Commentary
How can Congress regulate AI? Erect guardrails, ensure accountability and address monopoly
By Anjana Susarla Takeaways: A new federal agency to regulate AI sounds helpful but could become unduly influenced by the tech industry. Instead, Congress can legislate accountability. Instead of licensing companies to release advanced AI technologies, the government could license auditors and push for companies to set up institutional review boards. The government hasn’t had […]
Happy Pride Month, Ohio. Creepy, bully Republican lawmakers are fixated on assaulting our community
Happy Pride Month, Ohio, where LGBTQ+ people are under constant assault by bully Republican lawmakers who are weirdly obsessed with our community, especially the transgender members of it. Transgender people — especially transgender people of color — have been leading the activist charge toward LGBTQ+ human rights and equality since the beginning, literally throwing the first […]
Higher education must stand up for itself in the face of culture war attacks
In 2023, higher education is a political dartboard and educators are being struck by darts thrown by conservatives and progressives. How those of us in higher education respond will be crucial for the future of our institutions and American democracy. Those throwing darts at educators are combatants in culture wars sparked by the success of […]
Ohio State Issue 1 is a sucker punch to the face of majority voter rule and democracy
If (and it’s a big if) there is a silver lining in State Issue 1 — the democracy-killing ballot initiative Ohio Republicans hope will end our right to amend our constitution by majority vote — it’s that enraged voters may finally wake up to the looming danger of having no rights before it’s too late. […]
Armed and afraid: The high price of fear
A teenage boy rings the wrong doorbell and is shot in the face. A 20-year-old woman is fatally shot when she and her friends pull into the wrong driveway. Two cheerleaders are shot when one accidentally gets into the wrong car. And a 6-year-old is shot when kids chase a basketball into a neighbor’s yard. These tragic events seem incomprehensible. But we got […]
Ohio Republican education assaults are a travesty, wrapped in unthinking, immature, petty grievance
Ohio boasts cherished, prestigious academic institutions that we rightly take enormous pride in, but now Ohio Republican lawmakers have their culture war sights set on destroying all of it, out of unthinking, immature, petty personal grievance and power politics. For many years, right-wingers have seethed resentfully at the whole bulk of American academia — many […]
Corporations are licensed by the state. FirstEnergy’s rampant public corruption should cost license
“Corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow.” -Abraham Lincoln, 1864 “Order the dissolution of a corporation organized under the laws of this state …… upon a finding that an agent ….. has authorized or engaged in conduct in violation of section 2923.32 of the Revised Code and that, […]
Ohio Republican attack on higher ed will devastate our widely respected colleges and universities
Bad news, Buckeyes. Ohio has officially gone down the Florida rabbit hole on Ohio State University and every other public college and university in the state. The new abnormal of legislative extremism in Columbus hit a whole new level of atrocious last week with passage of a bill “to rescue higher education in Ohio from […]
Electricity rate hikes show why community aggregation programs must make responsible reforms
The Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council (NOPEC) recently faced significant backlash after blindsiding more than 550,000 customers with soaring electricity rates. The increase, which saw bills skyrocket by over 65%, caught communities off-guard and left residents with more questions than answers. As NOPEC returns to the electricity aggregation business, it must take a hard look […]
Making ethnic studies illegal in Ohio: Even watered down, SB 83 requires teaching racism
In 2006, I was hired by the state of Ohio to teach ethnic studies. Among the core concepts of this field that I was expected to impart to my students were the ideas that apparent human differences are more historical and cultural than natural, that what we call “race” is our own invention, and a […]
Gerrymandered Ohio Statehouse gives voters no recourse through initiated statute, only constitution
In order to understand the bad faith of the Republican arguments for attacking Ohio voters and asking us to enshrine 41% minority rule over our Ohio Constitution, voters need to understand the power dynamics at play when it comes to initiated statutes versus amendments to the Ohio Constitution. In Ohio, citizens have two options for […]
Ohio House lawmakers proposing extremist right-wing rewrite of state social studies curriculum
Ohio’s legislative majority continues its dishonest attacks on democracy in the Buckeye State. House Bill 103 is a shameful attempt to micromanage Ohio K-12 educational curriculum based on ideology that is rooted in the politically motivated culture wars. HB 103 seeks to replace curriculum created in Ohio, for Ohio’s schools and students, with “American Birthright” […]