The Ohio Conference AAUP Board of Trustees has endorsed U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown for re-election. The following letter was sent to Sen. Brown’s campaign, which explains the endorsement:

American Association of University Professors
The Ohio Conference AAUP Board of Trustees has endorsed U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown for re-election. The following letter was sent to Sen. Brown’s campaign, which explains the endorsement:
Despite another intensive push to get Senate Bill 83 over the finish line, the small group of lawmakers who tried to demonstrate that the bill “had the votes” failed to get 50 signatures (a majority) on their letter that urged the bill to be brought to the floor for a full House vote.
One State Representative reportedly planned to offer SB 83 as an amendment to another bill, but the lack of support became clear and the amendment was not offered.
Throughout this legislative process, the Ohio Conference AAUP has reached out to the bill’s sponsor and other legislators integrally involved with the bill. We offered to discuss our outstanding concerns and to try to find common ground. Each of our communications was met with no reply.
Once it became evident that there would be no action on SB 83 yesterday, the bill’s sponsor stated his refusal to negotiate on it and declined to engage in interested party meetings over the summer. He even went so far as to suggest that he’d introduce a worse version in a more favorable political environment. This isn’t acceptable behavior from a lawmaker.
If it hasn’t been clear so far, it should be crystal clear now that SB 83 is nothing more than a politically-motivated bill meant to punish professors and colleges and universities. The sponsor believes that he should be able to dictate higher education policy without talking to the people his bill would impact the most.
Academic freedom, collective bargaining rights, and meaningful job protections are non-negotiable for the AAUP. SB 83 is just one piece in a broad, national, Culture-War-fueled attack on higher education, and we will always fight back to preserve our rights and quality education for our students.
The General Assembly is expected to be adjourned until after the November elections, at which point it will enter “lame duck session.” SB 83 will likely be part of the discussions during this session, in which there is always a lot of negotiating to push legislation through before the end of the calendar year. We will be on alert.
One thing that AAUP members can do in the meantime is support the “Citizens Not Politicians” effort. Next week, this campaign will turn in hundreds of thousands of signatures to place a statewide initiative on the ballot to end gerrymandering–the practice of manipulating legislative district boundaries to favor one political party over the other. We need fair districts to give us a more balanced legislature–one that will work to enhance and not undermine higher education.
Thank you for your continued activism! Your calls and emails to legislators over the last week undoubtedly made a difference. We also must thank our sisters and brothers in the labor movement who have continually gone to bat for us on this bill. They have made it clear that any attack on labor is an attack on all labor, and that a bill like SB 83 is completely unacceptable. When labor sticks together, labor wins. We appreciate the support from our other partners, most notably Honesty for Ohio Education. Against the odds, we manage to beat back this bill time and time again.
SOME LAWMAKERS WANT JUNE 26 VOTE ON SB 83
As we reported last week, a small group of lawmakers are trying to pressure House Speaker Jason Stephens to hold a vote on Senate Bill 83–The Higher Education Destruction Act–this Wednesday, June 26.
It could not be clearer that members of campus communities and the public at large oppose this bill. But some legislators care more about politics than they do policy; and make no mistake that if SB 83 becomes law, it will impose policies that take away job protections for all faculty, gut faculty collective bargaining rights, impinge upon academic freedom, and take away support mechanisms for students.
We are asking our members and allies to fight back once again and encourage the House of Representatives to reject SB 83!
Use this form to contact House members, and call Speaker Stephens to thank him for keeping SB 83 off of the House floor: 614-466-1366.
If you are able, it also would be very helpful to call these Representatives and ask them to reject SB 83:
Thomas Patton: 614-466-4895
Cindy Abrams: 614-466-9091
Sara Carruthers: 614-644-6721
Scott Oelslager: 614-752-2438
Brett Hillyer: 614-466-8035
Al Cutrona: 614-466-6107
Mike Loychik: 614-466-3488
Kevin Miller: 614-466-2500
Gail Pavliga: 614-466-2004
Jeff LaRe: 614-466-8100
Haraz Ghanbari: 614-466-8104
Monica Robb Blasdel: 614-466-8022
Jon Cross: 614-466-3819
Bob Peterson: 614-466-3506
Jay Edwards: 614-466-2158
Don Jones: 614-644-8728
Justin Pizzulli: 614-466-2124
Dave Dobos: 614-466-9690
Andrea White: 614-644-6008
Scott Lipps: 614-644-6023
Adam Mathews: 614-644-6027
Jamie Callender: 614-644-6074
Sharon Ray: 614-466-8140
Jim Hoops: 614-466-3760
Bill Roemer: 614-644-5085
The message to these Representatives is simple: Do not support SB 83. It is an anti-union, anti-free speech, big-government, bureaucratic bill that will make it difficult to keep and attract faculty and students. This will hurt Ohio’s economic competitiveness.
As a reminder, SB 83 passed the Ohio Senate in May 2023 and then passed the House Higher Education Committee in early December by an 8-7 vote. The bill has since lingered in the House Rules and Reference Committee, but Speaker Stephens has not brought it to the floor for a full vote of the House, citing that the bill lacks sufficient support.
Last week, two State Representatives began circulating a sign-on letter to show that SB 83 does have the support to pass, if brought to the floor. We have encouraged Representatives to decline to sign that letter and vote No if SB 83 is brought up for a full vote.
Use this form to email State Representatives to ask them to reject the bill and call Speaker Stephens (614-466-1366) to thank him for holding strong for unions and higher education.
THANK YOU for continuing to take action! The phone calls and emails are making a difference. Despite the odds against us, our collective activism has kept this bill at bay for more than a year, but we have to keep up the pressure through House session on Wednesday!
The Ohio Conference AAUP Board of Trustees has endorsed Michelle Flanigan for the open contributing member seat that is up for election this year on the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) Retirement Board.
For 26 years, Michelle has taught government, economics and financial literacy at Brunswick High School. Prior to her teaching career, she was a financial analyst. She has been actively engaged with STRS for many years.
During the candidate interview, Michelle demonstrated a command of the issues facing STRS and articulated pragmatic approaches to addressing them. As an educator who began her career later than most teachers, she is sensitive to how pension age and service requirements impact college and university faculty differently than they impact most K-12 teachers.
We encourage our members to vote in the upcoming election and to consider voting for Michelle Flanigan. We will have more information about voting in the election in the coming weeks. In the meantime, you can visit Michelle’s campaign website for more information about her candidacy and STRS issues: https://www.michelleflaniganforstrs.com/.
1) Status of Senate Bill 83
Late last year, SB 83 passed the House Higher Education Committee by a vote of 8-7. Typically, this committee vote would tee up the bill for a vote by the full House of Representatives, but we continue to hear that the legislation in its current form does not have sufficient support among all representatives. As such, SB 83 sits in the House Rules and Reference Committee, which decides what bills will make it to the House floor. If the bill remains in this committee, it could be moved to the floor for a vote at any time. As we already have experienced with this bill, anything can change at any time.
We will continue to provide relevant updates. In the meantime, you can quickly send a message to State Representatives through this link to urge them to reject SB 83. We must continue to fight this bill, which threatens academic freedom, tenure, union rights, and which promises to siphon even more money away from instruction and to administrative bloat.
2) 2024 OCAAUP Elections
We are pleased to announce the candidates for this year’s elections:
President: Gretchen McNamara (Wright State University)
Secretary: Cassandra Fetters (University of Cincinnati)
At-Large–Private Institutions: Peter Tandler (Walsh University)
At-Large–Public or Private Institutions: Naykishia Darby (Central State University)
In March, all Ohio AAUP members will receive an email containing a secure link to access an electronic ballot. Despite there being only one candidate per position, we must still run a securely balloted election. We encourage all members to take a minute to vote!
3) Honoring Dr. John T. McNay
Last fall, we shared the unfortunate news of the passing of University of Cincinnati history professor and long-time OCAAUP President, Dr. John T. McNay. In honor of John’s legacy, the OCAAUP board made a contribution to the John McNay Memorial – Young Scholars Fund at the University of Cincinnati.
The fund will award two $500 scholarships each year to students majoring in history, liberal arts, or English at the University of Cincinnati-Blue Ash, where John taught for 23 years.
Many members have asked what they can do in John’s memory; so, if you would like to make a personal contribution to this fund, checks should be made out to “University of Cincinnati Foundation” with “John McNay Memorial – Young Scholars Fund” in the memo line and sent to the following address:
UC Blue Ash College
Attn: Andrew Baker – Director of Development
9555 Plainfield Rd. Muntz Hall, 140M
Blue Ash, OH 45236
4) BEWARE: Anti-Union Group Spreads Lies in “Opt-Out” Campaigns
Members of at least two Ohio AAUP unions have been targeted by “opt-out” campaigns encouraging union members to drop their memberships. These campaigns also have targeted a number of other Ohio unions over the last few years.
The group behind these efforts is called “The Freedom Foundation.” It is funded by billionaires who want to undermine worker power.
In these U.S. mail and e-mail communications, they spout outright lies about unions that try to create the sense that unions are on the decline when the exact opposite is true. Labor unions across the board are enjoying high approval in public opinion polls, and AAUP membership in Ohio has never been stronger and continues to grow–thanks to all of your efforts!
Please beware of these messages and make sure your colleagues know to ignore this drivel from organizations that seek to destroy union power! If you receive such a communication, please let us and your local chapter know.
5) AAUP Statement on Academic Freedom in Polarizing Times
The ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis in the Middle East has led to debate and in some cases unrest on college and university campuses around the country, including here in Ohio.
Often in times of war, we are confronted with complicated questions about free speech and academic freedom, but it is important that we do not allow politicians and others to capitalize on these moments to misuse them to suppress open and honest debate.
National AAUP released the statement, “Polarizing Times Demand Robust Academic Freedom.” We encourage you to read the statement and, in these very challenging times, to be defenders of AAUP principles on your campuses.