On Easter Sunday, Mark Vopat, a Youngstown State University philosophy professor and president of the Youngstown State’s chapter of the Ohio Education Association was at home with his family on the holiday. But his day was periodically interrupted by the sound of people outside his front door.
Volunteers had stopped by to drop off stacks of signed petitions. Those petitions contained signatures needed to keep the Ohio Senate Bill 1 referendum moving forward, a referendum that could potentially stop the education bill from going into effect later this month.
The Advance Ohio Higher Education Act, better known as SB1, would eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs – initiatives that promote equity and accessibility, including programs designed to support people with disabilities, veterans, aging Americans and their families – and collective bargaining for professors in public Ohio universities. The bill was signed by Gov. Mike DeWine on March 28, and is set to take effect 90 days later – on June 27.
That is, unless the SB 1 referendum gets enough valid signatures to put the bill on the ballot in November, when Ohio voters can decide what they believe is the best option.
“I think Ohio voters have to ask, is this the direction they want to see higher education going in Ohio?” Vopat said.
Many Licking County residents – including members of the Licking County Democratic Party – see the bill as an attack on higher education in Ohio, and are mobilizing to put SB1 to the voters come the November election.
What does SB1 do?
The bill’s primary sponsor, Sen. Jerry C. Cirino (R-Kirtland) said in a press release that he hopes the bill will prevent indoctrination in education.
As written, the Ohio law would prohibit DEI in any shape or form, including training related to diversity, equity, and inclusion; any departments or offices related to DEI; putting DEI language in job descriptions; hiring or admitting students based on race, gender, sex, or ethnicity and eliminating scholarships with DEI requirements.
“Every student in Ohio deserves a quality education, regardless of race, gender, or religion,” Cirino said in the news release. “But DEI programs hinder that goal because they are inherently discriminatory, and should not be supported by taxpayers.”
Republican Licking County state representatives Thaddeus Claggett and Kevin Miller both voted to support the bill, and Sen. Tim Schaffer, R-Lancaster, is a co-sponsor of the bill.
Opponents of the bill argue that it is “a direct attack on the academic independence that has long been essential to the success of our state’s public higher education system,” according to a press release from Sen. Casey Weinstein, D-Hudson. Weinstein said the bill could be particularly damaging to “Silicon Heartland” workforce development in New Albany, where Intel is building a $28 billion computer-chip manufacturing campus.
“Businesses — particularly those in technology, health care, and research — look to our higher education institutions to cultivate a skilled and diverse workforce,” he wrote. “If we really want to succeed in becoming the ‘Silicon Heartland’ that legislators across the aisle believe we can be, we need to ensure we have higher education institutions that can train the next generation of Ohio workers.”
And medical school training is in the crosshairs, Vopat said.
“DEI is training for doctors on how to deal with different communities, religious, ethnic and racial communities. Nurses, counselors, psychologists, all of that kind of training at the medical school level, on the graduate level, is also impacted by this,” Vopat said.
But it’s not just DEI that will be impacted by the new law. The bill also would prohibit professors from engaging in collective bargaining, meaning faculty cannot strike, possibly deterring new educators from coming to Ohio and inevitably impacting the quality of education that students receive, Vopat said.
Vopat said some may worry about strikes from university faculty affecting students’ education. But in the last 25 years, Youngstown State University has had three strike days.
Two of those days were non-teaching days, meaning students at YSU have only missed one day of class for a strike in the past 25 years,
“They’ve had more snow days in the last year,” Vopat said.
The bill also would affect the way tenure – an academic appointment that protects faculty members from being fired or laid off without cause – is negotiated. Professors used to have a say in tenure negotiations, providing input in things like intellectual freedom and job security. Under SB1, discussions about tenure will be up to boards of trustees.
“Job applications for Florida academic positions have dropped dramatically since they passed a similar law. So it’s actually harder to get people to go to Florida to take on academic jobs because of job insecurity,” Vopat said.
Other issues the YSU professors and other organizations have with the bill include cutting majors if they do not have enough graduates and turning some four-year programs into three-year programs.
While some organizations like the Ohio Education Association and the American Association of University Professors threatened legal action against the bill, legal action would not accomplish much, Vopat said.
“(The bill) doesn’t raise any sort of legal issue that someone could appeal and say, you can’t do this, that’s illegal, that’s unconstitutional, because they’re literally writing the law,” he said.
Vopat, along with Professors Amanda Fehlbaum and Cryshanna Jackson Leftwich, found the only remaining way to fight the bill: through a referendum.
“This is just so bad for Ohio higher ed that we felt we had to do something,” Vopat said.
What is a referendum?
“It is a process that lets voters decide directly on laws,” said Licking County Young Democrats President Jamie Hough. The Licking County Democratic Club has joined in on the effort to pass the referendum by collecting signatures in Licking County.
The referendum process starts with a petition to take a piece of legislation that would otherwise have its fate determined by the legislature and put it in the hands of the voters.
“If the legislature passes a law and enough citizens disagree with it, they can collect signatures and put it on the ballot, and then all Ohio voters get to have a vote on whether that law should stay or be rebuilt,” Hough said.
Organizations like the Ohio Young Democrats immediately hopped on board to collect signatures.
“In central Ohio, many in our progressive ecosystem, such as Young Dems, Indivisible groups, and Democratic organizations became fired up when SB 1 was passed,” President of Ohio Young Democrats Kimberley Agyekum said.
Agyekum and the Ohio Young Democrats support the referendum because they believe it will be harmful to Ohio’s public education system.
“How will we expect Ohio’s medical students to compete with other students who aren’t faced with gaps of education due to rightwing politicians being scared of DEI?” Agyekum said.
To raise awareness about the referendum, the Ohio Young Democrats are running a series of Op-eds describing the dangers of this bill. Papers like the Tribune Chronicle and the Cincinnati Enquirer published opinions from Ohio Young Democrats declaring universities are “reduced” to propaganda machines and censoring free speech.
Hough and the The Licking County Democrats joined in on the effort to collect signatures for the SB 1 referendum in hopes of amplifying students’ and voters’ voices.
“Ohio used to invite folks to come to our colleges. I don’t think this is going to be something that’s going to bring our youth to Ohio,” Hough said.
The initial step in moving forward with the referendum process was collecting 1,000 signatures for the initial summary petition. After volunteers collected initial signatures, the petition went to the attorney general and the secretary of state for approval.
The next step in the referendum process: volunteers must gather 250,000 signatures from at least 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties before June 25 – two days before the bill goes into effect.
Even with the tight deadline, Vopat has faith in the numbers.
“There were 1,500 people who presented testimony in the Ohio House. In the Senate. I think there were 200 that showed up in person. Another 1,000 submitted testimony,” Vopat said. “I’m cautiously optimistic about it.”
Not every state has the option to participate in a referendum. About half of the U.S. has this option, and an even fewer number of states can participate in a referendum for an amendment, statue and veto like Ohio can.
“I’m thankful to the professors at Youngstown University who stepped up to start this effort,” Agyekum said.
Agyekum has hope this referendum will pass. Regardless, the outpouring of support from organizations across Ohio has reassured Agyekum that there are people out there supporting the same mission as her.
“We need grassroots leaders to stand up to the tyranny of the right wing extremists in the statehouse that are eroding our institutions and hurting young Ohioans,” said Agyekum.
The Licking County Democratic Party collected 127 signatures at this year’s Newark Strawberry Festival. The party will continue to collect signatures from voters until the June 25 deadline. The party provides opportunities to sign the petition at their office at 2054 Cherry Valley Rd. in Newark. They will be open for petition signing on Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and Sundays from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. Voters hoping to sign the petition can visit their website at lickingcountydemocraticparty.com for more information about upcoming events and petition signing opportunities.
Maddie Luebkert writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.