Ohio Senate Bill 1, which took effect in June 2025, has brought significant changes to the state’s public colleges and universities. The law, aimed at combating what Republican lawmakers saw as a “woke” culture, has ended most diversity, equity, and inclusion work and stripped faculty members’ right to strike. It has also instituted new policies and procedures, affecting the daily professional lives of the 106,000 employees working across Ohio’s public campuses.
Impact on Professors
More than a dozen faculty and students from institutions across Ohio shared their experiences with the law, describing how it has transformed their jobs. They mentioned implementing new approaches to research, watching colleagues “quietly disengage,” and navigating rules that remain unclear. For example, Nick Denton, a senior lecturer at Ohio State University, had to stop his work on a diversity, equity, and inclusion task force, which included identifying roadblocks that prevented students from completing their classes.
Dayton’s Wright State University is cutting 15 academic programs as part of the law’s requirement to end offerings that enroll and graduate few students. This has resulted in job losses, including that of Kevin Lorson, an award-winning professor and coordinator of the health and physical education program, who left the state to find a new position at Mississippi State University.
Concerns and Changes
Concerns over waves of faculty resignations were among the loudest concerns coming from the legislation’s critics. Linda Quinn, who heads up the faculty union at Cleveland State University, said that at least two educators recently resigned for other opportunities “largely due to the LGBTQ climate.” The law seems to still be lingering over the campus and its culture.
David Niven, a professor at the University of Cincinnati’s School of Public and International Affairs, mentioned that the law delays how long it takes new classes to get proposed and approved, as it’s difficult to prove whether a course is demonstrating “intellectual diversity,” one of the law’s requirements.
More changes are coming under the law, including the requirement for faculty to publicly post their syllabi beginning this fall. Students graduating in spring 2030 and beyond will need to take a new American civics course. Additionally, Republican lawmakers introduced enforcement legislation that would further tie institutions’ funding to their compliance with the law.
Original reporting: Signal Akron — read the source article.
