COLUMBUS, Ohio — Dozens of Ohio college students held a mock funeral to protest against a bill they say destroys higher education.
Students, dressed in their high school graduation robes, chanted and held candles as they rallied against Senate Bill 83 at the Statehouse.
The bill focuses on what GOP calls “free speech,” banning public universities in Ohio from having “bias” in the classroom and limiting what “controversial topics” can and can’t be taught.
Click here to read more details about the bill.
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Senior Tori Haller is majoring in history and education, and she said she is considering leaving Ohio if the bill passes.
"If I can't teach the history that I need to teach because it is presumed to constrict intellectual diversity, if I have to give inaccurate information like give Holocaust deniers an equal platform in the classroom because that is presumed to protect intellectual diversity, I cannot do my job in Ohio," Haller said.
Lawmakers in support of the legislation said that conservatives feel excluded and oppressed at universities.
"True intellectual diversity, free from the pressure to agree with a single ideological perspective that dominates are campuses today," State Sen. Jerry Cirino (R-Kirtland) said.
The bill was actually just slid into the Senate budget, meaning it could be passed Thursday. It would still need to be concurred by the House, but this is a way to fast-track it.
Follow WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau on Twitter and Facebook.
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