The AHA has shared the following action alert with our Ohio members. SB 83 is being considered by the Ohio House of Representatives after narrowly passing the Senate. We encourage constituents to reach out to their elected representatives to urge them to vote against the bill.
The AHA has learned that Senate Bill 83 is being considered in the Ohio House of Representatives. It barely passed the Senate and is by no means a sure thing to pass in the House—which makes it especially important for constituents to make their voices heard. The House Republican majority is counting votes as we speak.
We encourage you to contact your representative in the House within the next 48 hours, especially if your representative is a Republican, and urge that they vote against the bill. The AHA has sent a letter to individual legislators, and we’ve heard that it makes the case very effectively. You can draw on it as you wish. You might also want to read the AHA’s December op-ed in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, “SB 83 would require college students to read documents their teachers wouldn’t be allowed to discuss with them: Brendan Gillis and James Grossman.”
On its surface, SB 83 proclaims respect for “intellectual diversity.” In practice, as the AHA’s letter explains, “a series of mandates” introduced in this legislation “repeatedly insert the will and judgement of politically appointed boards of trustees into the fundamental work of university faculty, carving out troubling new exceptions to academic freedom without any clear benefit.” While the AHA does not disagree with some of the bill’s stated goals, our testimony expresses grave doubts about the utility of the bill’s heavy-handed interventions in both history education and university administration.
Thank you for your participation in the democratic process. We can’t do this work effectively without that participation.
If you have any questions about this proposed legislation or would like to request updates about its status, please feel free to reach out directly to Brendan Gillis, director of teaching and learning (bgillis@historians.org).
The AHA, its members, and other historians find ourselves on the front lines of a conflict over understandings of America’s past, confronting radical activists who are promoting ignorance in the name of unity. Please visit our Teaching History with Integrity site for the most up-to-date information about AHA efforts to combat these bills and for resources and expressions of support for history educators. We hope that you will distribute widely our short videos on Teaching with Integrity: Historians Speak.
The AHA’s advocacy work is more critical now than perhaps ever before. If you believe in the importance of honest history education, please donate to the AHA’s Advocacy Fund to support our advocacy work.