COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Since Gov. Mike DeWine signed Senate Bill 1 into law on March 28, Ohio’s public universities are preparing for a new landscape of higher education, one free of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

Senate Bill 1 bars colleges from implementing DEI practices on campus, drawing concern from students whose majors require diverse perspectives. The law also prohibits professors from endorsing any “controversial belief or policy” that may include gender identity and international politics.

Although there are protections in place for majors that require diverse studies to remain accredited, Ohio students and recent graduates said Senate Bill 1 threatens their programs’ success. See previous coverage of S.B. 1 in the video player above.

“If we do away with all the DEI programs on campus, where are the trainings and faculty going to come from?” Ohio State University history professor Christopher McKnight Nichols said.

Under Ohio law, university programs like social work or nursing must include courses on religious, racial, gender and cultural diversity to be accredited, in an effort to understand and serve patients or clients. Senate Democrat spokesperson Casey Rife said S.B. 1 was amended in the Ohio House and concurred in the Senate to address concerns for major requirements.

In situations where a DEI orientation or training is required to comply with laws, licensure requirements or accreditation standards, universities can submit written requests for an exemption to S.B. 1. Recent Ohio State nursing graduate Ruth Tesfay said S.B. 1 would still unnecessarily complicate the program.

“This is truly an upsetting and life-shattering bill that’s been signed into law,” Tesfay said. “The efforts our nursing schools were making were just barely scratching the surface but a start nonetheless. We are heading in the opposite direction.”

Liberal arts majors, who would not be eligible for such exemptions, said they worry S.B. 1 will prevent future students from accurately learning under their programs. Di Galbraith is graduating from Ohio University this year with a history major and globalization and development minor. Galbraith said protections in S.B. 1 to limit perceived faculty bias may instead limit student learning.

“History is all about being able to infer what happened and why and to draw your own conclusions while being able to see bias,” Galbraith said. “We’re trained to look beyond bias when it appears.” 

Galbraith focuses on marginalized communities in the Soviet Union and said Russian censorship has complicated the project, with documents deleted off Russian websites last fall. Her thesis examines if the Holodomor, a mass famine in the Soviet Union that killed millions of Ukrainians, was genocidal.

“I would have never been able to do that without being given all the resources and statistics,” Galbraith said. “It (S.B. 1) limits research and education on atrocities that came before us.”

Maggie Bennink graduated in 2024 with a history degree from Ohio University. As part of her required work, she interned at the Mahn Center Archives at the university library, where she processed the newly donated LGBTQ+ collection. She also presented on the history of Athens’ sexual orientation amendment and studied the relationship between gender identity, sexuality and magic as her thesis project. 

“I wouldn’t have had access to these materials, and I wouldn’t have been able to properly study either of these subjects without proper teaching by professors,” Bennink said. 

With subjects like history or English, professors said they worry how professors may have to adjust their teaching. Ohio State English professor Jill Galvan teaches British literary history, a subject she said requires a lot of historical context, including studying the British empire and decolonization.

“What does it mean to have to go into a classroom and, and be nervous about doing that?” Galvan said. “Am I going to get complained about because I’m teaching things as facts rather than entertaining everybody’s opinion?”

Nichols raised similar concerns. Before the bill’s passage, he told NBC4 he worried S.B. 1 would require him and other professors to entertain opinions that defy fact.

“In a class about World War II, I don’t think we should be legitimizing Holocaust denial,” he said.

Ohio universities are still determining how S.B. 1 will affect programs that involve controversial topics. Ohio University President Lori Stewart Gonzalez said Ohio University does not anticipate changing course offerings that involve controversial topics, addressing student concerns on April 7. An Ohio State representative said the university is still beginning its full compliance with S.B. 1, so they could not comment on specific coursework changes.