Final planned SB 1 communication

Dear Colleagues,

We anticipate this update to be our last formal communication reporting on the work of the SB 1 Implementation Committee.

Throughout the last nine months, the committee has fielded hundreds of questions and connected with faculty, staff and students from across our campuses to help ensure that Ohio State complies with the law. Your dedicated assistance during this period has been critical to the university’s success, and we are grateful for your partnership.

In the coming weeks, the Senate Bill 1 Implementation Committee will wind down its efforts now that the law’s most significant provisions have taken effect. Currently, the committee is focused on completing work regarding the implementation of SB 1’s syllabi requirement as well as the required American government or history course for autumn 2026.

Additionally, please see below a series of recent updates:

• Sponsorships of External Events and Activities
• Cultural Competency and Social Determinants of Health Guidance
• Website Banner Removals by February 15
• Low-Enrollment Degree Programs
• Invited Speakers Reminder

Importantly, and as part of regular operating procedures when complying with state or federal law, the responsibility for continued compliance with SB 1 will rest within colleges and units. For issues that cannot be managed by your teams, please see the compliance website, which will continue to be updated, or email legislativequestions@osu.edu. If the nature of your inquiry is a legal one, contact Ohio State’s Office of Legal Affairs.

Thank you again for your leadership throughout this process. This university remains indebted to you and your teams.

Ravi Bellamkonda, Anne Garcia and Stacy Rastauskas

Updates

Sponsorships of External Events and Activities 

While all existing and applicable university rules must continue to be followed, sponsorships of external events and third-party activities are permitted at the discretion of college or unit leadership.

Regarding SB 1, any college or unit funding cannot be used for DEI training and orientations or to contract with consultants or third parties whose role is or would be to promote admissions, hiring or promotion on the basis of protected class.

Changing the name of any DEI training or prohibited activity while continuing to “serve the same or similar purposes” or use “the same or similar means” is not allowed per the law.

Please see the SB 1 Compliance website for a link to more information.

Cultural Competency and Social Determinants of Health Guidance

Developed in close collaboration with the Wexner Medical Center, our health sciences colleges and offices such as Student Life, the Cultural Competency and Social Determinants of Health Guidance is now live on the SB 1 Compliance website.

Again, please see the SB 1 compliance website for the full guidance document.

Website Banner Removals by February 15

All colleges and units have been responsible for updating their websites to accurately reflect compliance with the law, including but not limited to ensuring that programming and events are open to all and that the university is not engaged in DEI orientations and trainings. Given the extensive number of websites to be updated, the university has enabled banners like the example provided below to identify publicly that the university is working to meet these requirements; the banners are then removed once a site is updated to reflect compliance.

The law went into effect on June 27, 2025, and all colleges and units should now have completed the work of updating websites to accurately reflect compliance with the law, including removing language making impermissible references to “protected class status or other activities” prohibited by SB 1. Units that have not yet finalized these changes must do so no later than February 15, 2026, at which point all remaining banners will be removed.

Low-Enrollment Degree Programs

The Office of Academic Affairs has worked with college and department leaders to evaluate options – including restructuring, realignment or potential elimination – for degrees that fall under SB 1’s low-enrollment provisions. The university submitted eight inactivation requests for programs in two colleges that were approved by the Ohio Department of Higher Education.

Those degree programs include: BA in Music Theory, BA in Musicology, BA in Medieval and Renaissance Studies, and BS in Integrated Major in Mathematics and English (College of Arts and Sciences); and AS in Sustainable Agriculture, AS in Biochemical Sciences, AAS in Landscape Horticulture, and BS in Sustainable Agriculture (College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences).

As a reminder, all current students who are enrolled in any degree program that may be eliminated will be able to finish their degree without interruption.

Invited Speakers Reminder

In compliance with SB 1, the university maintains a list of invited speakers, published monthly, who are paid more than $500. Please see the lists of invited speakers from June to November 2025 (the list of December speakers will be in late January 2026). 

We have received a few questions about responsibilities in reporting or submitting speakers in relation to SB 1. Please know that this list is gathered from information in Workday. Faculty and staff have no responsibilities beyond following the normal Workday process for paying or providing items to speakers in exchange for them speaking.