Ohio Rev. Code § 1713.18
Any university or college operating under the patronage of one or more conferences or other religious bodies of any religious denomination, having accepted sections 1713.13 to 1713.17, inclusive, of the Revised Code, may, upon the authority of a resolution of its board of trustees, make the bishop, or the presiding head by whatever name called, of the area included in the conference or conferences under whose patronage the university or college is operating, ex officio, a trustee and a member of its board, with the same effect as the president of said university or college occupies as a trustee, with the complete right to vote, to participate in discussions, and to serve on committees. The presence of said bishop or the head as a member of the board shall not affect in any way the classifications, divisions, or allotments of the board into classes, and, like the president of the university, the bishop or head of the area shall not be included in the designation of said classes, or as a member of any class, or in determining the total per cent of the trustees to be allotted to the patronizing conferences.
The board may, by appropriate resolution, create and elect life trustees, whose total number at any one time shall never exceed ten, and who shall not have the power to vote but who shall have the right to be present at all meetings of the board and to participate in all of its discussions, and, without vote but with the right for discussion, to serve on any committee. The creation and election of such life trustees shall in no way modify the rules or the laws applicable to the creation of classes of trustees in such university or college, or to the numbers allotted to each class, or to the total per cent of the trustees to be elected by the patronizing conference or conferences.
R.C. §1713.18