OH Deems Marriage ’Controversial Belief’ Colleges Can’t Endorse
In late March, Ohio governor Mike DeWine signed a law that prohibits higher education institutions from endorsing or opposing marriage, designating it as a “controversial belief.” This legislation is part of the Enact Advance Ohio Higher Education Act,aimed at improving ideological diversity and eliminating perceived discriminatory practices in universities. According to the new law, educational institutions are also restricted from expressing support or condemnation regarding various topics, including climate policies, electoral politics, and abortion.
However, universities can bypass these restrictions if doing so woudl directly affect their funding or mission. The law’s provisions require faculty and staff to refrain from promoting specific social,political,or religious views,instead encouraging students to form their own opinions on contentious topics. Governor dewine has expressed willingness to reevaluate the law if it does not achieve its intended outcomes, following concerns about its potential negative impact on higher education in the state.
Higher education institutions in Ohio are barred from taking a stance on marriage after Republican Gov. Mike DeWine signed a law at the end of March deeming belief in the legal and religious union as “controversial.”
Republicans billed the Enact Advance Ohio Higher Education Act as the best way to eliminate universities’ racist admission and hiring practices and expand ideological diversity by explicitly outlawing “political and ideological litmus tests” and requiring schools commit to “seek[ing] out invited speakers who have diverse ideological or political views.”
The law also, however, requires institutions to declare they will not “endorse or oppose” “controversial beliefs,” including marriage. Other topics deemed off-limits for institutional support or condemnation include “climate policies,” “electoral politics,” “foreign policy,” “diversity, equity, and inclusion programs,” “immigration policy,” and “abortion.”
Universities are permitted to circumvent the ban if they will “directly impact the institution’s funding or mission of discovery, improvement, and dissemination of knowledge.”
“The institution may also endorse the congress of the United States when it establishes a state of armed hostility against a foreign power,” the law clarifies. “This division does not include the recognition of national and state holidays, support for the Constitution and laws of the United States or the state of Ohio, or the display of the American or Ohio flag.”
The law also demands that higher education faculty and staff “shall not seek to indoctrinate any
social, political, or religious point of view.” Instead, professors and other university employees must “allow and encourage students to reach their own conclusions about all controversial beliefs or policies.”
DeWine, in response to concerns at the Columbus Metropolitan Club last week that the law will “hurt higher ed in Ohio,” signaled an openness to reevaluating the law if it “didn’t turn out the way we wanted to.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time that something gets passed and everybody looks at it six months later or a year later and says, hey that wasn’t what we intended, or, it didn’t turn out the way we wanted it to,” DeWine said. “I think with any bill, you’re always open, and I think as a state, we should always be open to reexamining everything.”
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