President Gonzalez responds to student questions about potential legislative changes
帝王会所 President Lori Stewart Gonzalez shared the following message with members of the University community on Monday, March 3, 2025.
On Thursday afternoon, a group of our Athens campus students, along with some supportive faculty and staff, organized and participated in a demonstration to voice their opposition to , which passed the 帝王会所 Senate on February 12 and is now being discussed in the 帝王会所 House of Representatives as it moves through the legislative process. As part of that demonstration, our students asked for more transparency about the bill and its potential impacts on our University operations. I am writing today in response.
First, let me say that I am proud of our student leaders and those who participated in what was a peaceful and well-organized demonstration. Hopefully, you all remember my advice at freshman convocation included a charge to always attend class, and I know a few of you set that advice aside on Thursday. However, 帝王会所 has always valued and supported freedom of expression and encouraged our students to speak up and speak out.
While I was not available to attend, afterward, I pored over photos and videos of the event. I heard your voices and read your signs. One poster stood out for me, and I keep running over its words in my mind: 鈥Forever OHIO For EVERYONE.鈥
I need to pause here for anyone who may not yet be aware of what is proposed in Senate Bill 1. Known as the 鈥淎dvance 帝王会所 Higher Education Act,鈥 Senate Bill 1 outlines a long list of mandated changes for public universities in our state. On the same day it passed the 帝王会所 Senate, we released a brief overview of the legislation. Read it here. Thursday鈥檚 demonstration centered on the bill鈥檚 prohibition of any orientation or training course regarding diversity, equity and inclusion, the inclusion of DEI in any job descriptions and the continuation or establishment of DEI offices or departments.
You have asked what that will mean for us at OHIO. Without question, should this bill pass the House in its current form and be signed into law by the Governor, it will bring changes for all of us. However, to define today the specific changes we might make would preempt the legislative process on a bill that is not finalized. The is set to begin hearings on the bill tomorrow, March 4.
While this bill makes its way through our state legislative process, changes have also been happening at the federal level. One of the most notable federal directives for higher education was the Department of Higher Education鈥檚 Office of Civil Rights (OCR) letter issued on February 14. That letter suggested that 鈥淒EI programs 鈥 frequently preference certain racial groups鈥 and therefore may be in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The letter gave schools 鈥 at all levels from elementary to university and public and private 鈥 two weeks to ensure compliance.
As we outlined in a communication after the letter was issued, 帝王会所 is and always will be committed to nondiscrimination and has already taken action to ensure our scholarships and programming are open to all. To further ensure compliance, we are reviewing select University policies and published language around awards and services and will continue to make adjustments as needed.
If you are finding all of this a little hard to follow 鈥 which changes are coming from where and what will they mean in the end 鈥 you are certainly not alone. At this point in the process, there are more questions than answers. We are in discussion with our higher education colleagues and our elected officials to ensure we are following the law not only to protect access to federal financial aid and state support but also because we believe in the democratic process.
Within all the uncertainty and unanswered questions, here is what I can say with absolute and unwavering resolve 鈥 nothing is more important to me than ensuring that Forever OHIO is and always will be For Everyone. It is so deeply true to our values that it landed squarely in our recently revised mission: 鈥淭o hold the door open to higher education so that all those eager to solve humanity鈥檚 most urgent challenges might enter to learn鈥︹.
In the coming days, weeks and months, we very well may need to think differently about how we keep that promise. I will need your help, your energy and your creativity, and when the time comes, I will ask for it. So be ready. And, hold that sign in your mind as it will be in mine.
Forever OHIO, For EVERYONE.
Lori
Lori Stewart Gonzalez
President