This resolution is the first of four presented and unanimously endorsed at The Ohio Conference annual meeting on November 7.

Opposition to House Bill 160

Whereas the Ohio Conference AAUP has concerns over textbook costs;

Whereas House Bill 160 does not address how we might be able to control those costs;

Whereas the royalties that faculty collect from authoring texts is typically a small percentage, usually averaging around ten percent;

Whereas the protection of academic freedom is the core mission of the AAUP, and faculty should exercise the freedom to teach without fear of retribution;

Whereas faculty who teach at our state institutions of higher education are experts in their fields; therefore, to provide students with the highest quality of instruction, faculty should maintain the right to select the most appropriate texts, including those they have authored, as required course materials;

Whereas enactment of HB 160 would likely install an extra level of bureaucracy at our state universities and perhaps at the Ohio Department of Higher Education, therefore confounding further the problem of administrative growth;

Whereas government enters very dangerous territory, one that borders on censorship, when it starts to regulate which books can and cannot be assigned at our institutions of higher education;

Be it resolved that the Ohio Conference AAUP strongly opposes House Bill 160 and any efforts to control the textbooks that faculty can require as course materials.