He is the voice of experience. With a unique wisdom distilled over six decades in academia.
Vedder is:
- The Distinguished Professor of Economics at Ohio University
- A member of Governor DeWine’s Economic Roundtable
- Director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity in Washington, D.C.
- A former Congressional Joint Economic Committee staff member
- The author of numerous books and hundreds of scholarly papers
- An expert witness who testifies frequently before Congress, the European Parliament and state legislatures from Alaska to Florida.
And here is what he testified last week about my bill to reform the public institution of higher education in Ohio:
“The most important single part of Senate Bill 1 is the prohibition of DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) bureaucracies on public university campuses in Ohio.”
Why?
Because, “DEI is racist, discriminatory, and anti-merit.”
That has contributed to an even bigger problem.
“Over my academic lifetime, costs have soared, student learning has declined, and universities have increasingly abandoned their role of serving as vibrant marketplaces of ideas, instead developing discriminatory and anti-meritorious positions more reminiscent of schools in totalitarian dictatorships,” Vedder concluded.
Strong words. But entirely warranted. And my bill is designed to correct all of these issues.
DEI programs were meant to promote fairness but they have led to just the opposite. DEI causes the worst possible unfairness in a learning environment: censorship.
There is no free marketplace of ideas in academia if some ideas are forbidden.
That’s why, first and foremost, my Advance Ohio Higher Education Act will ensure the right to free speech on campus for both students and professors.
DEI put certain ideas off limits. Numerous students have told us they risk retaliation should they dare to suggest such politically incorrect notions as climate change is more theory than fact, there are only two sexes, American is not fundamentally racist, boys do not belong in girls restrooms, the president is not a fascist, etc., etc., etc.
My bill will prevent professors from punishing students with a bad grade for expressing opposing views on controversial subjects. It will restore free speech and intellectual diversity on our campuses.
Our students must learn how to think rather than what to think, and how to listen to opposing views with a respectful but critical ear.
This legislation also protects professors against the ravages of DEI and guarantees their rights to free speech. SB 1 eliminates the woke screening process in hiring and promotion decisions.
My legislation makes many more significant changes designed to reform our public education system and put it back on the path to a bright future.
Senate Bill 1:
- Bans faculty strikes so that students will not be robbed of valuable class hours
- Requires the study of American civic institutions and history
- Bans universities from taking official positions on political issues
- Provides woefully needed mandatory training for university governing boards
- Requires public disclosure of university financial plans
- Requires syllabus transparency
I am honored and gratified that the prestigious National Association of Scholars has just powerfully endorsed SB 1, saying “it will do an extraordinary amount to depoliticize Ohio’s public higher education system, strengthen intellectual diversity, and restore its accountability to Ohio policymakers and citizens.”
We are already making good progress. Senate President Rob McColley and I championed legislation that established academic centers at five of Ohio’s public universities.
We created the Institute of American Constitutional Thought and Leadership within the University of Toledo’s College of Law to better prepare law students through civil discourse and rigorous inquiry, regardless of their philosophical viewpoint.
We also created the Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society at the Ohio State University, as well as similar civic engagement centers at Miami University, Cleveland State University, and Wright State University.
But passage of Senate Bill 1 is the surest way we have to keep the promise of the American Dream alive in Ohio.
Ohio Senator Jerry C. Cirino serves the people of Senate District 18, which includes Lake county and portions of Cuyahoga county.
About the Author