Advance Ohio Higher Education Act (Senate Bill 1)

The Advance Ohio Higher Education Act, or Senate Bill 1, was signed by Governor Mike DeWine on March 28, 2025. The legislation is robust, affects many facets of higher education, and requires Ohio’s public universities to enact numerous changes. While many of the bill’s provisions are required to be implemented by the time the law took effect on June 27, 2025, a number of provisions have delayed effective dates.

Members of the Wright State community are encouraged to read the bill for more information.

Wright State will remain steadfast in our commitment to our students and their success. We will continue to empower all students to excel in their lives and chosen careers through integrated learning, research, innovation, and experience, and to positively transform the educational, economic, and social fabric of the communities we serve.

Updates will be added to this page as they become available.

 

News and Updates

 

Statement of Commitment

In accordance with the state of Ohio’s 2025 Advance Ohio Higher Education Act, the Wright State University Board of Trustees approved the Statement of Commitment at its meeting on June 20, 2025. The Statement of Commitment can be found on the website alongside our mission and vision statements.  

 

American Civic Literacy Course

Each state institution shall submit a plan to the Chancellor approved by the board of trustees to offer a course meeting the requirements in ORC Section 3345.382. ODHE has created a template for the plan, which is due by September 30, 2025.

 

Complaint and Reporting Process

Senate Bill 1 requires Wright State to have a process to address complaints regarding violations of the Expressive Activity; Free Speech Policy and inform students and employees of its protections. The University will amend, as needed, the Complaint and Resolution Process to ensure the rights afforded to members of our community under Senate Bill 1. As required by the law, all current employees and students will be informed about Senate Bill 1 protections and related policies via campus communications and new employee and student orientation materials. 

 

Equal Opportunity and Non-Discrimination

State institutions of higher education shall issue a report on disciplinary actions, student academic qualifications disaggregated by race and sex, and retention rates disaggregated by race and sex, based on guidelines established by the Chancellor. The Chancellor is in the process of creating guidelines for the collection of this information. Once the guidelines are completed, they will be posted at highered.ohio.gov/sb1. The report is due on June 30, 2026, and each year thereafter.

 

Faculty Evaluation

The Chancellor shall develop a minimum set of standard questions for use by state institutions of higher education in student evaluations of faculty members.

 

Faculty Workload Policy

The Chancellor, jointly with state institutions of higher education, shall develop standards for instructional workloads for full-time and part-time faculty. ODHE will endeavor to complete the general workload standards by September 30, 2025, working closely with institutions to allow for consultation and input. Institutional workload policies should be adopted by the board of trustees and submitted to SB1@highered.ohio.gov by December 31, 2025, and every five years thereafter.

 

Five-Year Institutional Cost Summary

For each biennial main operating appropriations bill and capital appropriations bill, each state institution of higher education shall prepare a rolling five-year summary of its institutional costs to be considered by the general assembly when evaluating operating and capital project funding. The Chancellor is in the process of creating a standard reporting format to collect this information. It will first be utilized for the FY27-28 capital appropriations bill process, which likely will require submission to ODHE by the end of calendar year 2025.

 

Low Enrollment Programs

A state institution of higher education shall eliminate any undergraduate degree program it offers if the institution confers an average of fewer than five degrees in that program annually over any three-year period. Senate Bill 1 is in effect beginning June 27. This year, programs subject to elimination pursuant to ORC Section 3345.454 must be inactivated (date new students can no longer be admitted into the program) within 60 days of the effective date of the law (August 26, 2025). In subsequent years, programs subject to elimination must be inactivated within 60 days after the completion of the academic year that triggered the average of fewer than five degrees annually over any three-year period.

 

Performance Evaluation

The board of trustees of each state institution of higher education shall adopt a faculty annual performance evaluation policy and submit the policy to the Chancellor of Higher Education by December 31, 2025.

 

Post-Tenure Review

The board of trustees of each state institution of higher education shall adopt a post-tenure review policy and submit the policy to the Chancellor of Higher Education. The policy approved by the board of trustees is due by December 31, 2025.

 

Posting of Syllabi

Instructors will be required to publicly post course syllabi, to include the course instructor’s professional qualifications, for each undergraduate class beginning in the 2026-27 school year. This project is underway and links to access all syllabi will be posted on this site when available.

 

Prohibition of DEI Training

The Advance Ohio Higher Education Act includes broad prohibitions on DEI. While it does not define the term DEI in the statute, it defines “protected class” as race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or religion.

Anything that is “for” or “intended to benefit” or “especially appropriate for” one or more protected class groups is prohibited by SB 1, specifically:

  • Any orientation or training course regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion.
  • Diversity, equity, and inclusion offices or departments.
  • Using diversity, equity, and inclusion in job descriptions.
  • Titles/positions of Chief Diversity Officer or Diversity Officer.
  • Contracting with anyone whose role is or would be to promote admissions, hiring, or promotion based on the specified protected classes.
  • New scholarships that use diversity, equity, and inclusion in any manner. For any existing institutional scholarships, a state institution shall, to the extent possible, eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion requirements.
  • Merely changing the name of any DEI office, department, orientation, training, or position while continuing to “serve the same or similar purposes,” or use “the same or similar means.”

Senate Bill 1 requires state institutions of higher education to:

  • “[t]reat all faculty, staff, and students as individuals, to hold them to equal standards, and to provide them equality of opportunity, with regard to those individuals’ race, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.”  This obligation applies with respect to every “position, policy, program, and activity” of the institution.
  • “[p]rovide no advantage or disadvantage to faculty, staff, or students on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression in admissions, hiring, promotion, tenuring, or workplace conditions.”

 

Relations with the People’s Republic of China

Each state institution shall submit to the Chancellor of Higher Education a copy of the report it submits to the United States Department of Education pursuant to 20 U.S.C. 1011(f). A copy of the report required by this section should be sent to SB1@highered.ohio.gov concurrent with submission to the United States Department of Education.

A state institution shall notify the Chancellor of any new or renewed academic partnership with an academic or research institution located in China. State institutions of higher education shall notify the Chancellor of any new or renewed academic partnership with an academic or research institution located in China within 30 days of establishing or renewing the partnership.

 

Retention and Program Elimination

The board of trustees of each state institution of higher education shall develop policies on tenure and retrenchment. Each state institution shall submit those policies to the Chancellor of Higher Education. Policies approved by the board of trustees under this section are due by December 31, 2025.

 

Speaker Transparency

By December 31, 2025, Wright State will create a searchable database of all speaker fees, honoraria, and other emoluments in excess of $500 for events that are sponsored by the University.   

 

Resources