Photo courtesy of https://www.urbanohio.com.
"Ohio lawmakers have failed, at least for now, to pass a bill that would exert control over discussion of 'controversial beliefs' about climate policies in college classrooms," reports Inside Climate News (December 2, 2023).
As introduced, the bill in question, Senate Bill 83, would have required the state's public institutions of higher education to remain in effect neutral about "controversial" beliefs and policies — explicitly including climate change, as NCSE previously reported.
The provision was subsequently revised to refer to "climate policies" instead, but, as Inside Climate News observes, "opponents said the bill would continue to impair teaching about climate change even with the new wording."
NCSE's Deputy Director Glenn Branch told Inside Climate News that the bill is "trying to sweep up higher education into the culture wars that [its sponsor Jerry] Cirino [R-District 18] and his supporters want to pursue."
Branch added that attacks on climate change education are less common at the level of higher education than the level of K-12 education, citing the recent decisions by the Texas state board of education involving the adoption of middle and high school science textbooks.
Although Senate Bill 83 passed the Ohio Senate, it is apparently stalled in the House Higher Education Committee. The speaker of the House recently told reporters, "It doesn't have the votes" to pass there, according to the Ohio Capital Journal (November 29, 2023).
