Ohio State University's state-mandated Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture and Society began its early semesters since opening last year with low enrollment, but that has changed as the center has added more courses.
Chase Center Director Lee Strang said in an email the center started off with 29 students across only three courses in the fall. That grew to more than 131 students in the spring, and the center now expects nearly 350 students in 10 courses this fall.
More than 66,000 students are enrolled at OSU's main campus, meaning less than 1% of students are signing up for classes at the center.
Despite the growth, a Republican lawmaker behind the creation of the "intellectual diversity" centers at five of Ohio's public universities wants to mandate undergraduate students take a course to graduate in an effort to combat what he perceives is "liberal bias" on college campuses.
Ohio State Sen. Jerry Cirino, who originally pushed that view, now insists the centers are not meant to indoctrinate students towards conservative ideology. He made the comment in an interview earlier this week with the Ohio Public Radio Statehouse News Bureau.
"And that is not to suggest that these courses are supposed to be extremely conservative. That's not it at all," Cirino said. "This is not a conservative indoctrination program."
Strang didn't answer questions about whether he thinks this is necessary or about what more the university could do to naturally attract more students to the program without requiring taking a course.
Other states that have created these centers have also experienced low enrollment.
The Chronicle of Higher Education reported Iowa was one of the first states to do so and saw less than 20 students take its courses. Republican state lawmakers then passed a bill to require students to take classes there, like Ohio is now trying to do.
Strang said he attributes the growth in enrollment the Chase Center has seen to several factors.
The center has had a less-than-ideal beginning since lawmakers passed the Ohio Senate bill requiring its creation. Hundreds of students, staff and faculty protested the bill, which also shuttered diversity, equity and inclusion programs on campus and sought a wider crackdown on DEI initiatives.
One professor came under scrutiny after a cameraman named Mike Newman and D.J. Byrnes, who runs the political blog The Rooster, sought to question the center's advisor, former OSU President E. Gordon Gee. Professor Luke Perez was caught on camera assaulting the cameraman and faces assault charges in court. University spokesperson Ben Johnson said Perez is currently on administrative leave.
Since opening, the center has hosted numerous speakers across the political spectrum. That included a panel with left wing legal scholar former Independent presidential candidate Cornel West and right wing legal scholar Robert P. George.
The center has also hosted speakers from both major political parties.
Its professors, however, have published numerous papers that skew towards conservative viewpoints.
The Chase Center's Instagram account recently congratulated visiting professor Mark Bauerlein on receiving a $15,000-$20,000 prize from the conservative thinktank Heritage Foundation to further his research. Professor Daniel Gullotta was also recognized on the Instagram account for being part of a panel with U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, former U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson and conservative media personality Ben Shapiro.
The Chase Center's assistant director, Christopher Green, was recognized for publishing a paper promoting the conservative legal ideology of originalism. Green was with Perez the day he assaulted the cameraman and tried to tell Ohio State police that the incident was Newman's fault.
