Ohio May Pass Comprehensive DEI Ban for Public Universities in 2025

Ohio May Pass Comprehensive DEI Ban for Public Universities in 2025

I’m guessing we will see a lot more of this in the coming year. The Trump DOJ is going to make this a special project.

Campus Reform reports:

Ohio could pass comprehensive college DEI ban in 2025

An anti-Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) bill that failed to pass the Ohio legislature in 2024 could be debated again and potentially passed next year.

Senate Bill 83, also known as the Enact Ohio Higher Education Enhancement Act, passed the Ohio Senate but was not passed by the House in this legislative session.

The bill, sponsored by Republican State Sen. Jerry Cirino, would have made the state’s public colleges and universities “[p]rohibit any mandatory programs or training courses regarding DEI,” “[a]ffirm and declare that the institution will ensure full intellectual diversity,” and “[s]eek out invited speakers who have diverse ideological and political views,” according to the Ohio Legislative Service Commission.

It would also have stopped schools from forcing students and professors to support “a given ideology, political stance, or view of a social policy” and ban forced “diversity statements,” among other comprehensive changes.

The bill previously triggered opposition from students who support DEI.

Though the Ohio House Speaker, Republican Jason Stephens, refused to schedule a vote on the bill, Sirino expressed hope for the next legislative session, wrote the Cincinnati Enquirer.

“I’m feeling very good that if we have to go to the next GA (two-year legislative session), that we will have broad support in the Senate and the House for this important higher education reform bill. . . . Some people who have opposed it may wish that they supported 83 in this GA versus the version of the bill that may come out next year,” Cirino said, according to the Enquirer.

Cirino is also considering potentially going a step further by instituting a blanket DEI ban in the next version of the bill, the Enquirer noted.

Cirino told Campus Reform he is “extremely confident that the bill will be passed” in 2025, stating that “we know we have the votes to pass it.”

He added that the bill covers other matters besides just DEI, saying it “relates to taking great care on dealing with the relationship with Communist China affecting intellectual property, [includes] a post tenure review processes, [and] has to do with annual performance review for faculty Members.”

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