The AHA has shared the following action alert with our Ohio members. SB 1 is currently before the Ohio Senate Higher Education Committee. We encourage constituents to reach out to their elected representatives to urge them to vote against the bill.<\/p>\n
The AHA registers strong concerns about Ohio Senate Bill 1<\/a>, which is currently before the Ohio Senate Higher Education Committee<\/a>.<\/p>\n SB 1 is a revised version of Senate Bill 83 that stalled in last year\u2019s legislative cycle in the Ohio House of Representatives. The AHA wrote two separate<\/a> letters<\/a> to state legislators expressing concerns about the new mechanisms SB 83 would create to overrule the professional judgment and academic expertise of faculty and departments.<\/p>\n The same unwise provisions are included in SB 1. The AHA applauds many of the bill\u2019s stated goals: free inquiry, true intellectual diversity, and vigorous debate. We have grave doubts, however, about the utility of SB 1\u2019s heavy-handed interventions in both history education and university administration.<\/p>\n We encourage you to contact your elected representatives in the Ohio House and Senate and draw their attention to the dangerous consequences of SB 1, including:<\/p>\n Faculty already teach foundational texts in an array of courses. SB 1 adds three mandatory credit hours to student degree plans that will likely slow students down in their progress toward graduation. There are far more productive ways for policymakers and university administrators to encourage student learning in history and civics.<\/p>\n If you live in Ohio, it is crucial that you contact your state legislators as soon as possible<\/strong> and encourage them to oppose this troubling bill. You might also wish to testify, either in writing or in person, before one of the state legislative committees set to discuss this measure.<\/p>\n It can be helpful to reference the opposition of the AHA and other professional associations to this bill. You should feel free to quote or paraphrase our observations. At this stage in the process, it is most important for legislators to hear personal narratives about the specific consequences of this bill<\/u> directly from their constituents. This includes students, parents, faculty, staff, administrators, and Ohioans invested in history education.<\/p>\n Thank you for your participation in the democratic process. We can\u2019t do this work effectively without that participation.<\/p>\n 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 at the AHA (bgillis@historians.org<\/a>).<\/p>\n The AHA, its members, and other historians find ourselves on the front lines of a conflict over understandings of America\u2019s past, confronting radical activists who are promoting ignorance in the name of unity. Please visit our Teaching History with Integrity<\/a> 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n