The College Fix

Faculty affiliated with the Ohio Education Association at Youngstown State University are leading a referendum campaign to repeal Senate Bill 1, a new law that bans public university diversity, equity, and inclusion programming and outlaws faculty strikes.

The referendum seeks to suspend the law pending a potential statewide vote. If successful, Ohio voters could be asked to decide the law’s future in the coming election cycle. As it stands, the law takes effect June 25.

The group last week reported it has filed more than 4,500 voter signatures to the secretary of state and attorney general.

“Now we wait up to 10 business days to see what the SoS and AG say,” it stated on its Facebook page. “If they reject it, we revise and resubmit 1000+ signatures. This is what we anticipate happening, even if we submitted something flawless. If they accept it, we get more time to collect the 250K+ signatures across the state. Onward!”

A spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s Office confirmed receiving the signatures and posted a copy of the repeal petition on its website, saying a response is due by May 5, the Signal Cleveland reported.

In an emailed statement to The College Fix, Ohio Education Association Vice President Jeff Wensing called SB 1 “a devastating law.” He said it “guts workers’ rights and silences free thought, free speech, and free enterprise.”

“Tens of thousands of students, community members, and educators mobilized to try to stop the passage of SB 1,” Wensing said. “Our opposition did not end when the bill was signed into law. Students and educators remain engaged and united in their opposition to SB 1 and similar measures before the Ohio General Assembly.”

The new law, which passed thanks to a GOP supermajority in both the state House and Senate, requires universities maintain institutional neutrality, enacts tenure review, and bans DEI statements for admissions, hiring and promotion decisions.

It also requires classes to “demonstrate intellectual diversity” for approval, as well as to be included in universities’ general education requirements.

It also established a new civic literacy requirement for graduation, with required reading that includes the U.S. Constitution, Declaration of Independence, multiple Federalist Papers, Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” and excerpts from Adam Smith’s “The Wealth of Nations.”

“SB 1 creates a one-size-fits-all mandate that undermines the role of colleges and universities as the ultimate marketplace of ideas,” Wensing told The Fix. “By disregarding [faculty’s] professional judgement and expertise in favor of micromanaging and contradictory requirements, SB 1 will make it much harder to attract great students and faculty to our campuses.”

Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, has argued the measure protects students’ rights to speak freely, not silence faculty. He also described it as a step toward ensuring academic neutrality.

DeWine’s office did not immediately respond to a request from The College Fix seeking comment.

The faculty union disagrees, stating on its referendum website that “SB 1 is a censorship bill pretending to be a free speech bill.”

Though not leading litigation directly, the Ohio Education Association is backing potential lawsuits to overturn parts of the law.

“OEA will continue to work with our coalition partners, such as the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), on efforts to challenge provisions of SB 1 legally,” Wensing told The Fix.

MORE: New Ohio law bans DEI, outlaws faculty strikes, requires U.S. civic literacy course

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