Ohio legislators introduce bill to address campus anti-Semitism, religious discrimination
On May 16, Reps. Justin Pizzulli and Dontavius Jarrells introduced the Campus Accountability and Modernization to Protect University Students (CAMPUS) Act in the Ohio House of Representatives.
The bill, if passed, would tighten state laws surrounding anti-Semitism and create new programs designed to prevent campus discrimination.
Ohio lawmakers are taking steps to stop discriminatory and hateful protests at the state’s colleges and universities.
On May 16, Representatives Justin Pizzulli and Dontavius Jarrells introduced the Campus Accountability and Modernization to Protect University Students (CAMPUS) Act in the Ohio House of Representatives. The bill, if passed, would tighten state laws surrounding anti-Semitism and create new programs designed to prevent campus discrimination.
“Our students need us to do more to address the rise in racial, religious, and ethnically charged acts of harassment, intimidation, and fear on campus. We must be clear: hate of any form is unacceptable,” Jarrells, a Democrat from the Columbus area, said in a press release. “We hope this bill will spark needed conversations and spur action to help students and universities come together.”
The act would require public and private universities to design a policy regarding “racial, religious, and ethnic bias” that would create, at a minimum, a formal procedure for submitting discrimination complaints, improved partnerships between law enforcement and campus security units, relevant training for faculty and staff, and a task force dedicated to “combating antisemitism, Islamophobia, and hatred, harassment, bullying, or violence toward others.”
“We owe it to our students to do two things at once: protect the freedoms enshrined in the first amendment while also making sure that all students live and learn in an environment free from harassment, discrimination, and hate,” three members of the House’s Jewish Caucus also said in a public statement. “We have seen unacceptable levels of antisemitism and other forms of ethnic or religious prejudice.”
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The bill also includes a provision that would require schools to submit detailed reports to state officials following incidents of anti-Semitism and other forms of religious or ethnic discrimination.
The act comes in the wake of related state-level efforts to crack down on anti-Semitism. In a recent letter addressed to several of the state’s largest universities, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost warned that anti-Israel activists who took part in protests while wearing a mask may face felony charges for violating a 1953 law that originally targeted violence perpetrated by members of the Ku Klux Klan.
Campus Reform has reached out to Dave Yost and the Ohio House Jewish Caucus for comment. This story will be updated accordingly.