Nearly two dozen new trustees, including several with strong Republican ties, are joining the boards of public universities across Ohio just days after a new state law commonly known as Senate Bill 1 gave them more power.
Former U.S. Rep. Pat Tiberi is one of the most prominent additions. The Republican, who spent nearly two decades in Congress, is joining the board of his alma mater, Ohio State University.
Former Ohio State Supreme Court Justice and two-time University of Akron graduate Deborah Cook, a Republican, will join the board of her alma mater. In 2014, after President George W. Bush appointed her to become a federal judge, she joined an appeals court decision upholding bans on same-sex marriage in Ohio and several other states.
Columbus lobbyist Megan Lashutka, whose political contributions include several donations to current Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and former Lt. Gov John Husted, will become a trustee at her alma mater, Ohio University.
Cincinnati native and businessman Larry Sheakley is joining the University of Cincinnati’s board. He’s a major supporter of the school as well as a prolific political donor. Online records show the vast majority of his contributions have gone to supporting Republican politicians, including U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno and DeWine.
In Ohio, the governor appoints members to state boards, including its 14 public universities. These positions are unpaid. DeWine’s office announced the bulk of the recent appointments on June 27. That’s the same day Senate Bill 1 – officially known as the Advance Ohio Higher Education Act – went into effect.
The legislation gives trustees more control over important aspects of university life, including ending academic programs with low enrollment, implementing new rules about how faculty do their jobs, and adopting new institution-wide stances in areas such as diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
What Senate Bill 1 says about boards of trustees
The word “trustee” appears 261 times in Senate Bill 1’s text, showing how integral lawmakers view these members in actually implementing the law.
Speaking at the City Club of Cleveland in April, State Sen. Jerry Cirino, R-Kirtland and the bill’s author, said the legislation gives university presidents and trustees more authority. He added that the bill also requires trustees to attend wide-ranging training sessions that the state department of higher education will oversee.
“Trustees have embraced this,” Cirino said of the training. “Many of them have called me and met with me, and they welcome this, and they love it.”
The bill’s other related mandates include tasking trustees to develop and approve several new stances for universities, including one officially ending most DEI work and another requiring institutions to say they’ll offer what Cirino called “diversity of thought.”
Trustees will also have more direct influence over faculty members under the law. They will need to approve new policies on educators’ workloads and implement standardized performance evaluations, even though many institutions already had their own policies. SB1 overrides any related agreements universities made with faculty unions in those specific areas.
Trustees will also have to approve the elimination of academic programs with low enrollment unless they ask the state for a waiver.
The legislation also shortens the length of new trustees’ terms from nine years down to six.
