Governor Mike DeWine recently signed Senate Bill (SB) 1, the Enact Advance Ohio Higher Education Act, a bill aimed at overhauling “diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); intellectual diversity; and other concepts.”
The legislation will:
- Ban faculty strikes
- Bar the use of DEI principles across university operations, from orientation to administration to establishment of scholarships
- Require institutions to have post-tenure review
- Require institutions to drop degree programs with low participation rates
- Require institutions to have all students take an American civic literacy course with specified content, though students can get exemptions for taking other coursework
- Shorten from nine to six years the terms of institution trustees appointed by the governor
- Set rules around topics involving “controversial beliefs” such as climate policies, electoral politics, foreign policy, diversity and inclusion programs, immigration policy, marriage, or abortion.
Despite SB 1 having over 1,500 people submit opponent testimony, the bill moved quickly through both the Senate and the House. SB 1 will take effect in 90 days.
As family physicians we have dedicated our careers and lives to caring for people of all races, ethnicities, classes, nationalities, and abilities. We need these DEI classes to be learn how to best serve everyone. Civics courses belong in high school; whitewashed civics courses belong nowhere. As Americans we demand our liberty —including freedom to learn and to discuss any topics. Each of those banned issues affect health, our patients, and our communities. This law violates the Bill of Rights. I suggest peaceful defiance —think Gandhi or Mandela.