Helena Marten
News Editor
In March 2025, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed a law into effect to ban diversity efforts, regulate classroom discussion and eliminate faculty strikes in higher education. These changes directly restrict public institutions’ ability to educate students on topics such as climate change and abortion, as well as institutions’ ability to support students who would benefit from diversity scholarships and programming. While S.B. 1 does not directly legislate private liberal arts colleges, the shift in pedagogical norms could affect institutions like The College of Wooster.
John Rudisill is a professor of social and political philosophy and faculty advisor to the Pre-Law and Moot Court programs at the College. Rudisill discussed how statewide public university regulations may affect private liberal arts colleges, stating that DeWine has recently been able to shift control of state-wide education to fall under the jurisdiction of the governor or governor-appointed employees as opposed to elected officials.
Rudisill explained, “It used to be that there was a state superintendent of instruction, and that person oversaw a very large scope of responsibility that affected the administration of public education in Ohio…” The change, as a result of legislation a few years ago, put most of that work now directly just under the governor.” This restructuring significantly reduced the superintendent’s and elected board members’ capacities. “That, I think, has lots of implications for education in Ohio,” Rudisill said, adding that this consolidation of authority allowed for an ease of partisan-aligned bills being passed.
Nearly a year after the bill’s implementation, Ohio is feeling the effects of this legislation’s restructuring. The Ohio State University (OSU), which was directly legislated by S.B. 1, contributes to research that other Ohio private colleges and students reference. This affects the quality of research produced by all interacting universities. OSU has had diversity-based scholarships and programs cut. OSU has also been limited in its autonomy of educational curriculum and research, affecting private colleges that collaborate with the University. Ohio legislators supporting the bill have alleged that it will eliminate arbitrary diversity based labels and allow for merit-based systems.
Private liberal arts colleges in Ohio have been reacting to the trend of higher education as well. The College of Wooster has recently eliminated some of its diversity scholarships, including its partnership with the Posse Program, ending with the class of 2029. The College offered no public explanation, but President McCall shared in an interview with the Voice that the decision came as a legal strategy to follow the Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard which ruled that race-based affirmative action was unconstitutional. S.B. 1 also requires private colleges to limit their diversity programs in order to be considered for the Governor’s Merit Scholarship. When asked about Ohio’s current approach to regulating education, Rudisill stated, “in fact, it’s counter to it, and it’s very ideological, and it’s very sort of designed to sort of reinforce a particular … uncritical status quo.”
For Wooster students, this means less academic research to engage with, a possible refocus on workforce readiness as opposed to academics and a shift away from diversity initiatives. This can be harmful for institutions like Wooster, as a loss of academic focus and promotion of diversity is opposed to the College’s mission. Wooster’s stated values include “independence of thought, a focus on research and collaboration, and diversity and inclusivity.”
These shifts in the norms of higher education directly contradict the mission of the College and other private liberal arts colleges. The change in atmosphere of higher education does affect seemingly independent institutions, as the pressure for institutional neutrality rises. Rudisill said that “it’s deeply ironic that they sort of push this as sort of an interesting sort of being open … and not right, closing down or forcing students to think a certain way, but they very much through their policy are working to shut down avenues for critique and challenging one’s beliefs, and where they come from and whether they’re grounded in good reasons and arguments.”