SB 1 Implementation Update: Change Management and Autumn Planning

Dear Colleagues:

Since the majority of SB 1 provisions went into effect on June 27, the university has been hard at work providing clarifications to existing guidance as well as preparing for those parts of the law that will go into effect this fall and into the next calendar year (see updated timeline).

As expressed at the recent meeting of the Board of Trustees Academic Affairs and Student Life Committee, none of this important work would have been possible without your engagement, feedback and detailed questions, and we are grateful to you and all members of our Ohio State community who have advanced us to this point in the process of compliance with the law.

On July 16, the Academic Affairs and Student Life Committee of the Board of Trustees met in public session to address a number of topics, including several actions related to required policies pursuant to SB 1. Specifically, it approved policies related to DEI, intellectual diversity and controversial beliefs as prescribed by law, and interim revisions to faculty policies regarding annual review, post-tenure review and reappointment, as well as appointments, tenure and retrenchment. These policies will now move forward for approval on the consent agenda at the August 20 Board of Trustees meeting with an anticipated effective date of August 25, 2025.

The committee also approved amendments to the Rules of the University Faculty to address new complaint processes and post-tenure review as set forth in these policies – and the American civic literacy plan, including providing civic literacy courses pursuant to the law. These SB 1 related items will now go before the full Board of Trustees for approval next month. 

More immediately, we are all preparing for the start of the new academic year – and this update provides important planning information as it relates to sharing the university’s SB 1 guidance with faculty, staff and students following the summer term. Please read the below carefully and share with others in your colleges, units and organizations as you deem appropriate.

Thank you again for all that you contribute to our university community. We will continue to provide updates up to and throughout the upcoming autumn semester.

Thank you,

Ravi Bellamkonda, Anne Garcia and Stacy Rastauskas

Updates to SB 1 Implementation Guidance

Please be aware that, in recent days, the implementation committee has provided updated guidance related to research communications and invited speakers:

• As required by SB 1, Ohio State is sharing a list of speakers who were invited to participate in university-sponsored events and were paid speaker fees, honoraria, or other emoluments more than $500 in the past month. Events sponsored by registered student organizations are not included in the list, consistent with state law. This information is being shared publicly on a monthly basis. See more here.
• SB 1 does not restrict the freedom of faculty to teach, conduct research, describe their scholarship or research, publish scholarship or research, share their academic or scholarly expertise or to discuss in classrooms, in their own manner, any material that is relevant to the subject matter within an academic discipline as defined in the course syllabus. The research communications guidance provided by the committee is for marketers and communicators to use when writing university, college, department, unit, etc. news stories, storytelling and social media content. It is not meant to direct or limit the content or language of any scholarly writing, research publications or academic work in any way. Anyone writing or producing multimedia content about research by Ohio State faculty or students should consult the guidelines. See additional details and guidance here.

Change Management

With the autumn semester rapidly approaching, we believe this is the right time for the university to begin to more broadly engage in change management as that important work can now be informed by the implementation guidance provided by the committee. While the implementation committee will continue to ensure a process for compliance (including those parts of the law that have delayed effective dates and for which additional work is still required to reach initial compliance – see above), we have reached a point at which change management efforts will be most effective if led by the college, unit or leadership organization with the closest relationship to the potentially impacted groups. This approach will ensure that colleges, units and leadership organizations as a whole will successfully adapt to the law’s requirements.

To that end, the implementation committee will begin to transition its efforts to the enterprise-level implementation work for those items with delayed effective dates and will remain responsible for refining existing guidance whenever needed. We anticipate this transitional period to extend through the end of August. During this period, the university will increasingly look to leadership in colleges, units and organizations to review and enact required changes in their respective areas based on guidance established throughout this summer. The goal is to provide leaders with a more complete picture of their organization's compliance needs, rather than the committee continuing to field individual and often localized questions from faculty, staff and students within the broader university community.

That said, we fully understand that leaders will have ongoing questions and seek clarifications, and committee members will continue to engage as needed in their day-to-day university roles regarding SB 1 issues. The committee will also continue to monitor legislativequestions@osu.edu, and direct and/or address inquiries as appropriate. Importantly, and in anticipation of the start of a new academic year, the committee is committed to supporting and facilitating presentations, tool kits or other resources so that deans, department chairs and other leaders can lead this work in their areas. Please see the communications planning section immediately below for additional details on planning for autumn.

Communications Planning for Autumn Semester

The Office of Marketing and Communications has established a SB 1 communications subcommittee with representatives from: the offices of Academic Affairs, Government Affairs, Legal Affairs and Student Life, as well as the Enterprise for Research, Innovation and Knowledge, the Wexner Medical Center, Fisher College of Business, Moritz College of Law and the College of Public Health.

The purpose of this group is to support further engagement across the institution through institutional-level communications and provide resources for colleges and units to issue appropriate communications within their own areas.

In addition to preparing a coordinated communications plan for the beginning of the academic year, which will consider the variety of communications from senior leaders – including President Carter, Provost Bellamkonda and Senior Vice President for Student Life Melissa Shivers – the group is identifying university stakeholders or groups that may have specific needs as the academic year begins along with responsive communications resources to address those needs. The work of this subcommittee will be shared with all college and unit communications leads in order to further support preparation for the start of autumn semester.