In 2025, Senate Finance chair Jerry Cirino (R-Kirtland) got legislation passed, dramatically changing higher ed.
Ohio bill would defund public universities for promoting DEI
S.B. 1 focuses on what Cirino calls “free speech,” banning public universities in Ohio from Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives, having “bias” in the classroom and limiting how “controversial topics” can and can’t be taught. “Controversial” under Ohio law includes “belief policy that is the subject of political controversy, including issues such as climate policies, electoral politics, foreign policy, diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, immigration policy, marriage, or abortion.”
A free speech education bans talking about controversal topics? Totally free speech right there. The subtle bit of speech this conveniently ignores is the speech opportunity that is being denied to the students in abstaining from attending the demonization of DEI, climate policies, electoral politics, foreign policy, diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, immigration policy, marriage, or abortion.
What really gets me is that marriage is controversial now? What marriage stuff is controversial? Oh, right. Being against marriage equality is a hill they’re wanting to die on.
No chance they’d talk about Regan sending the national guard to kill protesters of the Vietnam war?
Hm, that’s weird, because the conservatives in things like the Seven Mountain Mandate would be quite happy with forced attendance of the “right” churches, too. Weird how that works. Words like “freedom” and “liberty” and the Constitution mean very different things to wingers. In their view, the Constitution was written to create a xtian nation, and people being free to ignore all their bullshit and xtians being treated just like any other religion is absolute tyranny. Same goes for all their views on everything “woke”. If normal people were able to ignore them as the crazies they are, they view that as oppression. They are only “free” if the government is there to indoctrinate ridiculous absurd conservative dogma onto everyone else, under the threat of violence if needed.
I can remember when lots of Tone Police/Murc’s Law dumbasses would come riding into just about every conversation to declare it’s “both sides” that are “just as bad”.
Oh, wait, never mind, many of them are still doing this kind of stuff…no matter how awful the conservatives get, there is always a certain type of person waiting to come in and remind everyone that Democrats are just as bad, and they allowed this, etc…