Dear Colleagues:
The SB 1 implementation team continues to receive valuable feedback in multiple areas as a result of ongoing engagement with members of the university community.
Based on that feedback, the team has developed a web-based implementation guide that will continue to be updated as our work progresses. Please refer to and use this guide as it applies to your colleges and units.
Please see the following link: Ohio State SB 1 implementation guidelines.
We plan to communicate this information with all faculty and staff next week. Our intention is to provide you with visibility as well as with an opportunity to share questions or feedback before it is communicated more broadly. Please share feedback at legislativequestions@osu.edu. While the implementation team may not be able to provide additional clarity or answers right away, your continued engagement will help us as we work through the implementation process.
Please note that these initial implementation guidelines – which include information focused on website language and other public-facing materials – are also being communicated today to senior marketing and communications professionals and human resources business partners in university colleges and units.
In addition, the SB 1 implementation website has been updated to include a series of FAQs developed by the committee workstream focused on intellectual diversity/classroom discussion. It can be found here. As a reminder, SB1 does not prohibit controversial issues from being discussed in classes, but requires the university to “ensure the fullest degree of intellectual diversity” in courses and allow students to reach their own conclusions around controversial issues. To identify these protections for students and to support faculty in structuring classroom instruction appropriately, a group of faculty, staff and students representing multiple disciplines, colleges and units developed these FAQs around what is and is not permitted under the law. A standard syllabus statement is included.
Finally, the Ohio Department of Higher Education published their SB 1 guidance and FAQ on their website this morning. We are sharing it on our SB 1 website, and will now use this guidance to finalize internal processes that Ohio State will need to manage prior to anything being submitted to ODHE.
Thank you again for the many ways you continue to inform and support this important process.
Thank you,
Ravi Bellamkonda, Anne Garcia and Stacy Rastauskas