DEAR EDITOR:

This year I contacted state Rep. Al Cutrona’s office with concerns about armed, swastika-waving Nazis marching through some Ohio streets protesting drag shows. Because Republicans whip up frenzy over social issues, they also should calm things. Instead, I was stunned to see Republican legislators seemingly side with Nazis by introducing HB 245, prohibiting public appearances of people dressed in a way that doesn’t correspond with their assigned gender.

Recent legislative events and the sudden installation of Bill Johnson as YSU president suggests a sinister, dangerous alignment with spread of Christian nationalism.

Christian nationalism, light on Christianity and heavy on religious authoritarianism, aims for complete control of all aspects of government, education and society. It seeks to dismantle democracy and replace it with a white, straight, strongman dictatorship and strict regulation of social norms. This would explain why the GOP stirs up cultural divides, then floods the legislature with bills to solve problems they’ve created, instead of working on real Ohio problems. As state Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima, said recently, “We can kind of do what we want.”

How does the YSU takeover figure in? Here’s a theory: Nov. 7, Gov. DeWine watched disapprovingly as his rebellious children voted overwhelmingly for women’s rights and legal weed. A week later, seeing his chance to tighten the screws, might he have directed his appointed YSU trustees to abruptly stop their presidential search, break with precedent and appoint Johnson, an election-denying religious zealot? This move and SB 83 will enable destruction of public higher education in Ohio. DeWine and gerrymandered Republicans stripped control from Ohio’s elected board of education, provided billions of dollars in vouchers to religious schools and vilified LGBTQ community. Next is control of higher ed, ensuring even fully grown tuition-paying adult students must learn “both sides” of topics like climate change, slavery and the Holocaust.

Is my theory correct? We won’t know since trustees of taxpayer-funded institutions keep details secret. Johnson appeared pugnacious, promising to stop YSU from indoctrinating students. Really? Humble, solid, hard-working YSU, like the community it sprang from, has for generations welcomed children of proud laborers and turned them into leaders, artists and professionals. Crying indoctrination distracts from the fact we are their test case. Like strongmen, GOP Christian nationalists show they can do whatever they want without consequence. Watch for this same tactic to be used at even larger universities.

The epilogue to this sad story remains for state Sen. Mike Rulli to be ushered into Johnson’s congressional seat. Rulli tweets often that government is useless and should be abolished; but he’ll no doubt welcome the increase in both government salary and breadth of platform this inheritance will bring.

GERALYN SLIPSKI

Canfield