UPDATE
SB 117 was adopted into the 2024-25 State Operating Budget
on July 4, 2023.
SENATE BILL 117
Summary of Senate Bill 117
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SPONSOR(S)
Sen. Jerry Cirino (District 18) Sen. Rob McColley (District 1) TARGETS Ohio State University and the University of Toledo Academic freedom in higher education DESCRIPTION Creates a center dedicated to "intellectual diversity" at Ohio State University, University of Toledo, Miami University, Cleveland State University, University of Cincinnati |
COMMITTEE
Senate Workforce and Higher Education Committee INTRODUCED May 3, 2023 BILL General Info | As-Written | Analysis |
What does Senate Bill 117 do?
Establishes the “Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society” at Ohio State University
The center is charged with:
The center must offer “instruction” on the following topics:
The center must be led by an academic council:
The board of trustees must further “conduct a nationwide search for the director of the center” in order to submit a list of finalists to the university president
Establishes the “Institute of American Constitutional Thought and Leadership” at the University of Toledo, located in the UT College of Law
The center is charged with:
The center must be led by an academic council and a director:
Other centers for civics, culture, and society
Instructional requirements for additional centers
Each center must offer instruction in:
Each Center must focus on offering university-wide programming related to the values of free speech and civil discourse as well as expanding the intellectual diversity of the university’s academic community.
Grants each Center the authority to offer courses and develop certificate, minor, and major programs as well as graduate programs, and offer degrees.
Academic council for additional centers
University board of trustees must appoint, with the advice and consent of the Senate, a seven-member Center academic council by December 31, 2023. An initial member cannot begin service until confirmation by the Senate. Four members constitute a quorum.
The academic council must be comprised of scholars with relevant expertise and experience. Not more than one member of the council may be an employee of the university. Best efforts must be made to have no fewer than three members from Ohio.
The term length for initial members of the academic council. Three members of the council are required to serve initial terms of two years and four members are required to serve initial terms of four years. Members must determine which members will serve which terms at its first meeting and select replacements for vacant seats as needed.
Director search and responsibilities
The academic council must conduct a nationwide search for candidates for the director of each Center. The search must adhere to all relevant state and federal laws. The academic council must submit a list of finalists to the university president, from which the president must select and appoint a director. This appointment is subject to the approval of the board of trustees. Future directors must be chosen in the same manner.
Upon appointment, the director of a Center will have the protection of tenure or tenure eligibility. The director must consult with the Dean of the College of Public Affairs; however, the director must report directly to the provost or the president.
The director of each center has the sole and exclusive authority to manage the recruitment and hiring process and to extend offers for employment for all faculty and staff, as well as to terminate the employment of all staff of the Center. The director also must oversee, develop, and approve of the Center’s curriculum.
The director must submit an annual report to the board of trustees and the General Assembly. The report must provide a full account of the Center’s achievements, opportunities, challenges, and obstacles in the development of the academic unit.
Faculty
- “The center shall conduct teaching and research in the historical ideas, traditions, and texts that have shaped the American constitutional order and society”
- The center shall be “an independent academic unit with the authority to house tenure-track faculty” with “not fewer than fifteen tenure-track faculty positions”
The center is charged with:
- Educating students “by means of free, open, and rigorous intellectual inquiry to seek the truth”
- Equipping students to “reach their own informed conclusions on matters of social and political importance”
- Affirming “the value of intellectual diversity in higher education”
- Respecting “the intellectual freedom of each member”
- “Expanding the intellectual diversity of the university's academic community”
- Developing "certificate, minor, and major programs as well as graduate programs”
The center must offer “instruction” on the following topics:
- “The books and major debates which form the intellectual foundation of free societies, especially that of the United States”
- “The principles, ideals, and institutions of the American constitutional order”
- “The foundations of responsible leadership and informed citizenship”
- “University-wide programming related to the values of free speech and civil discourse”
The center must be led by an academic council:
- The Ohio State University board of trustees must appoint “with the advice and consent of the Senate a seven-member Chase Center academic council”
- The council “shall be comprised of scholars with relevant expertise and experience” to serve staggered four-year terms
- Only one council member is allowed to be an employee of Ohio State University, and at least three council members must be “from Ohio”
The board of trustees must further “conduct a nationwide search for the director of the center” in order to submit a list of finalists to the university president
- The university president “shall select and appoint a director,” subject to the approval of the trustees
- The director “shall hire all faculty and staff of the center and shall oversee the development of the center's curriculum”
Establishes the “Institute of American Constitutional Thought and Leadership” at the University of Toledo, located in the UT College of Law
- “For the purpose of creating and disseminating knowledge about American constitutional thought and to form future leaders of the legal profession through research, scholarship, teaching, collaboration, and mentorship”
- The center “shall be an independent academic unit of the university with the authority to house tenure-track faculty”
The center is charged with:
- “Enrich[ing] the curriculum in American constitutional studies, including the core texts and great debates of western civilization”
- Educating students on “the principles, ideals, and institutions of the American constitutional order” and “to cultivate the next generation of leaders in the legal profession”
- Offering university-wide programming “related to the values of open inquiry and civil discourse”
- Expanding “intellectual diversity”
- Creating “faculty and graduate student scholarship”, “scholarly collaboration,” and educational opportunities like hosting visiting faculty or curating lectures and debates
- Educating students “by means of free, open, and rigorous intellectual inquiry to seek the truth”
- Equipping students to “reach their own informed conclusions on matters of social and political importance”
- Developing "courses and certificate, minor, major, and graduate programs”
The center must be led by an academic council and a director:
- The board of trustees must appoint “a seven-member institute academic council” staffed by “scholars with relevant expertise and experience” to serve staggered four-year terms
- Only one council member is allowed to be an employee of the University of Toledo, and at least three council members must be “from Ohio”
- The president of the university shall appoint the director of the center
- “The director shall be an expert of the western tradition, the American founding, and American constitutional thought, and shall have shown a commitment to the purposes, goals, and policies of the institute”
- “The director's term shall be for five years and shall be renewable”
- The director shall report to the university president and the provost of the university
Other centers for civics, culture, and society
- Establishes, as independent academic units, centers for civics, culture, and society at the University of Cincinnati, Miami University, and Cleveland State University.
- Each center must conduct teaching and research in the historical ideas, traditions, and texts that have shaped the American constitutional order and society.
- Each center must establish bylaws requiring the Center to:
- Educate students by means of free, open, and rigorous intellectual inquiry to seek the truth;
- Affirm its duty to equip students with the skills, habits, and dispositions of mind they need to reach their own informed conclusions on matters of social and political importance;
- Affirm the value of intellectual diversity in higher education and aspire to enhance the intellectual diversity of the university; and
- Affirm a commitment to create a community dedicated to an ethic of civil and free inquiry, which respects the intellectual freedom of each member, supports individual capacities for growth, and welcomes the differences of opinion that naturally exist in a public university community.
- The centers at the University of Cincinnati and Miami University must be physically located in their respective college of arts and sciences. The Center at Cleveland State University must be located in the Levin College of Public Affairs and Education. Each board of trustees may name a Center in accordance with its philanthropic naming policies and practices.
- Each center must establish bylaws requiring the Center to:
Instructional requirements for additional centers
Each center must offer instruction in:
- The books and major debates which form the intellectual foundation of free societies, especially that of the United States;
- The principles, ideals, and institutions of the American constitutional order;
- The foundations of responsible leadership and informed citizenship.
Each Center must focus on offering university-wide programming related to the values of free speech and civil discourse as well as expanding the intellectual diversity of the university’s academic community.
Grants each Center the authority to offer courses and develop certificate, minor, and major programs as well as graduate programs, and offer degrees.
Academic council for additional centers
University board of trustees must appoint, with the advice and consent of the Senate, a seven-member Center academic council by December 31, 2023. An initial member cannot begin service until confirmation by the Senate. Four members constitute a quorum.
The academic council must be comprised of scholars with relevant expertise and experience. Not more than one member of the council may be an employee of the university. Best efforts must be made to have no fewer than three members from Ohio.
The term length for initial members of the academic council. Three members of the council are required to serve initial terms of two years and four members are required to serve initial terms of four years. Members must determine which members will serve which terms at its first meeting and select replacements for vacant seats as needed.
Director search and responsibilities
The academic council must conduct a nationwide search for candidates for the director of each Center. The search must adhere to all relevant state and federal laws. The academic council must submit a list of finalists to the university president, from which the president must select and appoint a director. This appointment is subject to the approval of the board of trustees. Future directors must be chosen in the same manner.
Upon appointment, the director of a Center will have the protection of tenure or tenure eligibility. The director must consult with the Dean of the College of Public Affairs; however, the director must report directly to the provost or the president.
The director of each center has the sole and exclusive authority to manage the recruitment and hiring process and to extend offers for employment for all faculty and staff, as well as to terminate the employment of all staff of the Center. The director also must oversee, develop, and approve of the Center’s curriculum.
The director must submit an annual report to the board of trustees and the General Assembly. The report must provide a full account of the Center’s achievements, opportunities, challenges, and obstacles in the development of the academic unit.
Faculty
- As an independent academic unit, a Center must have the authority to house tenure track faculty who hold appointments within the Center.
- Faculty appointed to a Center may hold joint appointments with any other division of the university.
- Not fewer than ten tenure-track faculty positions must be allocated to teach under a Center.
- Faculty outside a Center are prohibited from having the authority to block faculty hires into it.