CINCINNATI — Education advocates were out in the Cincinnati streets Monday trying to push back against Senate Bill 1 (SB 1), which would ban diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in state colleges and universities.
"It is a way to erode public higher education in Ohio. So the bill is designed to eliminate programs and services that are based on identity groups," said Kate Durso, the southwest regional captain advocating against SB 1.
SB 1, or the "Ohio Higher Education Act," was signed into law by Gov. Mike DeWine on March 28. The law goes into effect on June 27.
The law bans DEI from trainings, orientations, offices, positions or new institutional scholarships at state colleges or universities. Other policies in the Ohio Higher Education Act include a required American civics literacy course, prohibiting full-time university faculty from striking and automatically eliminating any university degree program that awards fewer than five degrees per year on a three-year rolling average.
SB 1's text states that the law is meant to support "intellectual diversity" at state colleges and universities.
In February, WCPO 9 reported on SB 1 after the state's Senate passed the legislation. One Republican senator explained why supporters are cracking down on DEI on college campuses.
“Rather than fostering equality, DEI enforces racial divisions, prioritizes group identity over individual merit and creates (the) very discrimination it claims to be fighting,” said state Sen. Andrew Brenner (R-District 19).
Watch to learn more about how advocates are challenging SB 1 and what it means for Ohio's higher education landscape:
An excerpt from SB 1 describes how teachers are expected to enable free thought and discussion under this legislation:
"Affirm and declare that faculty and staff shall allow and encourage students to reach their own conclusions about all controversial beliefs or policies and shall not seek to indoctrinate any social, political, or religious point of view;"
I met with Kate Durso and her team of volunteers, who disagree with the lawmakers behind SB 1.
“I would say that this bill, in fact, does not promote more inclusive conversation. It actually creates boundaries and barriers against civil discourse," Durso said.
A member of Durso's volunteer team told me that SB 1 is pushing her away from her home state.
“Yeah, I graduated from UC, University of Cincinnati, in 2023, and I'm pursuing law school now. And this bill, SB 1, was one of the reasons that I’m not staying in my hometown of Cincinnati for law school; it just scares me too much," Erin Tedtman said.
Now, she is one of the local advocates in an initiative to move the law to a ballot issue this fall.
Advocates sent a referendum petition to Attorney General Dave Yost's office in April. That process required 1,000 signatures. Once the AG's office approved the first part of the referendum, the volunteers' efforts expanded. The volunteers have to collect 250,000 signatures across at least 44 of Ohio's 88 counties, as Durso explained. Their deadline is June 25.
"We need to hit a certain percentage within each of those counties based on the 2022 gubernatorial election," Durso said.
The volunteer captain said that her team and others across Ohio are trying for as many signatures as possible, because some may be marked invalid, which could occur even with a slight mistake.
"If someone accidentally writes their first and last name in the same box instead of following the directions on the form or includes the wrong address," Durso said.
As a lifelong educator, Durso told me this is her way of advocating for students and staff she works with.
