What to do about ICE or other federal agents coming to your class
Faculty should send any ICE or other federal agent to the Office of General Counsel for guidance. Faculty are not to give information to ICE or other federal agents directly. You are not required to speak to them other than to send them to General Counsel. This information comes from the University.
We have no way of tracking the immigration status of any of our students. We do not keep records on that. You can tell that to an ICE agent: “I don’t know; we don’t track immigration status.”
SB83 Returns
as SB 1
An extremist effort to take over higher education. Here are the details!
Status as of March 1: SB1 passed the Senate on Feb. 12. Introduced to the House Workforce and Higher Education with the first hearing scheduled for Tuesday, March 4. Public testimony has not yet been announced.
Resource List
- Senate Bill 1 —
- Bill as passed by the Senate on Feb. 12.
- Includes minor revisions from the original bill.
- Legislation page
- Bill as passed by the Senate on Feb. 12.
- Bill synopsis:
- SB1 Testimony already submitted
- 1,004 opposed to 14 in favor as of March 1.
- Ohio Legislation tracking
- Statehouse News Outlets
- Statehouse Advocacy Organizations
- Ohio Student Association for student organizing.
The issues with SB1
What is in SB 1? Here is a synopsis of the bills, grouped by issue with page numbers so that you can read it yourself!
- SB1 = SB83+unfunded mandates: The new bills are nearly identical to SB 83 with extra mandates added. There are 25 issue areas in the bills including:
- Faculty strikes banned and prohibited subjects for bargaining: The bill would not only prohibit faculty from striking, but inserts language on course load policies, post-tenure review, retrenchment, and evaluations — then prohibits them as topics we can even bargain on!
- Complete ban on DEI: All diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) activities, including scholarships, would all be prohibited. The bill not only prohibits renaming programs, but requires snitching and discipline if anyone continues DEI practices.
- Intellectual diversity: The bills contain contradictory and confusing language about ensuring “intellectual diversity,” which raises serious academic freedom concerns and would open faculty to unsubstantiated complaints.
- Retrenchment: The bills retain overly broad definitions of retrenchment, which would allow for retrenchment to be invoked at nearly any time.
SB1 Timeline/Status
Leaders in both chambers have the legislation on the fast-track to minimize potential opposition.
- Introduced Jan. 22 by State Senator Jerry Cirino (R-Kirtland). A companion bill was introduced in the house, but is on hold as SB1 passed in the senate.
- Senate passes SB1:
- Higher Ed Committee voted the bill out of committee Wednesday, Feb. 12, at 9 am.
- SB6 Passed the Senate 21-11 later that day with all 9 Democrats and 2 Republicans voting against.
- First House hearing announced for March 4.
- Only testimony scheduled for first hearing is from the bill sponsor. Committee Chair Rep. Tom Young continues to be cagey on when public testimony will begin.
Take Action
on SB1 Now!
Make Calls!
Regardless of party affiliation, now is the time to reach out to your state representative. They need to hear from their constituents that SB 1 will harm higher education and its economic impact on Ohio.
Email!
E-mail House members: Use this easy online form to send messages to all state legislators asking them to vote no on the bills. We need to contact all legislators immediately given the bill’s quick timeline. Now updated with House members!
E-mail Gov. DeWine to veto: Due to the bill’s fast-track nature, we need to ask the governor to veto the bill now. We believe the governor understands the importance of a higher education system that maintains integrity.
Give Testimony!
House Testimony: Rep. Young has stated they will have very limited oral testimony. We can flood them with written testimony once a deadline is announced. The window for submission will be extremely brief so have yours ready in advance!
Write an op-ed against SB1: Consider writing an op-ed to regional media about the ways this bill will hurt Miami and your classroom. You can also point out that the legislators who are pushing this bill once again have failed to listen to the overwhelming opposition from stakeholder groups and the broader public.
Testimony resources
- Testimony toolkit and template from Honesty For Ohio Education
- Testimony Witness slip (will update for HB6)
- Complete this document and email it to the committee chair along with your testimony!
- Where to find testimonies after a committee hearing
- SB6 Testimony submitted
- Recent Senate Higher Educ. Committee Hearings
- Recent House Workforce and HIgher Ed Committee Hearings
- How to pull video clips from OhioChannel.org
Please stay engaged as this process unfolds, and do what you can to aid our efforts. Thank you!