The rightwing operatives who occupy the state house are at it again. This time they are using the perceived “anti-woke” sentiment and growing Sinophobia to grease the wheels on a bill that would stifle union organizing and insert jingoistic propaganda into the curriculum for all college students in the state of Ohio.  

Senate Bill 1 was introduced in January by Jerry Cirino, a business owner representing the heavily gerrymandered Senate District 18.  

Despite receiving almost 800 submitted testimonies arguing against the bill, it was passed 22-11 during the February 12 session. All nine Democrats and two token Republicans voted “nay.” The bill now moves onto the House, where a previous version died in 2023.

Prior to the vote, all Democratic senators voiced their opposition to the bill. In her statement, Senate Leader Nickie J. Antonio (D-Lakewood) said, “The premise of the bill is that somehow public universities are bastions of liberalism trying to indoctrinate our children.”

Tuesday, March 4, 3pm
Ohio Statehouse
Speakers including local farmer and council member Christopher Gibbs, fired federal worker Wesley Stanovsek, as well as Ohio House representative Michele Grim.

Our goal is to make our voices heard, and refuse the anti-democratic, and illegal actions of the Trump administration, and those who follow. Trump is systematically purging everyone from the federal government that is not loyal to him above anyone else, including the American people and the constitution that he swore to uphold. The lives of every minority in this country are being threatened. We call for the legislators, and leaders of our nation to stand with us in these dire times.

Tuesday, March 4, 1-4pm
OSU campus, Thompson statue, oval
This action is to oppose our university's decision to preemptively comply with and support SB1. As of now, the university has shut down our multicultural centers and removed faculty and staff from DEI positions, all while ignoring the glaring fact that an overwhelming number of the student body is in direct opposition to SB1 and subsequent actions taken.

Calling upon everyone: faculty, undergrads, grad students, staff and all campus workers, alumni, unions and community members - everyone who is opposed to the targeting of diversity, the surveillance of faculty, the restriction of classroom discussion, the anti-union restrictions of labor, and the rest. And this in a national climate that incessantly attacks so many in our campus and Columbus communities. 

This article first appeard on the Buckeye Flame

At the Contemporary Theatre of Ohio in downtown Columbus, a busy cast and crew are preparing to open the 2022 Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Fat Ham.”

Early this year, the theater was awarded a $10,000 grant by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to produce James Ijames’ overtly Black and queer adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.”