URGENT: SB1 Referendum Needs Our Help
🚨 Let’s Rise Up Against SB1 – Signature Challenge + Call to Action!
‼️🫱We need all hands on deck🫲‼️
Ohio Senate Bill 1 (SB1), now enacted as the Advance Ohio Higher Education Act, significantly restructures public higher education in the state in ways that many educators, students, and advocacy groups find deeply concerning. The law bans diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and training at public colleges and universities, which threatens crucial support systems for underrepresented students, including first-generation college-goers, veterans, and students of color. It restricts faculty collective bargaining rights and prohibits faculty strikes, weakening educators' ability to advocate for fair working conditions and academic freedom. SB1 also mandates institutional neutrality on controversial topics and limits classroom discussions, which critics say undermines intellectual exploration and critical discourse. Furthermore, by eliminating DEI offices and programs, the bill negatively impacts scholarships, mentorships, and other resources that help marginalized students succeed. While supporters frame the bill as promoting transparency and ideological balance, its practical effects will be a substantial rollback of inclusive education and shared governance in Ohio's public universities.
Combating SB1
A statewide effort is underway to put SB1 on the ballot through referendum, but it’s a massive lift. To succeed, we need to gather over 250,000 valid signatures by the deadline (June 24). Given that only about 70% of signatures are typically accepted, we need to collect far more than that to be safe. As of today they have only 14,000 signatures collected in aggregate, we have 36 days left until the signatures need to be physically turned into the secretary of state.
💥 That’s where we come in.
We’re challenging ourselves as Indivisible Akron to make a meaningful impact, and have a little fun doing it. Here's what we’re asking:
📝 Your Signature Challenge Tasks:
A) Petition training & gathering
We are behind on signature totals and urgently need more trained volunteers.
👉Signature Gatherer (Petition Circulator) Training Video
👉Signature Gatherer (Petition Circulator) Training Slide Deck
B) Forward this message to 10 allies outside of Indivisible
Help us grow the movement! Know a friend, neighbor, or fellow activist who’s fired up about public education and democracy? Ask them to join our efforts.
If each of us brings 10 additional people into the fold, we exponentially expand our reach! If you know of anyone who would like to volunteer, please have them fill out the recruitment form: https://bit.ly/VolunteerAgainstOHSB1
C) Let’s aim to collect 20,000 signatures as Indivisible Akron
We’re setting a team goal of 20,000 signatures, a bold but achievable target. If we have 50 people collecting signatures that is 11 petition books each… WE CAN DO THIS! Track your weekly total signature count here:
📊Weekly Signature Count Tracker
We’ll celebrate our wins together and give a shout-out to top signature-gatherers.
D) Help cover every event
Andrew Green (the regional captain for NE Ohio) is coordinating signature gathering events and we want to make sure at least one Indivisible member is at every single one. Please check the calendar and sign up where you can.
📆 Event Calendar + Signups - circulators, please fill this out every Sunday
Other Stuff
Volunteer Colleen created some social media messaging
Here are four-flyers-in-one-page you can print and pass out
They also have a one T-shirt fundraiser happening right now and another coming very soon. They get $10 of every T-shirt sold
Please continue to promote the link for folks to donate toward the printing of petitions: https://bit.ly/petitiondonation.
This is a critical opportunity to protect education in Ohio, support marginalized students, teachers and show what a grassroots movement can do when we’re organized, determined, and working in sync. It’s a sprint to the finish, but if we all lend a hand, we can get it done!
Let’s show Ohio what Indivisible Akron can do. 💪