Ohio State University hired a conservative law professor who was the driving force behind the establishment of “Centers for Intellectual Diversity” at some Ohio universities.
Lee Strang was recently appointed Managing Director of Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture and Society at the John Glenn College of Public Affairs at Ohio State University. This is one of five intellectual diversity centers established after Governor Mike DeWine signed the state budget into law last summer.
“Leading the Chase Center is an opportunity to be part of the solution of how Americans of all backgrounds and views will work together to renew our shared civic life,” Strang wrote in an email to the Capital Journal. “The Chase Center will do this by focusing on what unites us — ‘the historic ideas, traditions and texts’ of our shared constitutional heritage — and doing so in a way — ‘free, open and rigorous intellectual inquiry’ — that leads Americans to see each other as civic friends, united in the common project of securing the common good for us all.”
President of Ohio State’s Association of University Professors Jani Pranav is critical of the decision to hire Strang.
“I think it doesn’t do much to inspire confidence that the center will be a place for intellectual diversity and free inquiry on campus,” he said. “I would say Strang’s appointment confirms that SB 117 will produce the centers exactly as they are intended, which is to be a center for partisan and conservative thought.”
Strang will oversee the hiring and appointment of the center’s faculty, develop curriculum and provide academic programming, Ohio State spokesman Chris Booker said in an email.
Senate Bill 117
The centers were created with Senate Bill 117 and initially included only the State of Ohio and the University of Toledo. Senator Jerry Cirino (R-Kirtland) and Senator Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) introduced the bill in May 2023, and Miami University, Cleveland State University and the University of Cincinnati were later added to the bill.
The bill was eventually included in the state budget and Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed it into law last summer. Cincinnati was later removed from the bill and the money was allocated to Wright State University.
The state of Ohio’s budget allocates $24 million for the centers. $5 million per fiscal year to Ohio State, $1 million per fiscal year to Toledo, and $2 million per fiscal year to each center at Miami, Cleveland State, and Wright State.
Lee Strang
Strang worked with McColley to draft the bill and was the first director of the Center for Intellectual Diversity in Toledo – the Institute of American Constitutional Thought and Leadership, located at the law school.
He first had the Idea for the center back in 2019 after visiting the Georgetown Center for the Constitution and the James Madison Program at Princeton University.
Strang supported the failed attempt to increase the minimum Hurdle to constitutional amendments that was rejected in special elections in Ohio last summer. He had previously spoken out in favor of a ban on abortion care.
“(Strang) is somehow hiding his political motivations for these undemocratic legal positions, and that does not exactly inspire confidence in someone who is open-minded and interested in intellectual diversity,” Pranav said.
Strang also co-founded and serves as board president of the Northwest Ohio Classical Academy in Toledo, which offers a classical education for students in grades K-12.
Ohio State
The tentative plan is for the Chase Center to begin offering classes next fall, Strang said in an email.
The Chase Center will offer courses that help students in two different ways, Strang said.
“They will provide students with knowledge of the shared civic heritage of Americans,” he said in an email. “For example, a course on the American civic tradition would cover the important people, history, documents, and institutions that all American citizens should know. Second, the courses will help students hone the skills they need to succeed as citizens in our pluralistic republic. For example, a course on civil discourse would expose students to the arguments and ideas on important legal and policy issues while instilling in them the habit of arguing productively with their fellow citizens across differences of opinion.”
The Chase Center will have at least 15 faculty members with the prospect of tenure.
University of Toledo
Toledo’s Institute for American Constitutional Thought and Leadership started offering classes last summer and offers a Mix of undergraduate and law courses for students this fall – including American Liberalism, Democracy in America, Lincoln’s Statesmanship, Ohio Constitutional Law, and the Death Penalty.
The center will be expanded to include a major and a minor in the next few years, Strang said.
In Strang’s absence, the institute’s executive director Michael Gonzalez will serve as interim director while a national search is conducted for a new director.
The institute’s seven-member Academic Council will conduct the search and submit a list of finalists to the university president, who will appoint the new director.
Cleveland State University
Because Cleveland State is still in the early stages of setting up the center, they don’t know when or what type of courses will be offered, university spokeswoman Reena Arora said in an email.
The center will be located in the Levin College of Public Affairs and Education and the bill calls for at least ten faculty members.
The Ohio Senate in June appointed seven members of its Academic Council who will submit recommendations for an executive director to President Laura Bloomberg.Three of the members are from other states and one wrote an article in 2011 entitled “Heterosexual is better: Why law and society can rightly favor heterosexuality.”
Miami University
No director has yet been named for Miami’s Center for Intellectual Diversity, which will be housed in the College of Arts and Science.
Whoever the director is will be able to hire faculty for the center and develop courses that will be offered, a university spokesman said. Seth Bauguess said in an email.
Wright State
Wright State’s Board of Trustees appointed six members to the center’s Academic Council in June.
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