Ohio Sen. Jerry Cirino delivered a clear message to the state’s colleges and universities: Get ready to implement and enforce Senate Bill 1, the higher education overhaul legislation he authored that’s now law.
“We’re not kidding around,” he told the City Club of Cleveland Thursday. “This law will not be ignored.”
Some of the changes the legislation requires includes ending diversity, equity and inclusion (or DEI) programming at college campuses, requiring an American civics course for graduation, and axing faculty members’ right to strike. The bill also requires faculty to publicly post their syllabi online.
Cirino used his address to rebuke many of the criticisms the bill faced as it made its way through the Statehouse earlier this year. He disputed that it was anti-union or that it discriminates, as some critics charged. Later, he chided his critics, asking rhetorically how can a bill “that calls for color blindness be racist.”
He also claimed the bill was needed because of what he said is an uptick in liberal-leaning faculty. He attacked the American Civil Liberties Union, whose staffers, he said, “believe that the status quo is absolutely just fine.”
The senator added he’s spoken with “just about every president and many of the provosts” at the state’s universities and community colleges. He said those leaders are already working on implementing changes before the law officially goes into effect June 27.
Cirino’s City Club address met with protestors against Senate Bill 1
One of the roughly 50 protestors gathered outside of the City Club ahead of Cirino’s address was Youngstown State University public affairs and politics professor Cryshanna Jackson Leftwich.
“This bill was something that they put together,” she said of lawmakers. “They did not listen to amendments that we recommended. They did not listen to viable solutions.”
She’s one of the union members leading a statewide effort to challenge the law.
Jackson Leftwich called it an “underdog fight,” but said she wants there to be more communication and collaboration.
This group knows it’s a longshot, per an email shared with supporters this week. They need to quickly collect a minimum of 1,000 signatures to move the effort ahead.
