By Julia Olson
Assistant Editor
Carol Ann Schwartz, National President of Hadassah and local Cincinnati resident, recently submitted testimony to Jay Edwards, chairman of the Ohio House Finance Committee, asking for support of House Bill 606. According to the text of HB 606, also known as the CAMPUS Act, the bill is directed toward “prevention of rational, religious, and ethnic bias, harassment, and intimidation at institutions of higher education, regarding antisemitism prevention policies at state agencies, to establish different campus safety and community programs, and to make appropriations.”
In her testimony, Schwartz warned against letting the current uptick in antisemitism across the state of Ohio from becoming the norm. “This spring we saw an uproar of antisemitism and anti-Zionism on college campuses across the United States, including Ohio State University, Case Western Reserve University, and my alma-mater Xavier University. These acts of antisemitism deeply affect people’s lives — students, faculty, staff and community members,” wrote Schwartz. “Our college students are afraid to walk on campus and proudly declare their Judaism and Zionism. Even before October 7th, Jewish students were intimidated and threatened by fellow students and faculty. Today, over 60% of Jewish students feel unsafe on their college campuses. As a former Jewish student who attended two Ohio universities and the mother of three former college students, I understand the fear that students, parents and faculty are facing. We must equip our students, staff, faculty and administration members with the proper tools to combat antisemitism and all forms of hate,” she added.
HB 606 will require all Ohio universities and colleges to adopt a policy regarding racial, religious and ethnic bias, including requiring training for all administrators, faculty and staff on how to deal with hate incidents. Institutions would also be required to develop written procedure for investigating student complaints of bias, harassment or intimidation. The bill also requires schools to create campus task forces for combating antisemitism and Islamophobia and requires partnerships between campus police and local law enforcement to provide security for on and off campus functions.
Schwartz highlighted what she perceived as the failure of many institutions to uphold the safety of their students during the recent protests on college campuses nationwide.
“In May, we saw the outcomes of the complete failure of our universities in handling the alarming rise in antisemitism,” Schwartz wrote. “We can and need to do better. In our work this year to understand and advocate for policies that will help fight the rising tide of antisemitism, many of the smart strategies included in H.B. 606 have been identified as best practices. Our campus leaders must be equipped with these commonsense practices to protect our campus communities ahead of the next school year,” she added.
HB 606 passed the Ohio House of Representatives on June 26. The bipartisan legislation was sponsored by State Representatives Justin Pizzulli (R – Scioto County) and Dontavius Jarrells (D – Columbus).
