (so no later than Monday, February 10 at 2:00 pm) to Chair Kristina Roegner’s office. The email address to use is roegner@ohiosenate.gov.

In-person witnesses will be limited to three (3) minutes of oral testimony. The committee members may ask witnesses questions. At this time, there is no limit on the total length of the hearing, so it’s possible that this committee meeting lasts many hours.

Please note that OCAAUP, of course, will be providing broad testimony on the bill. The most effective way to make an impact is to be specific about how the bill would impact your teaching, your students, and your institution.

*If you are planning to testify in person, please email sara@ocaaup.org.* We may have the ability to provide a “priority witness list” and help the chair’s office sort through the testimony. We will do our best to ensure that all AAUP members who plan to show up have the opportunity to be heard. However, there is the possibility that witnesses are called upon in order of when the testimony was received by the chair’s office.

Parking: There are many parking options around the Ohio Statehouse, but the easiest to plan on is the Columbus Commons Underground Parking Garage located at 191 S. Third Street, Columbus, OH 43215.

Below are resources to help prepare your testimony:

–SB 1 Text

–SB 1 LSC Analysis

-SB 1 OCAAUP Synopsis

–Testimony Template (this is a view-only doc; copy/paste into your own doc)

–Senate Higher Education Committee Witness Form

Looking forward to seeing many of you at the Statehouse on Tuesday! 

SB 1 Updates and Opponent Hearing

Last Week’s SB 1 Hearing
Last week, there was a Senate Bill 1 hearing for sponsor and proponent testimonies. Sen. Jerry Cirino (R-Kirtland), SB 1’s sponsor, delivered his testimony in defense of the bill. There were 14 proponent testimonies submitted, although not all of the proponents showed up in person. Nearly all of the proponents focused their testimonies in support of the total DEI ban, and hardly any referenced other portions of the legislation. Some of the witnesses were from out of state, and not a single student from a public university in Ohio testified in support of the bill.

Click here to view the testimonies. You can also watch a recording of the hearing by clicking here.

SB 1 Opponent Hearing
We know that many of you are eager to submit testimony and make your plans to be at the Statehouse in Columbus for the opponent hearing. Unfortunately, we still do not have confirmation of when the opponent hearing will be. We will send another message as soon as we have confirmation.

What we do know is that the Senate Higher Education Committee announced that their standing committee time will be Wednesdays at 9:00 am. Given that the Ohio Senate is in session next week, there is a good chance the hearing will be Wednesday, February 12 at 9:00 am, but we won’t know for sure until the chair’s office issues the meeting notice, which may not be until this Friday.

In the meantime, here are resources to help prepare your testimony:

–SB 1 Text
–SB 1 LSC Analysis
–SB 1 OCAAUP Synopsis
–Testimony Template (this is a view-only doc; copy/paste into your own doc)
–Senate Higher Education Committee Witness Form

Whether you’re testifying in-person or submitting written testimony only, you must fill out the witness form. In order to be included in the official record, your witness form and testimony must be emailed at least 24 hours in advance of the hearing to Chair Kristina Roegner’s office. We will provide that email address in our follow-up message.

Based on the first hearing for SB 1, witnesses who will be testifying in person likely will have only three (3) minutes to deliver oral testimony. We encourage you to make your testimony as brief and to the point as possible.

Other ways to take action.
There are a number of ways that you can help us fight the legislation:

1) E-mail Senate and House members.

You can use our easy online form above, which will send messages to all state legislators asking them to vote no on the bills. We believe we have to contact all legislators right away given the quick timeline that is expected. More than 30,000 emails have been sent already. Let’s keep up the pressure!

2) E-mail Gov. DeWine

Due to the anticipated fast-track nature of the bills, we have to start asking the governor now to veto the bill. Gov. DeWine has been less inclined than other Republicans to buy into culture war politics, and we believe he understands the importance of a higher education system that maintains integrity.

3) Talk to your state legislators.

Talk to state legislators you know, and get to know the lawmakers who represent you, if you don’t already. Regardless of party affiliation, they need to hear from their constituents that SB 1/HB 6 will harm higher education and its economic impact on Ohio. Visit https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/ to find your legislators.

4) Write an op-ed.

Consider writing an op-ed to your local newspaper about the ways that this bill will hurt your institutions. You can also point out that the legislators who are pushing this bill once again have failed to listen to the overwhelming opposition from stakeholder groups and the broader public.

Today, The Columbus Dispatch published this op-ed from the president of our Ohio State chapter.

5) Donate to our new “Advocacy & Defense Fund.”

THANK YOU to our generous members who already have made critical donations! OCAAUP is a small organization with one staff member that has kept dues as low as possible for our chapters and members. The challenges we face are going to require more resources, and 100% of the money donated to this fund will be used to fight political attacks and/or future legal challenges. ANY size donation is welcome and appreciated. Please note: the Ohio Conference AAUP is a 501(c)(6) organization; as a result, donations are not tax deductible. 

Thank you for your engagements on SB 1/HB 6. We will follow up soon with more information.

State Budget & Other Legislation

DeWine Unveils Executive Budget
On Monday, Gov. DeWine put forward his executive proposal for the state’s biennial operating budget. Eventually, we will have a bill number when the chair of the House Finance Committee formally puts the proposal into legislation, but for now we have the governor’s “blue book.”

As expected, largely on account of the budget request submitted by the Ohio Department of Higher Education (ODHE) to the governor, the executive budget proposes flat funding to State Share of Instruction (SSI), which is the main funding stream of state support to public colleges and universities. SSI would receive a 0.1% “increase” in Fiscal Year 2026 and maintain that funding level in Fiscal Year 2027. Considering inflation, flat funding amounts to a budget cut to our institutions, and at a time when the legislature is also proposing new mandates that could cost colleges and universities millions.

The governor stated that Ohio will “continue to invest in the nation’s most aggressive outcomes-based higher education funding formula, ensuring that colleges and universities stay laser-focused on student success and postgraduation employment outcomes.” In other words, the governor would like to see a portion of SSI predicated on employment outcomes for graduates. We have yet to see the specific parameters and metrics for this proposal.

On a more positive front, the Ohio College Opportunity Grant (OCOG), which benefits low-income students and can be used at any Ohio institution–public or private–will receive an 11.8% increase in FY 26; however, that increased amount gets scaled back by 6% in FY 27. We do not know why the proposed amount is decreased in the second year, but it could be based on an enrollment decline assumption.

The five “civics centers” that were proposed under SB 117 in the last legislative session, and ultimately were approved in HB 33 (the last state operating budget bill) are slated to receive a total of $35 million over the biennium. The centers are being established at Cleveland State University, Miami University, Ohio State University, University of Toledo, and Wright State University. OCAAUP had provided interested party testimony on SB 117 due to the nature of how the centers were to be established–outside of academic norms and void of shared governance. There also are concerns about duplication with existing academic programs that already teach the kinds of courses offered by these centers.

This is just the beginning of the budget process, and we will keep you apprised as this moves through the legislature.

Senate Bill 8
Senate Bill 8 is the new iteration of SB 47 that was introduced during the previous legislative session. SB 47 only received sponsor testimony and no further legislative action. However, we believe that SB 8 might have more traction in the current General Assembly.

In short, the bill would prohibit employers from agreeing to paid release time in collective bargaining agreements for public employees who engage in political and/or lobbying activities. It does not appear to preclude union leaders and members from being afforded release time to conduct union business.

We will monitor the bill and provide updates as necessary.