Jaden Stambolia – eportfolio

Cleveland State University President Laura Bloomberg met with Ohio Senator Jerry Cirino, R-Kirtland, on April 11 over Ohio Senate Bill 83, also known as the Higher Education Enhancement Act.

Bloomberg confirmed that this is the second meeting she has had with Cirino, with the first having taken place over the summer when they met to discuss a possible higher education bill. 

“I have spent a lot of time trying to understand the intent behind it. I just met with the senator and told him, and he is aware that there are parts of it I can not support,” Bloomberg said in an interview. “To say that is one thing. To try to do something about it is another.”

Cirino told a source that Bloomberg, former Youngstown State President Jim Tressel and Wright State President Susan Edwards support the bill. 

Bloomberg confirmed that she had heard that rumor but denied it. While she was wary that Cirino misinterpreted her support for the bill, she stopped short of stating it as a fact. 

“I had heard that as well. The senator and I met this last summer, and he told me that he was imagining a higher ed bill,” Bloomberg said in the interview. “I would stop short of saying he mischaracterized my support. I wouldn’t want to accuse him of that, but as near as I can tell that’s what that was based on that conversation”

The Higher Education Enhancement Act looks to ban:

• Bias in classrooms.
• Relationships with Chinese universities.
• Labor strikes by faculty.

The Higher Education Enhancement Act looks to establish and require:

• Mandatory American History Courses.
• Making syllabi and teacher information online.
• Tenure evaluation to be based on if the educator showed bias or taught with bias.
• Mission statements to be rewritten to include that educators teach so students can reach their “own conclusions.”

Despite her lack of support for certain parts of the act, Bloomberg says there are parts she can support and that CSU already implements, with one area being tenure review.

Cleveland State Student Government Association is conducting a syllabi availability survey to students. This survey aims to gain insight into students’ perspectives regarding the usefulness of receiving the syllabus before the commencement of their classes.

Bloomberg is also looking to find common ground with the concepts behind the bill, one of which being the notion of protecting free speech. However, she doesn’t believe that this bill will achieve that.

Cleveland State has a green rating from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. Green light institutions are colleges and universities whose policies nominally protect free speech.

Another part of the bill that Bloomberg supports is protecting university intellectual property from the Chinese government, which sponsors of this bill believe has come into conflict with higher education in the United States.

“I do believe that we need to put protections in place so that doesn’t happen,” Bloomberg said. “No faculty member wants to see their own intellectual property, like a published paper, appear in Chinese authorship of somebody else.”

However, she expressed concern about what the bill says about Cleveland State and other universities’ relationships with Chinese scholars, Chinese students and the Chinese government.

If the bill is passed as is, Bloomberg wants CSU to uphold its principles and not pit the Board of Trustees, administration and faculty against each other.

When asked if she supports the right for faculty to strike, Bloomberg stopped short of supporting it, instead acknowledging their right to strike due to the collective bargaining agreements in place, which she says the university will follow. 

Cleveland State’s Faculty Senate and Student Government Association are working on separate resolutions opposing this bill. President Bloomberg also confirmed that there is a collection of higher ed institutions composed of presidents, provosts and general counsels working to oppose this bill.

“When you look at the bill, as a whole, it’s an absolute administrative nightmare for colleges and universities to implement everything that’s in this legislation,” said Sara Kilpatrick, the executive director of the Ohio chapter of the American Association of University Professors. “It’s going to require more administrators, and it’s going to require a lot more paperwork. And those kinds of things all take away from educating students.”

Editor’s Note: This interview was done in partnership with The Cleveland Stater. The Cauldron credits Abigail Preiszig (EIC of The Cleveland Stater), Lydia Kacala  (The Cleveland Stater), and Mason Cole (The Cleveland Stater) for their help in the interview.