The National Association of Scholars and the Civics Alliance are delighted that Ohio State Senator Jerry Cirino has introduced Senate Bill 83, the Ohio Higher Education Enhancement Act. SB 83 will do an extraordinary amount to depoliticize Ohio’s public higher education system, strengthen intellectual diversity, and restore its accountability to Ohio policymakers and citizens. We enthusiastically endorse SB 83 and hope that it will swiftly become law.
We are delighted and we are proud, because SB 83 takes some of its language and its concerns from different bills in the Civics Alliance’s Model Higher Education Code, drafted by the National Association of Scholars. We intended for these bills to inspire state legislators to craft their own legislation, adapted to meet their political circumstances. It is an honor that Senator Cirino has considered that our model language could be useful for Ohio. The adaptations he has made to our model language have turned our suggestions into practicable legislation, which we will be delighted to publicize throughout the nation. Senator Cirino also has added further reforms, which were not in the Model Higher Education Code—but soon may be, because they too should be models for legislators in other states.