Ohio bill would broaden power of university civics center directors

Dive Brief:

Ohio state Sen. Jerry Cirino, a Republican, introduced a bill Wednesday that would give directors of five state-created civics centers at public universities more power to oversee and develop curriculum and cement their authority to decide on all internal faculty matters — including hiring and tenure.
The proposal would also require universities to “provide adequate annual financial resources to the center to achieve its mission” — a sum that would be determined by each center director. 
Additionally, the bill gives the Ohio Civics Board — a body created last year through legislation that is composed of the civics center directors — the sole authority over American civics literacy courses required at the state’s public universities, including their faculty and content.

Dive Insight:

Ohio’s academic civics centers join a growing number of similar institutions created via lawmaking by Republican-led governments in other states, such as Florida, Texas and North Carolina. Some of those have seen their power increase through further legislation. In Iowa, for example, a recent law mandates that public university students take civics courses designated or created by their civics centers starting in 2028.

Many faculty have opposed the civics centers. The Ohio State University chapter of the American Association of University Professors has said that such centers have “contradicted and repressed norms of shared governance” and OSU’s civics center “represents an unprecedented level of intrusion into Ohio higher education.” 

Ohio Republicans have so far been successful in creating and increasing the power of the state’s civics centers. Senate Bill 461 would further empower their directors, which the AAUP said last year already had the “authority to circumvent OSU policy.” 

A press release from Cirino said SB 461 aims to “close loopholes that were used to limit the intended authority of center directors.” As written, the bill would give tremendous power to those directors to shape curriculum and the centers’ faculty makeup and promotion.

Civic center directors are chosen by university presidents among candidates selected by the center’s academic councils, subject to the approval of university boards of trustees. Membership on the centers’ academic councils must be approved by the Ohio Senate.

If passed, SB 461 would give those directors “sole and exclusive authority over all aspects of American civic literacy courses” beginning in the 2027-28 academic year. Each director would also have sole discretion for determining if their center’s courses meet university general education requirements.

When it comes to the center’s faculty, the director would have the power to decide their salaries, tenure and ranks. 

The centers themselves would be given “all the rights and privileges of an independent college of the university” under SB 461.

In 2023, Ohio legislation passed mostly by Republicans created the five centers at Ohio State University, Cleveland State University, Wright State University, the University of Toledo and Miami University. 

The centers are charged with expanding “intellectual diversity” — often used to mean increasing conservative representation — at the state’s universities. They are also tasked with teaching the “principles, ideals, and institutions of the American constitutional order.”