Today’s Entry: Brian, as a Florida alum I don’t really understand what the big deal with Ben Sasse is. I don’t recall students even paying attention to previous presidents and I wonder how much of an impact on what’s being taught they really have anyway. I’d like to hear what you think about Sasse’s nomination. To me the backlash seems to be little more than a small group of bleeding hearts who probably don’t even really know what they’re protesting.
Bottom Line: It’s fair to say that Senator Ben Sasse’s consideration to be the next President of the University of Florida, has drawn more attention than most of the twelve-university presidents to date. And that the backlash has been louder than during the process with the potential predecessors as well. In fact, I might even be willing to bet that there are more students at the University of Florida today who could name the university’s likely next president than the current one (Kent Fuchs). That said, the university president does play an extensive role regarding what happens with all university functions. According to the UF Faculty Handbook the role of President is: Responsible for the general administration of all university activities. So, a university president is essentially the CEO of the school. And like any CEO, the level of involvement and the impact of the president in day-to-day operations can vary. I’ll illustrate the point with this example. Who is the CEO of Coca-Cola? Who is the CEO of Tesla? Heck, Elon’s not even been CEO of Twitter for a week, and you already know that one as well. It’s safe to say UF’s current President, Kent Fuchs has been more generic Coca-Cola CEO and less Elon. But he has weighed in heavily at times that have made a profound impact.
You may recall the white supremist Richard Spencer standoff where UF canceled Spencer’s previously planned visit to speak on campus, citing Charlottesville, later relenting after legal pressure was applied. More recently Fuchs prevented UF professors from testifying against Florida’s election integrity law in one of the many lawsuits filed by leftist interest groups. But most of what happens based on the conditions set by a university president, doesn’t make the news, but is felt on campus daily. It’s widely known that the University of Florida isn’t just one of the top public universities in Florida, but nationally – ranking as the fifth in this year’s annual rankings according to US News & World Report. But where it doesn’t rank well, is when it comes to the basics. None more so than with freedom of expression. In the 2022-2023 College Free Speech Rankings, The University of Florida’s free speech score is paltry 46.45 out of 100 – which sadly ranks it as “average” nationally to give you a flavor of just how hostile college campuses have become to predominately conservative viewpoints. By way of comparison Florida State’s number is 65.54, which certainly isn’t great, but is compared to UF it is. The point is policy from on high does matter with something as basic as speech – let alone everything else that might happen in the classroom.
It’s not a mistake that Florida passed a law creating annual intellectual diversity surveys to attempt to infer how professors and students feel about speech. Most specific as the law states: considers the extent to which competing ideas and perspectives are presented and if students free they’re able to express their beliefs and viewpoints. It’s been clear the anti-Sasse protests, the rabid liberal left among the student body, feels so comfortable with their ability to express their viewpoints, they were even willing to break the student code of conduct by protesting indoors to do it during Sasse’s recent visit. And guess what, the university took no action against those students. But guess who the university did take action against in the not-so-distant past? Three conservative groups on campus. Turning Point USA, the Network of enlightened Women and Young Americans for Freedom were suspended by the University of Florida for violations of its COVID-19 policy. What violated the school’s COVID-19 policy? An outdoor cookout. UF said they failed to adhere to proper social distancing and mask guidelines... For an outdoor cookout no less.
Leftist protestors violating the student code of conduct with often vulgar and intimidating behavior, no problems. Conservative groups holding a cookout... Suspend them in the name of the virus. The antidotes support the school’s sad ranking on expression. And so, the point is this. The President does matter. Policy from on high does matter, and the fact of the matter is that UF needs to do much better. Should Ben Sasse come to that campus and even allow for equitable access to speech it would be a better school. And this is not lost on the political left which is why they’ve been so loud on campus. And it’s what’s behind the faculty’s recent “no confidence vote”. It certainly isn’t his qualification. Sasse’s bachelor’s degree was from Harvard. His graduate degree from St. John’s and his doctorate from Yale. He served in the Department of Justice while teaching at the University of Texas. He later served in the Department of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services prior to becoming the highly successful President of Midland University before becoming a US Senator. What’s more, he won his re-election bid to the Senate in 2020 by 38-points. And so, the point is this. He’s clearly interested in leading the University of Florida. He has four years left in his current term, and he’s won by huge margins previously. but he’s willing to leave it to take this job. One he’s held and excelled in previously.
It’s clear for those who oppose Sasse from, the faculty, to the student protestors, it’s pure politics and perhaps a fear that conservatives will have equal access to speech with him as the president.
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