Ohio's evolving landscape of student activism

Farah Siddiqi

By Eduardo Miranda Strobel / Broadcast version by Farah Siddiqi reporting for the Kent State NewsLab-Ohio News Connection Collaboration.

Protests at Ohio universities may look different this fall.

A new law is requiring higher education institutions to adopt and enforce policies addressing racial, religious and ethnic harassment. The universities must also publish guidelines on student protest restrictions, provide comprehensive training for staff and establish procedures for investigating complaints, allowing for anonymous submissions.

"I am never against the ability for students to use their First Amendment rights," said State Rep. Dontavius Jarrells (D-Columbus), a sponsor of House Bill 606. "My hope is through our bill is that we tamp down on the number incidences that lead to hateful acts on campuses, discrimination, harassment because of who they love, what they look like, with their religion or ethnic identity."

The Enact CAMPUS Act (Campus Accountability and Modernization to Protect University Students) originated from the campus protests that spread across the United States in the past year because of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. There were reports of antisemitism related to these protests.

The bipartisan legislation was passed in the House and Senate sessions in June as an amendment to Senate Bill 94, which covers a range of topics from administrative reforms to technology and court procedures. Governor Mike DeWine signed it into law in July.

Ohio State University, Case Western Reserve University, Kent State University, Ohio University, Miami University, Oberlin College and Denison University had protests this past spring. Thirty-six arrests for alleged criminal trespassing were made at Ohio State, including students, a staff member and supporters unrelated to the institution. At Case Western Reserve, 20 protesters were detained and eventually released from police custody.

"I had a group of constituents reach out to me about trying to put together a bill to protect students on campus. Obviously, this was during a time of a lot of the encampments that was happening across our nation," Jarrells said. "There were other students who reached out as we were putting together the bill who also shared their own stories related to the rises in racial, religious or ethnic, ethnically charged acts of harassment."

With the legislation, colleges will also be tasked with tracking and reporting hate incidents annually and implementing grant programs to enhance student safety during campus events.

"We crafted a bill that I think really speaks to the diversity of realities that are on college campuses without sacrificing the ability for folks to use their First Amendment rights," Jarrells said.

Protesters urged universities to divest their finances from organizations related to Israel. In Ohio, the Revised Code Section 9.76 does not allow divestment by public universities to happen since those universities must maintain non-discriminatory commercial relations with certain jurisdictions if they wish to engage in contracts with state agencies.

"The administration at Case Western Reserve is very resolute in their stances on refusing to say divest from Israel or cut their ties with Israeli institutions," said Adam Saar, a Case student and founder of the university's Jewish Student Union.

He said he was dismayed by how the protesters conducted themselves on Case's campus.

"A lot of the rhetoric that was used that is antisemitic beyond just criticism of Israel," he said. "As an Israeli myself, I can be very critical of my government, but walking through campus and hearing calls for an intifada or for Israel to be wiped off the map is not a safe or positive environment to be in on campus."

Yaseen Shaikh, a May 2024 Kent State graduate and former president of Students for Justice in Palestine on Kent's campus, said Ohio officials overlook the cause of the student protests.

"It is truly horrendous that our elected officials that are supposed to represent us would rather harm our ability to protest it than to actually do something about ending the genocide," Shaikh said. "Rather than them looking at the cause of these protests and understanding that these universities are complicit in the genocide by working with security companies and contractors that are directly involved in this genocide, they instead choose to look at the effect, which is that students are outraged."

Shaikh said Students for Justice in Palestine held several campus protests at Kent State, and he followed accounts of protest activities at other campuses across the country.

"We need to be very careful as to what we qualify as harassment in this dialogue and in this discourse," he said. "When we see people advocating against genocide, against apartheid, for human rights, and are doing so in public, are doing so in a manner that, yes, it may make people uncomfortable, but uncomfortable is very different from being harassed."

Shaikh said the legislation restricts freedom of speech and protest, but Saar said it is helpful.

"I think the fact that the state is mandating that universities have a transparent way of dealing with these issues, of dealing with cases of harassment and discrimination, and are forced to tackle it, is a very positive thing," Saar said.

He hopes that everyone, including Jewish and Muslim students, will feel safe and supported in their campus communities going forward.


This collaboration is produced in association with Media in the Public Interest and funded in part by the George Gund Foundation.