President Lori Stewart Gonzalez said the university is obligated to comply if Ohio Senate Bill 1 passes in the Ohio House of Representatives this month.
Failure would jeopardize funding at the state level and possibly federal funding for financial aid, Gonzalez said at a Faculty Senate meeting Monday.
The bill, referred to as the Advance Ohio Higher Education Act, seeks to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs at public universities and colleges.
If the bill passes in the House as expected, Gov. Mike DeWine has to sign it within 10 days. If an emergency clause is created and passed, the bill goes into effect immediately upon signing. Without an emergency clause in the bill, institutions have a 90-day grace period to comply with the new regulations, Gonzalez said.
“What will we do when it passes is we will talk about what changes we will be making on campus,” Gonzalez said. “I was of the mindset that we will do something when we are compelled to do it, and so that’s why we haven’t seen a lot of changes on our campus for that.”
Faculty Senate deliberated on a draft resolution defining what DEI means to OU educators and making a statement urging legislators to reconsider SB1. Creating a special committee pertaining to the resolution, they invited willing Senate members to hold an emergency meeting.
The committee intends to meet by Friday for other faculty to review before a vote to certify the resolution.
Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, nursing, public health, arts, social work and journalism programs at OU all have pillars based on DEI which are required for accreditation, according to Leanne Chrisman-Khawam, an HCOM assistant professor of social medicine at OU’s Cleveland campus.
“It’s almost imperative for educators to lead,” Chrisman-Khawam said. “It has always been the case that academics—the physicians, the professors, the artists—have always been the ones who push back against tyranny.”
Executive Vice President and Provost Don Leo said SB1 does not limit what can be taught in the classroom and focuses primarily on university-level programming.
“It's our hope that nothing occurs in the future that would inhibit a faculty member’s academic freedom,” Leo said.
Gonzalez defined academic freedom as being free to impart the disciplinary knowledge necessary for students to meet course objectives in any way they choose.
“Right now, when they talk about freedom of expression and academic freedom, those are still values that are being upheld, and that’s the line in the sand for us,” Gonzalez said. “Keep in mind what academic freedom means.”
Leo said some faculty have not received their ballots from the State Employee Relations Board to vote on a resolution to form a union. Ballots can be submitted one week later, postmarked by March 11. The tally will still begin March 24, and the election result certification will take place April 17.
Teaching and Learning Technologies Senior Director Eszti Major-Rohrer and IT Product Manager Lindsey Ward said this semester is the final term courses will automatically be loaded to both Canvas and Blackboard platforms. Currently, 93% of courses at OU use Canvas exclusively, Ward said.
The Senate also deferred the task of producing a standardized protocol to handle situations of student medical emergencies during final exams to the Vice President of Student Affairs.
