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Bill DeMora
The Columbus Dispatch
Excerpt: Though I haven’t served in the Senate long, I’ve seen my fair share of outrageous bills, and Senate Bill 1 stands as the worst by a mile. It’s authoritarian, anti-union, anti-free speech, and a cowardly display of the majority party’s inability to defend its beliefs in the marketplace of ideas unless it can control the entire market.
Still the “Advance Ohio Education Act” was passed by the Ohio Senate. It should be called the Ohio Higher Education Destruction Act.
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For the good of the Nation, university leadership must seize this occasion to drive essential reforms—a process some began by adopting positions of institutional neutrality and improving policies related to campus protests. Before the end of 2026, I call on every postsecondary institution to describe to the American public your commitments to rigorous teaching, pathbreaking research, and national service—commitments that make our universities a bedrock institution of the American republic.
Now the administration is back with Compact 2.0, formally titled "A National Call to Action to University Presidents and Governing Boards." It includes some rhetorical flourishes intended to make it seem less threatening to teaching, learning and research. But make no mistake: It once again asks colleges and universities to align themselves with a far-right agenda at the expense of students’ education and the public’s well-being.
