American Association of University Professors
SB 83 returns as SB 1/HB 6.
We are proud of the work that we did during the last legislative session to build widespread opposition to Senate Bill 83. Our efforts solidified bipartisan legislative opposition to the bill, which prevented it from passing the Ohio House of Representatives. We knew that was not going to be the end, however, as legislators promised to resurrect the bill.
On January 22, State Senator Jerry Cirino (R-Kirtland), the sponsor of SB 83, reintroduced the bill as Senate Bill 1 for the 136th General Assembly. On January 23, Rep. Tom Young (R-Washington Twp.), also the chair of the House Higher Education Committee, introduced a companion bill: House Bill 6.
The fact that the Senate majority designated the bill as SB 1 signals to the public that this is the their top priority. As Ohioans continue to voice concerns about cost of living, rising property taxes, and other pocketbook issues, the Ohio Senate, in return, has sent the message that they care more about culture war education politics and retaliation against higher education stakeholders than helping Ohioans deal with their most pressing issues.
What is in SB 1/HB 6?
We created our own synopsis of the bills, grouped by issue area and listed in the order they appear in the bill. We provided page numbers so that you can reference the language for yourself.
You will notice that the new bills are nearly identical to the last version of SB 83 with some significant and insignificant changes. By our count, there are 25 issue areas in the bills, and it’s one unfunded, onerous, and unnecessary mandate after another on faculties and administrations.
In terms of significant changes, the bill would ban faculty strikes. You may recall that all campus unions would have been banned from strikes in the original version of SB 83. At one point, the strike ban was removed; but at the same time, the sponsor added in language to prohibit certain collective bargaining subjects (retrenchment, tenure, evaluations). Now the language is limited to a ban on faculty union strikes, and the prohibition on bargaining subjects remains. Our labor union coalition, We Are Ohio, is still fully behind us and will be taking actions to remind lawmakers that an attack on any labor union is an attack on all labor unions.
Another major change is that SB 1/HB 6 would completely ban diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), including DEI-related scholarships. Republicans have been using the U.S. Supreme Court’s Harvard admissions’ decision on affirmative action as a justification to drive the elimination of all campus DEI without legislation. The language in these bills would leave no room for DEI or even renamed DEI, except for in very limited circumstances to secure grant funding.
The bills still contain contradictory and confusing language about ensuring “intellectual diversity,” which raises serious concerns related to academic freedom and would open up faculty to unsubstantiated complaints. The legislation also retained the overbroad definition of retrenchment, which would allow for retrenchment to be invoked at almost any time.
We encourage you to read the bill for yourself and refer to our synopsis.
What can we expect in terms of timeline and legislative process?
All we know for sure at this point is that Republican leaders in both chambers want to fast-track these bills, because they know the more time they give their colleagues to read the bills and hear from constituents, the less likely legislators are to support them. As we told you in our last email, we face a much steeper uphill battle with the political realities in the new General Assembly.
We expect that there will be some kind of committee process, and it is likely to happen soon. Please stay tuned for opportunities to submit testimony.
Take action ASAP.
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.
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) Dust off your SB 83 testimony and/or op-ed.
Please have your testimony ready to update and submit. If you didn’t write testimony on SB 83, we will need even more voices this time, so please consider starting to draft testimony. We will send more information about testimony submissions when the time comes.
If you wrote an op-ed previously, consider updating that and submitting again to point out that the legislators who are pushing this bill once again have failed to listen to the overwhelming opposition from the public.
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. 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.
Please stay engaged as this process unfolds, and do what you can to aid our efforts. Thank you!