Sandra Macpherson (front left), associate professor of English at Ohio State, watches the Higher Education Committee's opposition hearing for Senate Bill 1 in an overflow room Tuesday. Credit: Daniel Bush | Lantern Photographer
The Ohio Senate heard hours of opposition testimony Tuesday over Senate Bill 1 — or the “Enact Advance Ohio Education Act” — which would most prominently eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs and ban faculty striking in an attempt to improve public higher education.
Students and professors from Ohio’s various public institutions of higher education, including Ohio State, gathered at the Statehouse to formally voice their concerns about the legislation. Around 210 people waited to give testimony against the bill.
SB 1 is expected to see a Senate Higher Education Committee vote Wednesday morning, according to the Ohio Capital Journal. If the bill passes through the committee, it may go to the full Ohio Senate Wednesday afternoon.
Redeat Getachew, an Ohio State second-year in political science, said she submitted written testimony in advance of Tuesday’s Statehouse gathering, but still attended the event to support those delivering testimony in person.
“I’m an out-of-state student, and I know that when I was looking for colleges to apply to, I was really looking for good education, good professors, and OSU provided that,” Getachew said. “And a Senate bill like this is definitely gonna deter a lot of students from applying and deter them from coming into Ohio. And then, especially in-state students — why would they apply to OSU when it’s not giving them the best education that is available? And they would move out of state, and that would just worsen Ohio’s economy.”
Pedro Pereira, an Ohio State associate professor of Portuguese and Iberian studies, said he wanted to testify against SB 1 because it would contribute to the “erosion of tenure” in higher education and subject faculty to a greater degree of surveillance.
In addition, Pereira said he feels the bill would make teaching more difficult, as topics like race and gender could no longer be freely discussed in the classroom.
“This is an unconscionable bill that, if passed into law, will ensure that faculty and students will not look to Ohio as a possible state to live, and to study and to have meaningful academic careers,” Pereira said.
Maya Dunson, a first-year medical student at the Ohio State College of Medicine, said she came to the Statehouse to testify in front of the Senate because of the bill’s potential impact on the medical field.
“[SB 1] kind of puts censorship on our professors and our instructors,” Dunson said. “So, how can we talk about controversial topics — as they call it — such as racism, sexism, abortion, climate change, that have direct impacts [on] our medical treatment, medical care, medical teams? And how can we not talk about those things, which can lead to a detrimental impact for our patients?”
Jill Galvan, an Ohio State associate professor of English, said she believes it is “alarming” SB 1 was the first piece of legislation brought forth by the Ohio Senate in 2025, and she believes “nobody wants this bill.”
“[SB 1] seems like it is really trying to remake education to tell particular, very strict narratives and calling that ‘intellectual diversity,’” Galvan said. “And that, to me, is really troubling. It seems self-contradictory.”
