DEAR EDITOR:

Last Friday, Gov. Mike DeWine signed Senate Bill 1 into law. In 90 days, it will silence free speech in Ohio’s public universities by threatening to punish professors and administrators who appear to take sides on “controversial beliefs or policies.”

What is a controversial belief or policy? Senate Bill 1 does not draw any sort of distinction between topics of reasonable controversy, such as whether tariffs are a reasonable economic tool, and topics that are not controversial at all, such as the right of any group of people to exist.

That’s not an oversight or a mistake. That’s intentional — the far right wants to make up the rules as they go along. If everything is controversial, and if professors cannot teach basic facts and truths, then how are students supposed to learn, to progress?

If you’ve never read the poem “First They Came” written by Martin Niemoller, you should. It will give you an idea of how this works. First, they will declare a topic as controversial, which will make it hard to learn about it and understand reality as it exists.

Then, while professors are confused about how to teach that topic, Republicans will declare another topic as controversial, and another, and another until professors can’t keep track of it all.

They will be forced to teach approved classes with censored lesson plans, just to make sure that they are not breaking the law.

As Republicans continue to cave to the furthest fringes of their party, they will come for anything and everything until Ohio’s public universities become a shell of their former selves, mere propaganda machines for the new fascist America.

BETHANY DOUBLE

President, Trumbull County Young Democrats

Farmdale