The recently introduced Ohio Senate Bill 83, the so-called Ohio Higher Education Enhancement Act, has generated heated debate and considerable confusion over the bill’s motivation, what it actually says, its implications and impacts.

When asked at the first hearing what problem in Ohio public and private universities and colleges the bill was solving, the bill’s author, Sen. Jerry Cirino (R-Kirtland) stated plainly and clearly: to deal with a trend towards indoctrination in our universities.

But what is less plain and clear from the rattle-bag of bans and demands in the bill, is what this means in practice. Indoctrination is nowhere mentioned as the cause for the bill banning mandatory Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) training, courses, and initiatives, academic relations with China, or university employees from striking.

At the same time, indoctrination is missing from the rationale for the bill demanding a compulsory American History course, Board of Trustees education programs, making course syllabi public or determining faculty workload and annual reviews.

Community Festival returns to Goodale Park on June 23, 24 and 25, 2023.

ComFest showcases the very best in live music in Columbus and Central Ohio. Entertainment applications for all stages are now open through April.

Street Fair brings local artisans, food vendors and community organizations together to showcase their wares, interact and celebrate with the Columbus Progressive community. Street Fair applications are open until April 20, 2023 at www.comfest.com

The second I entered the Matrix Theatre on the opening night of June Carryl’s Blue, Rogue Machine’s new play immediately got me into the mood. Not only was a woman in an LAPD uniform present, but soon she started barking orders to theatergoers assembled in the Matrix’s library and proceeded to have us line up and individually march through metal detectors as she searched our bags. Was she an actual police officer or a thespian? Was it live or Memorex? (For good measure, Blue’s press kit is also cleverly in the format of a police dossier.)

Free Press readers gathered Saturday evening, April 8, for a Cyber-Salon.

Link to salon video.

Mark Stansbery, Free Press Board member, started out the salon by introducing the two speakers, progressive candidates for the general election this fall in Central Ohio. Both speakers are also recipients of the Free Press Libby Award for community activism.

The first speaker was Joe Motil, who is running for Columbus mayor, the only opponent in the race is current mayor, Andy Ginther. Joe is a lifelong Columbus resident, 40 years active in city public policy, and a retired union worker.

Joe is running because he’s tired of the pay to play city politics that benefit developers. His campaign will focus on affordable housing, police reform, public transit, homelessness, neighborhood infrastructure, and government corruption.

Dear unrepresentative council member Rob Dorans,

May I give you a tour of Columbus or any other city in the US or the world? Have you ever been to a functional city with credible urban planners and traffic engineers? Do you know what an actual neighborhood is? Have you or another employee of the failing city, and city of Columbus studied cities, and their histories? NO!

You and your city flunkies, the paid agents of out-of-control tax abatements and TIFs with no accountability demonstrate your profound ignorance with your latest uninformed and dangerous “Where Do We Begin? Identifying Initial Focus Areas for Modernizing the City of Columbus’ Zoning Code.”

Look at the rhetoric and grammar itself. Can you translate any of this poor sloganeering into communicable English, let alone urban policy? Where does who begin what? Identifying initial focus areas? Modernizing? What do you mean? None of these terms speaks for itself. Do you or your scribal aides have any idea? Has anyone taken freshman composition, let alone urban planning?