COLUMBUS, Ohio—The Ohio Senate’s latest two-year state budget plan, unveiled Wednesday, includes a sweeping package of higher education reforms designed to tamp down perceived liberal bias on college campuses.
The Senate Finance Committee, which voted along party-lines to advance the massive legislation on Wednesday, added in – with slight alternations – Senate Bill 83. That bill, which passed the Senate last month but has yet to move in the House, would, among other things, outlaw the ability of college faculty and staff to strike, ban mandated diversity training, and require annual faculty performance evaluations and post-tenure reviews that include examining whether students believe they show “bias” in their teaching.