Dear faculty members,

This week (either Wednesday, September 22^nd or Thursday, September 23^rd), the Ohio legislature will be holding a hearing on House Bills 322 and/or 327, which would prohibit the teaching of “certain current events and certain concepts regarding race and sex” (HB 322) and “divisive concepts” (HB 327).  

Not only are these bills extreme threats to academic freedom, but they would place severe pressure on many types of faculty speech in the classroom given the serious consequences if found to be in violation of these laws (the university would lose ¼ of its state funding for the first offense!).

We are encouraging you to contact the Committee members and voice your opposition to these bills.  You can refer to these talking points in your communications with Committee members.  You can also find more information about these bills by watching the recent Save Ohio Higher Ed forum on Sept. 2, reading this recent Academe blog, or accessing more information and toolkits at the League of Women Voters' Honesty for Ohio Education website.

Additionally, you can submit opposition testimony, either in writing or in-person during the hearing.  Testimony must be submitted 24 hours in advance to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. You can use this testimony template, fill in your own information, and even include some of these talking points. You must include the required Witness Information Form (which should be added as the first page). You can also contact your State Representative here or through this easy tool.

Coleen Taylor, MPA

Executive Director

330.673.9118

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

KSUFA

136 N. Water Street

Suite 213

Kent, Ohio 44240

The Kent State United Faculty Association (KSUFA) serves as the collective bargaining agent for all full-time faculty at Kent State University. First established in 1975, KSUFA is one of the oldest faculty unions in Ohio and pre-dates the law providing collective bargaining rights to full-time faculty at Ohio’s public institutions of higher education.

KSUFA is responsible for negotiating the terms and conditions of employment for all full-time faculty at KSU’s eight campuses. KSUFA has two bargaining units: the FTNTT unit that represents the Full-Time Non-Tenure Track faculty and the TT unit that represents the Tenured and Tenure-Track Faculty. Each bargaining unit independently negotiates its own, unique Collective Bargaining Agreement every three years. Each of these agreements encompasses a wide array of salary and benefit provisions, grievance and appeal procedures, and outlines the fundamental principles for shared governance at Kent State University at the department, school, college, and campus levels.

In addition to serving as your union, KSUFA is committed to promoting positive academic values and shared governance, as well as protecting faculty against attacks on tenure and academic freedom. The Collective Bargaining Agreements of both bargaining units incorporate AAUP's 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure and 1966 Statement on Professional Ethics.

While you are not required to be a member of KSUFA to share in the benefits of collective bargaining, we hope that you will consider that option. Members provide ideas, leadership and financial support to the organization. Membership also entitles you to an active voice in determining the issues and priorities established for negotiations and to voting rights with regard to contract issues. Membership forms may be downloaded directly from the site.

We are pleased to continue our tradition of service to faculty, and we hope to hear from you with your comments, concerns and suggestions for the future of the Association. Feel free to contact us – we look forward to hearing from you soon!

KSUFA
136 N. Water St., Suite 213
Kent, OH 44240