Since its proposal, Senate Bill 83 and House Bill 151 have sparked controversy on how they would impact education at Ohio universities.

   The bills include changes aimed to end mandated diversity trainings, bans on partnerships with Chinese institutions, prohibitions on faculty unions that striked during contract negotiations, and new evaluations for students to rate their professors on how efficiently they’ve removed bias from their classrooms, according to the Columbus Dispatch.

   Recently, university employees have debated the value of the bills and if they are practical in enhancing student learning opportunities. 

   In a NBC4 broadcast report, Senate Bill 83, also known as the Ohio Higher Education Act, was described as “a state-level overreach into higher education, into a really diverse range of higher ed institutions,” by Ohio State history professor Christopher McKnight Nichols. 

   In the same broadcast, representative Josh Williams who is sponsoring the House bill said the bill will allow students to have alternative viewpoints. 

   If the bill were to be implemented, many Ohio universities would have to adapt to its new regulations. In a Columbus Dispatch article, statistics are provided to help clarify the drastic changes the bill would create. 

   These numbers include the 27 unions that represent Ohio faculty members that would be affected by the proposed language in Senate Bill 83 which barred campus employees from striking when they negotiate their contracts with the administration. Others consist of the 11 Ohio public colleges and universities in current partnership with Chinese institutions. There is the $2.2 million in federal funds that could be lost due to the ban on partnerships between Ohio public colleges and Chinese Institutions, and, beginning with the Class of 2027, Ohio’s public colleges would have to implement a three-credit hour American government or American history course requirement for all students who seek an associate’s or bachelor’s degree.