SB1 Affects Students at UC and Beyond
By Kate Simon, Intern
On June 24th, the 88th day after SB1 had been signed into law by Governor Mike DeWine, students at the University of Cincinnati faced the realities of the bill. Students received an email from the University’s President, Neville Pinto. In the email he expressed the importance of community and how the university will find a way to continue supporting students, however there was going to be change. At the same time, many University of Cincinnati affiliated social media accounts posted to their social media saying:
“Per newly enacted Ohio law, this account is no longer active. For Students Affairs content, follow @uc_studentaffairs.”
These posts were shared on the social media accounts of community centers and services that fell under DEI on campus. Some include: the Women’s Center, the Ethnic Programs & Services, the African American Cultural and Resource Center, LGBTQ Center and an array of other accounts that provided services towards diverse groups of identities.
Since these events, the once far away fear and the jokes made to ease distress about DEI being scrubbed from the university; now set in.
When it came time for me to find out where I wanted to receive education from for the next four years of my life, I went on tours of different universities in Ohio. When I came to my last one, the University of Cincinnati, I knew this was where I was going to go. Their emphasis on community and belonging, as well as the feeling I had walking through campus, made me realize this was the place and there was nowhere else I wanted to find myself.
When I started college, I used resources like the Women’s Centers services and would go to events for them and the LGBTQ Center. Those resources helped me be more comfortable in my transition into college. Having come from over 200 miles away with no family and very few initial friends around, I was scared to say the least. When I started using those centers was when I was able to grow as a person, meet amazing and inspiring people, understand what I wanted to do in life, and I found different organizations I wanted to be a part of. I found who I wanted to be, with the people I wanted to be around.
When SB1 was announced, I knew if it passed it would heavily change campus life. I decided it was time to use my voice more heavily on campus, to protect the university that I loved. I joined the University of Cincinnati’s Ohio Student Association chapter, I wrote a testimony, I went to the statehouse hearing, and through Ignite Peace I was able to gather signatures for the SB1 repeal petition. Despite our best efforts, the system beat us down.
SB1 is not just an anti-DEI community center bill, this is just what we are seeing right now. This bill will take away faculty and staff’s right to strike, it will take away DEI scholarships (ex. Low-income based scholarships), it will not allow DEI centered training (ex. Anti-racism training), it will censor what professors can fully teach (ex. Climate change, marriage, etc.).
We know this is only the beginning. As fall semester inches closer and closer, we sit at the edge of our seats. Painfully waiting to find what else SB1 will change in our academic and social lives as students at the University of Cincinnati.
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