As Introduced

135th General Assembly

Regular Session S. B. No. 117

2023-2024

A BILL

To enact sections 3335.39 and 3364.07 of the Revised Code to establish the Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society at the Ohio State University, to establish the Institute of American Constitutional Thought and Leadership at the University of Toledo, and to make an appropriation.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:

Section 1. That sections 3335.39 and 3364.07 of the Revised Code be enacted to read as follows:

Sec. 3335.39. (A)(1) The Salmon P. Chase center for civics, culture, and society is established as an independent academic unit within the Ohio state university. The center shall conduct teaching and research in the historical ideas, traditions, and texts that have shaped the American constitutional order and society.

(2) The center shall establish bylaws requiring the center to do all of the following:

(a) Educate students by means of free, open, and rigorous intellectual inquiry to seek the truth;

(b) Affirm its duty to equip students with the skills, habits, and dispositions of mind they need to reach their own informed conclusions on matters of social and political importance;

(c) Affirm the value of intellectual diversity in higher education and aspire to enhance the intellectual diversity of the university;

(d) Affirm a commitment to create a community dedicated to an ethic of civil and free inquiry, which respects the intellectual freedom of each member, supports individual capacities for growth, and welcomes the differences of opinion that shall naturally exist in a public university community.

The requirements prescribed under divisions (A)(2)(a) to (d) of this section shall take priority over any other bylaws adopted by the center.

(3) The board of trustees of the university may change the name of the center in accordance with the philanthropic naming policies and practices of the university.

(B)(1) The center shall be an independent academic unit of the university with the authority to house tenure-track faculty who hold appointments within the center. Faculty appointed to the center shall not be required, but may, hold joint appointments within any other division of the university. The board of trustees of the university shall allot not fewer than fifteen tenure-track faculty positions to teach under the center.

(2) Employment contracts for all tenure-track faculty appointed to the center shall guarantee reappointment elsewhere in the university, at the same rank and compensation, in the event that the center is discontinued.

(C)(1) The center shall offer instruction in all of the following:

(a) The books and major debates which form the intellectual foundation of free societies, especially that of the United States;

(b) The principles, ideals, and institutions of the American constitutional order;

(2) The center also shall focus on both of the following:

(a) Offering university-wide programming related to the values of free speech and civil discourse;

(b) Expanding the intellectual diversity of the university's academic community.

(D)(1) Not later than sixty days after the effective date of this section, the talent, compensation, and governance committee of the board of trustees of the university, if such a committee exists, shall appoint, with the advice and consent of the senate, a seven-member Chase center academic council. If no such committee exists, the board of trustees shall appoint members under this division.

(2) The academic council shall be comprised of scholars with relevant expertise and experience. Not more than one member of the council may be an employee of the university. Not less than three members of the advisory board shall be from Ohio.

(3) Three members of the academic council shall serve initial terms of two years and four members shall serve initial terms of four years, which the members shall determine at their first meeting, and select replacements for vacant seats.

(E)(1) The academic council established under division (D) of this section shall conduct a nationwide search for the director of the center. The academic council shall submit to the president of the university a list of finalists from which the president shall select and appoint a director, subject to the approval of the talent, compensation, and governance committee of the university board of trustees, or if no such committee exists, by the board of trustees.

(2) The director shall have the protection of tenure or tenure eligibility and report directly to the provost and the president of the university.

(3) The director shall hire all faculty and staff of the center and shall oversee the development of the center's curriculum. The center shall be granted the authority to offer courses and develop certificate, minor, and major programs as well as graduate programs.

Sec. 3364.07. (A) The institute of American constitutional thought and leadership is established for the purpose of creating and disseminating knowledge about American constitutional thought and to form future leaders of the legal profession through research, scholarship, teaching, collaboration, and mentorship. The institute shall be an academic unit within the university of Toledo, initially located at the college of law. The university shall require the college of law to provide adequate administrative space for the institute.

(B) The institute shall pursue all of the following goals:

(1) To enrich the curriculum in American constitutional studies, including the core texts and great debates of western civilization;

(2) To educate university students in the principles, ideals, and institutions of the American constitutional order;

(3) To educate university students in the foundations of responsible leadership and informed citizenship and to cultivate the next generation of leaders in the legal profession;

(4) To offer university-wide programming related to the values of open inquiry and civil discourse;

(5) To expand the intellectual diversity of the university's academic community and to create a rich forum for the development of ideas across the political and ideological spectrum;

(6) To support faculty and graduate student scholarship that advances understanding of American constitutional thought and institutions;

(7) To promote scholarly collaboration within the university and beyond;

(8) To host lectures, debates, and symposia, and sponsor visiting scholars, jurists, and teachers.

(1) The institute shall educate students by means of free, open, and rigorous intellectual inquiry to seek the truth.

(2) The institute shall equip students with the skills, habits, and dispositions of mind they need to reach their own informed conclusions on matters of legal, social, and political importance.

(3) The institute shall value intellectual diversity in higher education, including in faculty recruitment, hiring, and appointment, and aspire to enhance the intellectual diversity of academic life at the university.

(4) The institute shall create a community dedicated to an ethic of civil and free inquiry, which respects the intellectual freedom of each member, supports individual capacities for growth, and welcomes the differences of opinion that naturally occur in a public university community.

(D)(1) Not later than sixty days after the effective date of this section, the talent, compensation, and governance committee of the board of trustees of the university, if such a committee exists, shall appoint, with the advice and consent of the senate, a seven-member institute academic council. If no such committee exists, the board of trustees shall appoint members under this division.

(E)(1) The institute shall be led by a director who shall report directly to the president and provost of the university and consult with the dean of the college of law. The president of the university shall appoint a director not later than thirty days after the effective date of this section. The director shall be an expert of the western tradition, the American founding, and American constitutional thought, and shall have shown a commitment to the purposes, goals, and policies of the institute. The director's term shall be for five years and shall be renewable.

(2) The director shall have the protection of tenure or tenure eligibility. Any existing tenure from the university held by a director shall be transferred and maintained.

(F) The institute shall be an independent academic unit of the university with the authority to house tenure-track faculty who hold their appointments within the institute. Faculty appointed within the institute shall not be required, but may be permitted, to hold joint or courtesy appointments within any other division of the university.

(G) The director shall hire and appoint all faculty and staff of the institute and shall supervise all of the institute's activities. The institute shall have the ability to offer courses and develop certificate, minor, major, and graduate programs.

(H) The board of trustees of the university may change the name of the institute in accordance with the philanthropic naming policies and practices of the university.

Section 2. All items in this act are hereby appropriated as designated out of any moneys in the state treasury to the credit of the designated fund. For all operating appropriations made in this act, those in the first column are for fiscal year 2024 and those in the second column are for fiscal year 2025. The operating appropriations made in this act are in addition to any other operating appropriations made for these fiscal years.

Section 3.

	1	2	3	4	5
A	BOR DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION
B	General Revenue Fund
C	GRF	235533	Program and Project Support	$6,000,000	$7,000,000
D	TOTAL GRF General Revenue Fund			$6,000,000	$7,000,000
E	TOTAL ALL BUDGET FUND GROUPS			$6,000,000	$7,000,000

PROGRAM AND PROJECT SUPPORT

Of the foregoing appropriation item 235533, Program and Project Support, $5,000,000 in each fiscal year shall be distributed to The Ohio State University to support the Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society established under section 3335.39 of the Revised Code.

Of the foregoing appropriation item 235533, Program and Project Support, $1,000,000 in fiscal year 2024 and $2,000,000 in fiscal year 2025 shall be distributed to the University of Toledo to support the Institute of American Constitutional Thought and Leadership established under section 3364.07 of the Revised Code.

Section 4. Within the limits set forth in this act, the Director of Budget and Management shall establish accounts indicating the source and amount of funds for each appropriation made in this act, and shall determine the manner in which appropriation accounts shall be maintained. Expenditures from operating appropriations contained in this act shall be accounted for as though made in, and are subject to all applicable provisions of, the main operating appropriations act of the 135th General Assembly.