For the referendum to move forward, petitioners must get signatures from registered voters in at least 44 of Ohio’s counties. In each of those counties, the number of valid signatures must be at least 3% of the total votes cast for governor in the last gubernatorial election. Statewide, the total number of valid signatures must be 6% of the same vote total.
The referendum would repeal Senate Bill 1, which Gov. Mike DeWine signed into law on March 28.
The law, also known as the Advance Ohio Higher Education Act, banned DEI initiatives on public college campuses and forced current initiatives to close. The law does not define what is considered a DEI initiative.
It automatically eliminates degree programs that award fewer than five degrees per year on a three-year rolling average.
It also requires universities to declare they will not “encourage, discourage, require or forbid students, faculty or administrators to endorse, assent to or publicly express a given ideology, political stance, or view of a social policy, nor will the institution require students to do any of those things to obtain an undergraduate or post-graduate degree.”
Other provisions include requiring students to take a state-designed American civics or history class to receive a bachelor’s degree; requiring training for university trustees; reducing trustee terms from nine to six years; and prohibiting full-time university faculty from striking.
The law also allows the state to withhold funds from colleges that don’t comply.
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