Some Ohio colleges and universities fell in line before Senate Bill 1, the “Advance Ohio Higher Education Act,” even passed through the state legislature. And when it finally did in March, it had a chilling effect. Universities shirked diversity, equity and inclusion programs to comply, and the silence from once-outspoken opponents was striking. Those early signs of kowtowing were bad indicators that the members of Youngstown State University’s faculty union just couldn’t get behind.
“There was such passion against SB 1 whenever it was being pushed through the legislature, so why isn't that passion still there?” Mandy Fehlbaum, a sociologist and the grievance chair for YSU’s chapter of the Ohio Education Association, recalled wondering in a phone interview. “Some people were saying, ‘Oh well, we worked so hard. Now we're tired, and we just have to accept it.’ And like, no, we don't have to accept it.”
