The Faculty Alliance of Miami, the union representing Miami University's tenured and tenured-track faculty and librarians, claims the university directed the union to cancel a Labor Day event because it would've violated Ohio's new higher law, Senate Bill 1.
Faculty union president Theresa Kulbaga says faculty planned to bring some of their classes outside onto the Oxford campus' quad on Wednesday afternoon to highlight the work of Miami's employees ahead of Labor Day weekend, but received a message from the school's provost on Monday that claimed the event was unlawful.
The Advance Ohio Higher Education Act, known as Senate Bill 1, became law last summer. The bill, backed exclusively by Ohio Republicans, bans diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at all state universities, requires schools to eliminate low-enrollment degree programs, and bans college faculty from striking, among other restrictions. Its passage sparked protests on campuses across the state, including Miami and the University of Cincinnati, where students and faculty warned the bill would change Ohio's colleges for the worse.
"We're not allowed to strike or engage in a work stoppage," Kulbaga told WVXU Wednesday. "This was not a work stoppage. This was taking our work outside."
In a statement, a Miami University spokesperson argues that had the event been held as planned, it would've amounted to a strike under Senate Bill 1's definition, saying the law defines an "unauthorized strike" more broadly than the more commonly understood definition.
"[Senate Bill 1] includes concerted slowdowns and an abstinence 'in whole or in part' from the full, faithful, and proper performance of employment duties for labor-relations purposes, including partial or intermittent conduct," a portion of the statement reads.
The university also claims bringing classes outside for the Labor Day event would've put students in the middle of an active labor dispute. Miami University and the faculty union have been negotiating a new labor contract for the past six months.
"The concern is not the outdoor location itself, but the use of instructional time or activities to subject students to a concerted Union-organized labor action, which is prohibited by state law, university policy, and faculty members’ professional and ethical responsibilities," the university says.
The faculty union claims the event was never intended to be a strike and accuses the university of stretching the definition to shut down union-organized activities it doesn't like. Kulbaga says incidents like this are a result of Senate Bill 1's highly restrictive, yet vague orders.
"This is the latest in a series of SB1 test cases. I think they're testing us," she said.
Kulbaga adds that the union may legally challenge the university's order.
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