Speculation is the key term here. My guess is that there is more going on than this article implies. Drapela can present his grievance to the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and have them take up the fight. Also, if you are not a tenured professor, the university can terminate you at their choice. However, it is unusual to do it in the manner done here. If I were him, I'd get the AAUP involved and let them do their job.
My impression is the AAUP is pretty liberal in its outlook so they may not be interested in someone like this. At best they will put OSU on their list of censured institutions which will have exactly zero effect—there are colleges which have been on the list for decades.