BILL'S PAC
(Updated)
In January of 2024 the executive committee had a meeting with then incoming president Johnson. At that meeting he was asked what his thoughts were on SB83 the precursor to SB1: "I don’t have feelings about it because I am not in the state legislature."
After refusing to make any comment on SB83 and later SB1 he finally did make a vague statement on the bill. As Signal Akron reported:
In a LinkedIn post after the bill passed the Senate, he said state lawmakers 'have once again demonstrated Ohio’s willingness to take the lead to tackle tough issues and solve hard problems,' though the post didn’t explicitly identify what he believed those issues or problems were.1
While he did not specify what those problems were, on a May 1st [podcast]2 with Bertram DeSouza, he admitted that he didn't believe any indoctrination (one of the central justifications behind SB1) was occurring at YSU.
After playing coy about his thoughts on SB1, twenty days later the Belief in Life and Liberty Political Action Committee (BILL's PAC) donated money to four legislators who supported SB1:
| Member | Committee | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Jerry Cirino | Higher Education Committee | $1,000 |
| Kristina Daley Roegner | Higher Education Committee | $1,000 |
| NIck Santucci | Workforce and Higher Education Committee | $250 |
| Jane Timken | Higher Education Committee | $1,000 |
| Rob McColley | Senate President (decides which bills are moved to the floor for a vote) | $1,000 |
The details of these and other contributions can be found in the [Vindicator story]3 that came out last week.
If you are not already angry, outraged, (choose your adjective), you should be. Let me point out a few things:
- President Johnson refused to discuss SB1 as it made its way through the legislature, even though it would directly impact YSU, its faculty, and its students.
- As I mentioned, President Johnson publicly stated that he did not believe faculty were indoctrinating, nor were they failing to present "both sides" of an issue. Yet, he still supported a bill that represents censorship and state overreach into our classrooms.
- The contribution to Sen. Cirino is particularly offensive as Cirino regularly slandered faculty by accusing them of indoctrination and bias while also "intuitively" knowing we gave extra credit to students for protesting—statements that are also insulting to our students.
- After the passage of the bill, Johnson extolled its protection of free speech while ignoring its impact on scholarships for women and minorities.
As far as I know, a university president running a PAC is not illegal in Ohio. Ethically, I think President Johnson is walking a more precarious line. At best there is the appearance of impropriety, at worst it is a conflict of interest.
Since this is not a contract issue, I believe our response should come from the Academic Senate. We need to demand from our administration that issues affecting YSU are publicly discussed and debated. The president cannot refuse to discuss legislation that will have a substantive impact on the university and then turn around and use PAC money to influence its outcome.
Update: YSU President Bill Johnson, through his PAC, has also contributed $6,000 to gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy's campaign. Ramaswamy has publicly stated his desire to close and/or consolidate universities and programs. Of course to remain impartial, he also contributed $250 to the Acton campaign.
