The new state law banning diversity, equity, and inclusion at Ohio public universities went into effect on June 27. That same afternoon, Ohio State University told several alumni groups that their mission statements had been changed to comply with that law.
Craig Little, director of alumni engagement at Ohio State's Alumni Association, to Asian & Pacific Islander Alumni Society, emailed the group that its mission statement had already been changed, from “Our mission is to promote the interests of alumni who identify as Asian & Pacific Islander,” to “Our mission is to promote the interests of all alumni.”
This change has sparked frustration in OSU alumni organizations.
Responding to Little’s email, organization president Justin Liu, wrote “I am writing in absolute disbelief and deep frustration regarding this decision to unilaterally alter the mission statement of the Asian and Pacific Islander Alumni Society without consultation, discussion, even basic courtesy.”
“Let's be perfectly clear: stripping language that explicitly affirms our mission to serve Asian and Pacific Island identifying alumni is not a harmless "compliance" edit. It is an erasure - plain and simple,” Liu’s response continues.
The university said that some changes to try to comply with the Advance Ohio Higher Education Act may have been done “prematurely” and that they are currently reviewing the changes.
Ohio State’s full statement about the changes reads, “The alumni association has not “banned certain words” on the site. Ohio State is in the process of revising hundreds of websites and program materials to accurately reflect compliance with the law. In some cases, the language on society pages was changed prematurely and is undergoing revision to restore the mission statements of the affected society pages.”
Sam Shim, the Asian & Pacific Islander Alumni Society founder and former president, also condemns the changes, and said that the original mission statement needs to be restored.
“The issue is, the mission is why the organization exists,” he said. “If you delete or change the mission, the organization de facto doesn't exist anymore.”
Shim also said that a member of the alumni association at OSU contacted them Monday apologizing for the changes and saying the alumni association did not know about, or approve, the changes.
Shim said they learned from the call that the changes were allegedly made without consulting OSU’s legal department.
“They realized they did not follow the process, but it's just set off a firestorm where groups feel like they were being canceled,” Shim said. “We think [the mission statement] should be restored. They haven't restored it, but at least they took a step in putting a banner there, which is still better.”
Currently a banner is shown on nine alumni society web pages, which says that the university is currently reviewing the website to comply with the Advance Ohio Higher Education Act. The alumni groups the banner appears on are the Alumnae Scholarship Housing Society, the Asian & Pacific Islander Alumni Society, the Black Alumni Society, BuckeyeThon Alumni Society, the Latinx Alumni Society, the Men's Glee Club Alumni Society, the Men's Rugby Alumni Society, the Women in STEMM Alumni Society, and the Young Scholars Program Alumni Society.
Previous reporting by the Columbus Dispatch included Scarlet & Gay: The OSU LGBTQ Alumni Society in that list, however currently no banner appears on their page and their mission statement appears to restored to their original statement which says the group is “committed to promoting the best interests of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer alumni.”
Former president of the Men’s Rugby Alumni Society, Joseph Lotozo, said he’s not too sure why their organization was included.
“I don't see what we have to do with anything political, anything,” he said. “I don't see how our mission statement could be anything political involving diversity, equity inclusion.”
But Lotozo also said that the men’s rugby organization could have been accidentally included, or lumped in by the university being overly cautious.
“My speculation would be that they just blanketly put a label on all these websites just to be safe because they're fearful of the retaliation from the current administration.” He later continued in an email, “We are complying with university guidance, but you hope these changes don’t deter people from volunteering or giving back. It’s important to preserve space for community and culture, even amid shifting political and legislative pressures.”
As for what happens next, Shim said he believes that the OSU legal department will say their original mission statement is in full compliance and will eventually be restored, but not without damage.
“This is further alienating Buckeye Nation and alumni, which is going to hurt their ability to fundraise.” Shim said. “It's going to honestly impact how current students and future students and also how alumni feel about Ohio State.”