By Eduardo Miranda Strobel / Broadcast version by Farah Siddiqi reporting for the Kent State NewsLab-Ohio News Connection Collaboration.

Protests at Ohio universities may look different this fall.

A new law is requiring higher education institutions to adopt and enforce policies addressing racial, religious and ethnic harassment. The universities must also publish guidelines on student protest restrictions, provide comprehensive training for staff and establish procedures for investigating complaints, allowing for anonymous submissions.

"I am never against the ability for students to use their First Amendment rights," said State Rep. Dontavius Jarrells (D-Columbus), a sponsor of House Bill 606. "My hope is through our bill is that we tamp down on the number incidences that lead to hateful acts on campuses, discrimination, harassment because of who they love, what they look like, with their religion or ethnic identity."

The Enact CAMPUS Act (Campus Accountability and Modernization to Protect University Students) originated from the campus protests that spread across the United States in the past year because of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. There were reports of antisemitism related to these protests.

The bipartisan legislation was passed in the House and Senate sessions in June as an amendment to Senate Bill 94, which covers a range of topics from administrative reforms to technology and court procedures. Governor Mike DeWine signed it into law in July.

Ohio State University, Case Western Reserve University, Kent State University, Ohio University, Miami University, Oberlin College and Denison University had protests this past spring. Thirty-six arrests for alleged criminal trespassing were made at Ohio State, including students, a staff member and supporters unrelated to the institution. At Case Western Reserve, 20 protesters were detained and eventually released from police custody.

"I had a group of constituents reach out to me about trying to put together a bill to protect students on campus. Obviously, this was during a time of a lot of the encampments that was happening across our nation," Jarrells said. "There were other students who reached out as we were putting together the bill who also shared their own stories related to the rises in racial, religious or ethnic, ethnically charged acts of harassment."

With the legislation, colleges will also be tasked with tracking and reporting hate incidents annually and implementing grant programs to enhance student safety during campus events.

"We crafted a bill that I think really speaks to the diversity of realities that are on college campuses without sacrificing the ability for folks to use their First Amendment rights," Jarrells said.

Protesters urged universities to divest their finances from organizations related to Israel. In Ohio, the Revised Code Section 9.76 does not allow divestment by public universities to happen since those universities must maintain non-discriminatory commercial relations with certain jurisdictions if they wish to engage in contracts with state agencies.

"The administration at Case Western Reserve is very resolute in their stances on refusing to say divest from Israel or cut their ties with Israeli institutions," said Adam Saar, a Case student and founder of the university's Jewish Student Union.

He said he was dismayed by how the protesters conducted themselves on Case's campus.

"A lot of the rhetoric that was used that is antisemitic beyond just criticism of Israel," he said. "As an Israeli myself, I can be very critical of my government, but walking through campus and hearing calls for an intifada or for Israel to be wiped off the map is not a safe or positive environment to be in on campus."

Yaseen Shaikh, a May 2024 Kent State graduate and former president of Students for Justice in Palestine on Kent's campus, said Ohio officials overlook the cause of the student protests.

"It is truly horrendous that our elected officials that are supposed to represent us would rather harm our ability to protest it than to actually do something about ending the genocide," Shaikh said. "Rather than them looking at the cause of these protests and understanding that these universities are complicit in the genocide by working with security companies and contractors that are directly involved in this genocide, they instead choose to look at the effect, which is that students are outraged."

Shaikh said Students for Justice in Palestine held several campus protests at Kent State, and he followed accounts of protest activities at other campuses across the country.

"We need to be very careful as to what we qualify as harassment in this dialogue and in this discourse," he said. "When we see people advocating against genocide, against apartheid, for human rights, and are doing so in public, are doing so in a manner that, yes, it may make people uncomfortable, but uncomfortable is very different from being harassed."

Shaikh said the legislation restricts freedom of speech and protest, but Saar said it is helpful.

"I think the fact that the state is mandating that universities have a transparent way of dealing with these issues, of dealing with cases of harassment and discrimination, and are forced to tackle it, is a very positive thing," Saar said.

He hopes that everyone, including Jewish and Muslim students, will feel safe and supported in their campus communities going forward.


This collaboration is produced in association with Media in the Public Interest and funded in part by the George Gund Foundation.


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After a new union at Miami University was certified by the state in June 2023, its members are still waiting for an initial contract.

The Faculty Alliance of Miami represents tenured and tenure-track faculty and librarians at the university in Oxford. Today marks 463 days the union has been without a contract. Negotiators said they are focused primarily on job security, academic freedom for librarians and fair compensation.

Rachel Makarowski, special collections librarian and a negotiation team member for the union, said the annual cost-of-living raises the university is offering "would make living in Oxford untenable."

"We are really feeling that kind of tight pressure on our wallets," Makarowski acknowledged. "As well as the fact that they're devaluing us and our labor that is what makes the university work."

A university representative said it has been working "in good faith" and has made 11 tentative agreements with the union. Makarowski countered the university has been using stall tactics to delay finalizing an agreement.

Miami University is the largest employer in Butler County. Oxford is a town of about 22,000, where Makarowski pointed out its union members make up a significant group of residents.

"The faculty and the librarians at a university are really going to be influential on the local economy, on the local programming, et cetera," Makarowski explained. "All of us will really feel when we get a good contract but they'll also feel it if we get a bad contract."

On the most recent bargaining days, according to the union's website, the union has reached tentative agreements around grievance and arbitration, discipline and discharge, the promotion process and enhanced funds for publication and other costs for scholarly work.


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The first semester for Minnesota college students is winding down.

Supporters of the state's new free tuition program - which assists low-income households - say for those who haven't taken advantage, now's a good time to consider eligibility going into 2025.

Preliminary data from the state show this new program, which covers full tuition expenses for households earning less than $80,000 a year, awarded roughly 17,000 scholarships this fall.

Mike Dean, executive director of the group North Star Prosperity, said he feels those numbers are a "game changer" in removing accessibility barriers when it comes to higher education.

"We know that getting that post-secondary education or credential," said Dean, "is really the surest path to joining the middle class right now. "

Eligible households still have to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, known as the FAFSA, as part of the process.

The latest application round, which usually begins in early October for the next academic year, began taking shape in late November.

Federal officials pushed things back after a tumultuous rollout of a streamlined system last winter that resulted in delays.

Minnesota's program covers the tuition tab for eligible students after they've exhausted any other state and federal grants and scholarships.

States such as Minnesota have seen enrollment gradually decline for undergrad students, and Dean said opening up the doors to more people - who otherwise wouldn't have been able to finish or pursue a higher-ed path - helps address workforce shortages.

"Research shows that by 2031," said Dean, "72% of all jobs will require some sort of education or training beyond high school."

He was referring to a recent study from the Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce.

Program supporters stress that the Minnesota initiative can also help those interested in technical schools and gain valuable training for jobs some employers are having a hard time filling.

State data first reported by EdSource show that fraudsters have stolen more than $7.5 million in student financial aid from California community colleges so far this year.

The theft amounts to less than one-tenth of 1% of student aid awarded in the Golden State.

Victor DeVore, dean of student services with the San Diego Community College District, said they use technology to flag suspicious applicants, and require them to submit proof of identity and residency, but it's still a game of cat and mouse.

"Last year, we had about 10,000 fraudulent applications that we blocked," said DeVore. "But even with that, every time we have some kind of metric or filter, the fraudsters are able to get through that."

The California Community College Chancellor's office says about 25% of applications are flagged as suspected fraud, up from 20% two years ago - as both fraud and its detection get more sophisticated.

The problem got worse during COVID as so many classes went online, making it difficult to require students to get financial aid checks in person.

The financial fraud means less money goes to students in need.

But Nicole Albo-Lopez, vice chancellor of educational programs and institutional effectiveness with the Los Angeles Community College District, said the enrollment fraud that goes with it has real consequences.

"The biggest frustration is when our classes are being filled by individuals that have no intention of actually attending the class," said Albo-Lopez, "keeping students from completing their educational goals within a preferred time frame, because they'll have to wait a semester or two to be able to take that class."

Many schools now require students to meet via zoom with staff trained to detect fraud - and they drop students who haven't verified their identity a few weeks before classes start.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.




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