Ohio Senators have introduced a bill that would provide $3 million to the University of Toledo to create an institute within the school’s College of Law with the purpose of fostering diverse viewpoints through academic debate and discussion.
Under Senate Bill 117, the university would establish the Institute of American Constitutional Thought and Leadership starting next fall with an initial $1 million received in the first fiscal year and another $2 million the year after. The bill, introduced in the Senate last week, was referred to the Workforce and Higher Education Committee.
The bill also would commit $5 million to Ohio State University to create a similar setup there called the Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society to “conduct teaching and research in the historical ideas, traditions, and texts that have shaped the American constitutional order and society.”
UT Law Professor Lee Strang, who proposed the idea to lawmakers, said the funding would allow the university to bring in more professors as well as visiting academics and speakers to the law school. With those added resources, he said those within the institute would also organize lectures, symposiums, and debates that would involve those with varying political and philosophical viewpoints as it relates to law and the American Constitution.
“There has been concern that we now live in a polarized society where it seems like Americans as citizens now have a hard time disagreeing with each other in a civil way,” he said. “And so this institute through its programming, through its classes, through its mentorship, is going to provide students of all viewpoints an opportunity to see important issues robustly and yet civilly debated.”
“When they go out to be citizens, they're going to be able to do that because they've seen that actually happen,” he added, “and our society desperately needs citizens who can disagree with each other, but still live together and respect each other as citizens.”
For example, he said the institute could organize a debate on hot-button issues like abortion and bring together attorneys, legal scholars, and other guest speakers who are liberal, conservative, or otherwise have differing views on the subject. The institute also will seek student fellows to become involved, as well as provide them with opportunities to participate in research symposiums as well as writing and other projects.
While he identifies as conservative, Mr. Strang emphasized that the institute would be nonpartisan, adding he has garnered support for it from liberal University of Toledo professors and others who disagree with him politically, as well as on legal issues.
One of those is Rebecca Zietlow, associate dean of academic affairs and a professor at the law school. She said she and Mr. Strang have on various occasions debated legal matters.
“A number of times we have spoken to the Rotary Club, the Toledo Bar Association, and other informational sessions about issues where we take different sides and that’s something that we actually enjoyed doing together,” she said. “And I think that’s really valuable for the law school that the two of us and other faculty that don’t agree with each other on substantial issues can engage in a very respectful and reasoned dialogue with each other.”
Sen. Rob McColley (R., Napoleon), the bill’s sponsor as well as a 2010 UT Law School graduate, recalls he didn’t always hear both sides of issues during his time as a law student and, like Mr. Strang, believes students as well as professors and the surrounding community could benefit from lively discussion and debate.
“I fear that the teachings now in many of our law schools regarding our founding principles and our constitutional documents are pretty much one-sided at this point,” he said. “And that’s not really serving students as well as it should.
“Something has been lost to a certain extent, not only in our law schools, but also with our four-year public universities, and so I believe [the institute] is something that will renormalize that and bring the debate back to the center where it rightfully belongs and encourage diversity of thought.”
Mr. McColley said it’s possible the senate bill could be absorbed into the state budget bill in the coming weeks before it’s approved sometime before June 30.
But until then, he said the plan is to hold hearings in the Senate and House committees because, as the Institute of American Constitutional Thought and Leadership calls for, it’s important to have debate and discussion about the bill.
First Published May 7, 2023, 7:00 p.m.
