The new frontier for regulating diversity and inclusion efforts in Ohio is university payroll

Ohio's Senate Bill 1 (SB1) and House Bill 698 (HB 698) impose new restrictions on public universities, including mechanisms to penalize professors for political bias and tying state funding to anti-DEI evaluations. While SB1 allows for firing tenured faculty over classroom bias, HB 698 threatens universities with funding cuts based on unspecified criteria, potentially costing millions. No professors have been fired under SB1 yet, but institutions face compliance challenges and financial risks.