Group aims to stop controversial law banning DEI at Ohio’s universities before it takes effect

COLUMBUS, OH (WCMH) — A controversial law that would ban DEI at Ohio’s universities is scheduled to go into effect this week — unless a grassroots movement begun by Ohio professors can stop it.

“Unfortunately, given how bad this bill is for faculty, students, and higher education in general, this was our only option,” Mark Vopat, president of Youngstown State’s faculty union, said.

Vopat is one of three professors at Youngstown State University driving a state-wide volunteer effort to pause Senate Bill 1 until voters can decide whether or not to pass it in November. Vopat and his colleagues are racing a June 26 deadline to complete the referendum process, which requires collecting 250,000 signatures and submitting them to the state before S.B. 1 goes into effect on Friday. This past weekend marked the final major push for signatures.

Senate Bill 1 will ban diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at Ohio’s public universities, and limit faculty union powers. Ohio allows laws to be challenged in the 90 days before they take effect, and Vopat said it seemed that was the only option. See previous coverage in the video player above.

“It was clear that the 1,500 instances of opposition testimony, hundreds of in-person testimony, and thousands of people protesting resulted in no changes to the bill,” he said.

To get on the ballot, they must collect 248,092 valid signatures from Ohio voters — equal to 6% of participants in the last gubernatorial election. They must also collect as many signatures as equal to 3% of the last gubernatorial vote in 44 of 88 counties. However, training materials for the effort’s petition circulators said the group is hoping for at least 425,000 signatures, as they expect not all signatures will be considered valid.

Vopat said this last weekend marked the final push for petition drives, adding the “No Kings” protests, Pride events and Juneteenth events were especially productive for getting signatures. He said although there may be some targeted breakout petition events this week, widespread collection will end by Monday to have time to prepare the submission to the state.

The group is entirely made up of volunteers. In early May, Vopat and his colleagues created the Labor Education And Diversity Ohio PAC to fund the printing of petitions, but said they initially paid out of pocket for materials and a website.

Vopat said the hard work is important to stop the bill from going into effect, and to prevent similar bills in the future.

“We want to stop the government in its steps before its attacks reach K-12 and other unions,” the effort’s website said. “What happens to higher education is going to roll down to K-12 and outward to other labor unions.”

Vopat said the anti-DEI provisions in S.B. 1 harm everyone, from eliminating sensitivity training to support veterans to creating a “chilling effect” toward what can be taught in the classroom. He also said the law’s mandatory civic education course is an overstep and a dangerous precedent, saying it was the first time he can recall the state mandating both a course and the content taught in it. Provisions like these make the group think the measure could reasonably fail at the ballot.

This week, the group will gather its signatures so they can be submitted to the state for review. Vopat said Attorney General Dave Yost gave them until June 26 to submit the petition, one day later than they had originally thought. If the signatures are verified by the Secretary of State, it will go to the Ohio Ballot Board to place on the Nov. 4 ballot.