Ohio’s public colleges have continued to roll out major changes since Gov. Mike DeWine signed Senate Bill 1, the higher education overhaul bill that takes effect next month.
The legislation, officially known as the Advance Ohio Higher Education Act, requires institutions to do things they’ve never done. The long list includes making professors publicly share class syllabi online as well as developing a mandatory American civics course.
Those specific moves aren’t required until fall of 2026. Other parts of Senate Bill 1 call for more immediate actions. One of the biggest is that colleges must end all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programming by this September.
Yet many colleges are already closing DEI-related offices long before the bill becomes law on June 27.
Sara Kilpatrick, executive director of the Ohio Conference of the American Association of University Professors, said that’s concerning.
“Because of the vagueness of the bill, there are so many aspects that are open to interpretation about how colleges and universities are actually going to implement the various mandates,” she said.
Ohio University becomes latest college to close DEI office
Senate Bill 1’s call for ending all DEI work coincides with a federal ask – though no change in law – for colleges to do the same. Ohio State University leaders cited both state and federal pressures when closing the school’s DEI office back in February.
Other colleges are now following suit. Last week, Ohio University announced the closure of its DEI division. The office oversaw the university’s Multicultural Center, Pride Center and Women’s Center. Those centers offered students related programming and events.
President Lori Stewart Gonzalez specifically cited Senate Bill 1 as the motivation behind the decision.
“We must continue to ensure every person we invite to be a part of our university community finds their place here and develops connections,” she wrote in an email to OU community members. “Without forgetting that essential commitment, we must also follow the law.”
Gonzalez’s statement said current employees working in these divisions will be “given the opportunity to interview for any open university position for which they apply and meet minimum qualifications.“
That’s different from the statement Miami University issued last month. Administrators there offered all employees losing their jobs due to the closure of three DEI-related departments other jobs across campus, per the news release.
University of Toledo one of the first to cut academic majors
Senate Bill 1 also reshapes academic offerings. Its language means colleges must cut majors graduating five or fewer students annually over any three-year span.
There’s no clear deadline for when institutions need to do this. Colleges can also appeal to the Ohio Department of Higher Education for waivers to opt out.
But The University of Toledo made cuts last month. The university will end nine majors, including Africana Studies, Disability Studies, Philosophy, and Women’s and Gender Studies.
School officials told Signal Ohio they cut each program strictly due to the legislation’s new low-enrollment thresholds. None were suspended for any DEI-related reasons. New students won’t be able to enroll in these programs beginning this fall. Those already enrolled can finish their degrees.
Ohio AAUP’s Kilpatrick said Toledo’s decision is an example of institutions complying in advance, which makes leaders seem “eager to make these changes which obviously hurt students.”
She said her group’s attorney believes only future low-enrollment programs are subject to cuts, but Toledo’s administration is “choosing to interpret” this part of the bill right now.
Fewer program choices may ultimately lead to fewer students choosing to enroll at a state university, she said.
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Colleges still figuring out how to interpret Senate Bill 1
Public statements and documents show college leaders are still grappling with the legislation.
“If I’m a faculty member here, I’ve got a lot of questions, and we owe those answers back to them,” Ohio State President Ted Carter told the student news organization The Lantern in April. “Nobody’s going to come and just hand it to us in a written document. The law is the law. We’re going through the interpretation on that.”
Several universities launched websites to give updates about changes related to the bill.
That’s where Kent State posted a recent presentation administrators gave about Senate Bill 1 and its impact on academics. The presentation noted leaders don’t know when some requirements, such as tailoring faculty reviews to the law’s requirements, will begin.
One thing was consistent: Nearly every slide noted leaders are still “consulting with other Ohio universities on best practices.”
At Youngstown State University, several professors launched a statewide push to repeal the legislation. Organizers previously acknowledged it’s a long-shot effort, though the state attorney general did recently clear the group to begin collecting voter signatures in an attempt to get the measure on November’s ballot.