The Ohio Statehouse on Capitol Square in downtown Columbus. The capitol houses the Ohio General Assembly, which consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Credit: David Petkiewicz | cleveland.com (via TNS)
On Monday, an open letter was sent to university President Ted Carter Jr. and Ohio State’s Office of Government Affairs, demanding a formal response to seven questions regarding Ohio Senate Bill 83 by Friday.
Three days later, on Thursday, that letter — which contains signatures from 34 student organizations — was publicly published via Instagram.
Ohio Senate Bill 83, also called the Ohio Higher Education Enhancement Act, has been the subject of controversy since it was introduced in March 2023 and approved by the Ohio House Higher Education Committee in December 2023. According to a statement by Ohio Republican Sen. Jerry Cirino — the bill’s primary sponsor — one of SB-83’s provisions would “eliminate requirements for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) courses or training for students, staff or faculty.”
The open letter, which includes signatures from the Undergraduate Student Government and the Ohio Union Activities Board, calls for Carter and administrators to answer seven questions regarding on-campus diversity, equity and inclusion protections, as well as “recognize and validate the importance” of DEI programming.
“Through this statement, we condemn the lack of transparency exhibited by the university concerning policy changes that may affect the security of faculty and staff positions related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), as well as the welfare of students belonging to protected-class groups,” the letter states. “Furthermore, we condemn the suppression of discussions regarding the ongoing implications of SB-83 within the state and, consequently, throughout our university.”
The letter also states preserving DEI programming “relies heavily” on Carter’s ability to support DEI initiatives at his Wednesday statehouse testimony.
University spokesperson Ben Johnson said Carter will testify before the Ohio Senate Workforce and Higher Education Committee Wednesday as part of the capital budget process.
“We have received the letter and will respond,” Johnson said.
Alongside the letter, contributors created a petition titled “A Call for Protection of DEI at The Ohio State University,” which has exceeded its initial goal of 500 signatures. Having garnered over 530 signatures at present, the petition now has an updated goal of 1,000 signings.
As one of the letter’s contributors, Koel Shaw — a fourth-year in industrial engineering and member of both the NAACP and the National Society of Black Engineers — said he, as well as members of other on-campus student organizations, have observed several changes in clubs’ advisory staffing roles over the past few months.
Even so, Shaw said it wasn’t until roughly one month ago — when some clubs’ diversity-related scholarships were placed on hold — that the National Society of Black Engineers began establishing an official statement.
“We would try to give scholarships to our members and stuff like that and basically, because it’s a diverse [organization], we weren’t allowed to allot that money,” Shaw said. “That brought up a lot of confusion because some people rely on scholarships and stuff like that.”
For Brielle Shorter — a third-year in psychology, Ohio Student Association member and an annual recipient of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion’s Morrill Scholarship — the “complex relationship” between Ohio State and the state government is personal, she said.
“When Senate Bill 83 first appeared, I went and asked around in different OSU buildings, asked different people, made phone calls like, ‘Hey, will I be keeping my scholarship?’” Shorter said. “Nobody had a concrete answer for me. And I think that, once again, what we’re really looking for is that transparency aspect.”
Shaw said once the National Society of Black Engineers began spreading the word about what it was experiencing as an organization, a plan of action started taking shape.
Paris Thompson, a fourth-year in computer science and engineering and a member of the National Society of Black Engineers, said roughly 20 individuals from various organizations signed onto the letter. This included herself, Shaw and Shorter, all of whom were directly involved in crafting the statement.
Thompson said the letter was sent to the President’s Office and the Office of Government Affairs Monday. Though it was acknowledged as being received, there has been no official response from either party at the time of publication, as previously confirmed by Johnson.
Considering the statement’s demand for an official response by Friday, Shaw said the sense of urgency largely resulted from Carter’s upcoming testimony to the state legislature in regard to SB-83.
“The timing of this all seemed a little bit too perfect,” Shaw said. “That is definitely interesting to do something like that, where a large portion of the student body will be affected while none of us are here.”
Additionally, Shaw said participating organizations wanted to receive an answer to their questions before the testimony to ensure students’ concerns were acknowledged upfront.
“We didn’t want it to be a thing where he got to go say whatever, and then come back with a doctored, adopted response,” Shaw said. “We wanted to get some of that assurance on the front end as opposed to, ‘Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t see it.’”
Thompson said the letter’s contributing organizations have intentionally made the statement as public as possible to ensure maximum transparency across the Ohio community, even sending the message to local political leaders and prominent university alums.
Shaw said regardless of whether Ohio State issues a formal response by Friday, he and other signees will have their answer.
“They know, and they’ve seen when the deadline is, and if they choose not to address it, then I guess we will understand. That might be the transparency that we are asking for,” Shaw said. “Either way, we get a little bit more of an answer, but I guess this is one of those things that we play by ear. We’re very quick on the draw, and we’re good at adjusting, so depending on how tomorrow goes, we will see from there.”
Though SB-83 will affect all public universities in Ohio, Shorter said the impact the bill has had on Ohio State — at which she said DEI is such an integral component — makes transparency and open conservation even more important.
“I know when I was a high school senior looking at colleges, the fact that OSU is one of the most diverse colleges, I think the most diverse college in Ohio, was a huge pulling and selling point for me personally,” Shorter said. “So, not only, of course, things happening on the state level that affect colleges are really big motivators for us, but it’s also like OSU has a commitment to its own students.”
Nevertheless, Shaw said he anticipates future collaboration(s) with other public universities within Ohio.
“We plan to organize with the rest of our peers across the state as well to see how they’re feeling and also understand how their universities are dealing with a bill that hasn’t even passed yet,” Shaw said. “It’s not the last time you’ll hear from us.”
