Ohio’s Kent State University Rebrands DEI Efforts as Lawmakers Debate Bill to Outlaw It

Kent State University has embedded DEI efforts throughout its academics and programming in recent years, creating a new Division of People, Culture and Belonging and adding administrators, faculty, and projects centered around the ideology, a College Fix analysis found.

The new division, established in September, merged the Human Resources department and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion offices. The rebranding came as Buckeye State lawmakers considered legislation to ban mandatory DEI in higher education.

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American Colleges Are Partnered with Palestinian University That Praised Hamas as ‘Righteous Martyrs’

Several American colleges are partnered with Al-Quds Open University, a Palestinian university that called the Hamas terrorists who attacked Israel “righteous martyrs,” according to a Daily Caller News Foundation review of university web pages.

Al-Quds Open University declared Sunday, Oct. 8 as a day to “mourn the souls of the righteous martyrs and to denounce the occupation’s continuing crimes against our people in the West Bank and Gaza,” following Hamas’ invasion of Israel. Al-Quds Open University ended its announcement by stating “glory and eternity to our martyrs.”

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Ohio Governor DeWine Appoints Attorney Michael DeLeone to the Lake County Court of Common Pleas

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced on Tuesday the appointment of Republican attorney Michael DeLeone to the Lake County Court of Common Pleas Juvenile Division serving the community of Lake County.

Judge-designee DeLeone will take the seat formerly held by Judge Karen Lawson who passed away in February. The judge-designee will assume office on August 14th, 2023. DeLeone will serve the remainder of the unfinished term and needs to run for election in November 2024 to retain the seat for a subsequent term.

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Republican Judge Megan Shanahan Announces Bid for Ohio Supreme Court Seat

Republican Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Megan Shanahan has announced her bid for a seat on the Ohio Supreme Court in 2024. Shanahan is the first to announce her candidacy.

According to Shanahan, she is running for an Ohio Supreme Court Seat because she understands the proper role of the judiciary “interpreting the law, not legislating from the bench.”

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Ohio Governor Announces $5 Million in Security Grants for Higher Education

Thirty-three higher-education institutions across the Buckeye State will get $5 million in total for safety related enhancements, Governor Mike DeWine (R-OH) announced this week. 

The allocations from the state’s 2022 Campus Safety Program will largely fund equipment such as metal detectors, alarms, loudspeakers, security cameras and lock technology. Schools getting the largest amounts include the University of Akron ($422,630), Kent State University ($387,567), Terra State Community College ($338,598), Bowling Green State University ($278.075.63) and Washington State Community College ($226,345.90). 

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Ohio University Employees Are Donating to Democrats Ten-to-One over Republicans

With midterm elections this year, Ohio’s 2022 congressional redistricting plans are under scrutiny. The state lost one congressional district last year, bringing the total number down to 15.

The Ohio Supreme Court recently struck down new redistricted maps and gave the Ohio Redistricting Commission until Feb. 17 to draw new maps. As the deadline approached, the Commission decided they were at an “impasse” and negotiations came to a halt as of this writing.

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Ohio Consolidates COVID Restrictions

Gov. Mike DeWine COVID press briefing

During the Monday COVID briefing Ohio Republican Governor Mike DeWine announced that Ohio Department of Health (ODH) Director Stephanie McCloud would release a consolidated order to simplify state-imposed COVID restrictions.

The “order does consolidate several orders and transfers important items we want to focus on into one order,” said McCloud. The crux of the order will be “the mask, staying in smaller groups, distancing from others, sanitizing.”

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Economists Believe Ohio Must Do More to Help COVID-19 Recovery

A large majority of a panel of Ohio economists believes the $1 billion in spending proposed by Gov. Mike DeWine to lift the state from the COVID-19 pandemic will not be enough.

In a survey published by Scioto Analysis, a Columbus-based policy analysis organization, 20 of 23 Ohio economists believe the state needs to invest more to support small businesses, bars, restaurants, local infrastructure and residential broadband.

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Kent State University Assigns Anime Porn to High School Minor

According to the Ohio Department of Higher Education’s website College Credit Plus (CCP) “ is Ohio’s dual enrollment program that provides students in grades 7-12 the opportunity to earn college and high school credits at the same time by taking courses from Ohio colleges or universities.”

A 17-year-old high school student enrolled in Ohio’s CCP program signed up for College Writing I: Social Issues Through Anime at Kent State University (KSU).

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Frank LaRose Doesn’t Want Jane Fonda to Speak at Kent State University Event Commemorating the Kent State Shooting

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose wants Kent State University (KSU) to “rescind” its speaking invitation for actress Jane Fonda at an event commemorating the 50-year anniversary of the KSU shooting where the Ohio National Guard killed four students and injured nine others who were protesting the on-going Vietnam War.

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Ohio Custodians Sue Kent State and Union for Illegally Deducting Fees

  A group of custodians at Kent State University are suing their employer and its union representatives, who have continued to illegally deduct dues from their paychecks after they resigned their membership. The custodians, Annamarie Hannay, Adda Gape, and John Kohl, are being assisted in their legal challenge by The Buckeye Institute and the Liberty Justice Center, which represented Mark Janus in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling of Janus v. AFSCME. In that case, the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional for government employers to withhold union dues from employees without their “affirmative consent.” As a result of that ruling, Hannay, Gape, and Kohl resigned their union membership and asked the university to stop deducting dues from their paychecks. The union, which happens to be the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), said in response that members can only opt-out of union membership “once per year during a 15-day window preceding the anniversary of their signature on a union card,” according to the lawsuit. The plaintiffs allege that AFSCME refused to honor their resignations outside of “arbitrary opt-out periods.” “AFSCME is putting money before workers. The union is violating workers’ constitutional rights by denying their resignations…

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