TAke Action with OSA:

We see what’s happening. We’re watching and we’re holding our schools accountable!

Senate Bill 1 killed higher education. On the first Wednesday of classes (August 27th, 2025), we will wear black to mourn the loss. After that, every Friday, we wear black to tell admin their students are watching.

By signing this petition, you commit to:

• Hold campus administrators accountable when they fail students

• Stand united with students across Ohio

• Spread the word because solidarity only grows when we share it

This isn’t about one campus. This is about power, unity, and raising our voices!

Take the pledge. Wear black. Demand better. Students will not be silenced.

After you sign this petition, we’ll connect you to student leaders at your campus OSA Chapter so you have the opportunity to take part in direct action campaigns. If you don't have a chapter, we'll help you start one. You are integral to the student movement – and we want you in our fight to save Higher Education.

Our Letter:

Dear University Presidents, Trustees, and Administrators across Ohio,

We, the Ohio Student Association, undersigned students, and allies, write to you with urgency and conviction.

We demand the following:

1. A public statement from your office acknowledging campus changes and their implications for academic freedom and student belonging.

2. A clear plan to preserve and protect belonging, diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, even as state mandates attempt to dismantle them.

3. Transparent communication with students about how your institution will respond to this legislation, and what will be done to ensure no student is left behind.

The passage and implementation of Senate Bill 1 has already begun to dismantle the very foundations of equity, belonging, and academic freedom within our public universities. In its wake, students have lost not only programs, centers, and scholarships—but also the sense of community and support that made higher education in Ohio accessible, inclusive, and excellent.

We call on you to protect the spaces, resources, and values that underrepresented students—students of color, LGBTQ+ students, women, veterans, students with disabilities, first-generation and international students—rely on to survive and succeed on our campuses.

We urge you not to overcomply with SB 1– to act in the interest of students rather than in fear of the legislature. Your institutional overcompliance furthers a broader political movement that seeks to erase the progress made toward justice in higher education. History will not look kindly on the silence of complicity in the face of injustice. Students are watching, and we deserve clarity, accountability, and action.

We remind you of your moral obligation as leaders of Ohio’s universities: to stand as beacons of truth, equity, and inclusion in a time of growing political repression and attacks on students. The immense power of your institutions must not be used to appease reactionary agendas, but to affirm the values of education and democracy.

This is only the beginning. Your students are organizing, and we are watching your actions as SB1 strips power away from our beloved universities. Stand with students. Stand for justice.

Sincerely,

The Ohio Student Association