An Ohio state lawmaker introduced a bill to reform higher education by increasing course transparency, ending diversity mandates and cutting ties with Chinese institutions, according to its text.
Republican Ohio state Sen. Jerry Cirino introduced the Higher Education Enhancement Act on Wednesday. The bill includes a slew of systemic reforms on campus to bolster free speech protections, end mandatory Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) trainings and statements, publicize course syllabi and sever academic and financial ties to China. (RELATED: Yet Another Red State Could Be Set To Ban CRT In Public Schools)
“I believe it’s important to keep Ohio’s higher education institutions from going off on a tangent, which they’ve already started to do … in losing their focus on what their mission ought to be, and that is true diversity of thought being taught on campuses and actual freedom of speech and academic freedoms for everybody to have on all sides of issues,” Cirino told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The bill orders the Chancellor of Higher Education to withhold state funding from universities that do not promise not to mandate DEI training for faculty and students or utilize a “political and ideological litmus test” in admissions or hiring. It also requires universities to commit to protecting freedom of speech and intellectual diversity.