Watch NBC4’s one-on-one interview with Ohio State President Ted Carter in the video player above.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Ohio State’s new president is getting a head start on working with government officials.
By Wednesday – the third day of spring classes – Ted Carter had already had lunch with the governor, met with multiple state legislators and had plans to speak with more. He looked forward, in particular, to forging strong relationships with Gov. Mike DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted.
As president of the University of Nebraska system, Carter was no stranger to the legislators who determined his university’s funding. He met with all 49 lawmakers in Nebraska’s unicameral legislature, Carter said in an interview Wednesday, remarking that it was much different than Ohio’s 132 lawmakers spread among two chambers.
He’s also familiar with navigating contentious political debates. In Nebraska, the Lincoln campus spurred outcry from Republican state leaders when its chancellor announced plans to address the enrollment gap between white students and students of color. The governor at the time accused the university of engaging in “ideological indoctrination.”
Carter defended that plan in an open letter while attempting to assuage Republicans’ fears about liberal bias, promising that Nebraska would not “impose critical race theory” on students or “limit the free, robust exchange of ideas on campus.”
At Ohio State, he’s already started repeating the echoes of that refrain, faced with lawmakers who view the state’s institutions of higher education as places where conservative voices are suppressed to benefit diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
Senate Bill 83, the Higher Education Enhancement Act, requires universities to establish various policies aimed at eliminating liberal bias. The bill, which has undergone nearly a dozen revisions since its introduction last year, would ban mandatory diversity training, require professors publicly post course syllabi and would require professors to be evaluated on their commitment to “ideological diversity.”
The bill received a record-breaking amount of opposition in its first few hearings, spurring testimony from Ohio State faculty, students and staff. Ohio State’s board of trustees issued its own statement objecting to SB83, arguing it may stifle academic freedom and place burdensome requirements on universities. Carter said Wednesday that he was “thankful” for the board’s prior statement but declined to provide his own thoughts on the legislation.
Still, he affirmed to reporters Monday and to NBC4 on Wednesday that promoting free speech on campus was among his greatest priorities.
“I’m very proud that I’ve always defended the right to free speech, and I have that same perspective as a university system president and here at Ohio State,” Carter said. “I welcome all voices, and we should be welcoming to all voices. The fact that we have protests on campus should be celebrated.”
He emphasized that part of the university’s mission was to teach students “not what to think, but how to think.”
As far as SB83, or lawmakers’ concerns about Ohio’s colleges more generally, Carter said he hoped maintaining a regular line of communication with legislators would go a long way.
“I want to understand what it is that they think needs to be legislated, but I also want them to find the trust that we will do the right things and come up with the right answers, so they may not have the sense that they need to legislate some of these things,” he said.
But when bills come to pass, he reiterated that Ohio State will follow all laws, regardless of his or the board’s opinion of them. That includes House Bill 68, a ban on certain medical care for transgender youth that also prohibits trans girls and women from playing on female sports teams – including collegiate teams.
DeWine vetoed the bill in late December, but the House on Wednesday overrode that veto, making it just the ninth override attempt on a vetoed bill in 40 years. Senate Republicans plan to follow suit on Jan. 24.
Hours before the House overrode DeWine’s veto by a larger margin than the bill originally passed, Carter said he hoped lawmakers were listening to the “smart people out there expressing their opinions” on HB68. He declined to say whether he felt trans women should be banned from women’s sports teams.
“We’re always going to take care of our students, our student-athletes, provide them the best health care that we can give them and make sure that their needs are being taken care of,” he said. “When it comes to legislation, whether it be at the state or federal level, we’ll follow those rules. And it’s really that clear to me.”