Ben Sasse next UF president?

Ultimately, I think you're right. I believe even groups like the KKK should be able to march in public without fear of arrest assuming they break no laws. I have always been of that mindset and understand it. But I will concede feeling a little conflicted about public universities having to devote (equal?) time and space to hate groups as they would with groups who express an unpopular political viewpoint and are not just spewing hate or intimidating significant numbers of students based not upon their ideas but their race, sexual orientation, national origin, etc.

Not perfectly analogous, but pornography is constitutionally protected. We have a first amendment right to it so long as it doesn't involve children. Do public universities have to give pornographers a platform and/or allow them to use school meeting halls to showcase their work?

 

A great scene, back in the days when we were not so ambiguous about the appropriate response to these types

 

What you refer to as assumptions (not sure why plural), is grounded in my experience in higher Ed. Sure, there are valid reasons to question the hire. I’ve done exactly that. What I see in the video, though, are a bunch of disruptive college kids who likely know little about Sasse.

 

LOL. I plead guilty. But do you understand where I'm coming from or think I'm missing the point entirely?

 

Yes because it's artistic expression

 

The Students Who Shouted at Ben Sasse Added Nothing to the Debate | National Review

This is pathetic, totalitarian behavior, and it should be less, not more common, in our nation’s universities than it is everywhere else. Yes, it’s protected speech. But that says nothing about its value, which is non-existent — especially in a place of openness and learning.

The people who contributed to the debate at UF yesterday were inside the hall, trying to hear themselves over the din. The people who chanted, “Hey hey, ho ho, Ben Sasse has got to go” were not helping those inside make their case; they were trying to shut the discourse down completely. That’s legal, but it’s not virtuous.

As for the protesters’ underlying criticism? It’s illiberal and silly. As CNN confirms, the chanters’ claim is not that Sasse will do anything wrong if he becomes president of the university; it’s that Sasse has beliefs of which some students disapprove. “Many are concerned with Sasse’s past comments that show he is not in favor of same-sex marriage and abortion,” CNN reports. Okay, so what? I daresay there’s not a university president in America with whom I don’t disagree about something important. [expletive deleted], many of them favor killing the unborn en masse. But, in a big, free, rambunctious, pluralist country such as this one, people are going to disagree with one another. Tolerance requires those people to treat each other equally, and with respect. It does not require them to agree with one another. “I believe in the universal dignity and the immeasurable worth of every single person,” Sasse said. That should be enough.

Besides, as the president of the University of Florida, Sasse would have no power over same-sex marriage or abortion. Nor is there any indication that he would treat anybody who was in a same-sex marriage — or who had had an abortion — any differently than anybody else. Presumably, the students who protested the event have been told that those who disagree with their worldviews are, by that very act, engaged in discrimination. Presumably, a fair number of them actually believe that. But it’s nonsense — and the fastest way for the University of Florida to make that clear is to ignore them and get on with their hire.

 

I can't stand Sasse myself but it is crazy what these students do at these schools. It wouldn't surprise me if the lefty professors encourage them to do this mess most of the time.

 

You know they just try and shout down anyone they don't agree with. They don't want a free debate of ideas they want censorship of things they oppose any way they can get it and these lefty college administrators allow them to shut down scheduled speaking engagements etc. by rewarding them for acting like spoiled children.

 

This is similar to what they have been doing shutting down speakers etc. They had to call an ending to Sasse's meetings early due to their disruptive behavior.

 

you say that like your opinion matters, or matters more than theirs, despite theirs more likely holding more power to effect current policy.

And were you a previous student?

 

It has unquestionably been a concern/issue in the past that the pool was mitigated by the public process. I get the concerns re "backroom" process, that's fair. But at some juncture we have to decide if we want a much better pool of applicants by trusting a selection committee. There are valid arguments on both sides, but I lean toward what is hopefully a selection committee with integrity, intelligence, and the school's best interest at heart.

 

What’s evident in this thread is that resident conservatives are completely overlooking their own bias in regards to his lack of academic resume for the job because of his politics, while pointing the finger at the other side for not giving him a chance because of his politics, despite most acknowledging the fund raising side of it and stating they ultimately hope he succeeds.

Wouldn’t we all like to be given the. benefit of the doubt for million dollar jobs when the risk isn’t needed.

 

A university president doesn’t need to be some life long academic though. It’s a different job. His academic credentials are still pretty darn good though.

What I find funny is that people are acting like the politics of other presidents were not known. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out.

And the protests are obviously about politics. If the committee selected someone like Elizabeth Warren there would be 0.00% chance of these same people protesting.

 

They know enough about him to know he has a bad record on LGBTQ issues. How much do you think these students know? And what is the knowledge threshold for their protest to have merit?

EDIT: Is this student (who stated he was going to attend the protest) informed enough for his protest to have merit?
Ben Sasse’s anti-LGBTQ past recalls deep-rooted history of campus prejudice - The Independent Florida Alligator
RJ Della Salle, an 18-year-old UF political science freshman who identifies as gay, said Sasse’s comments on Obergefell are troubling. If Sasse were president during his college application process, he would’ve thought twice about attending UF.

Salle, who lives in the Lavender Living Learning Community for LGBTQ students at Springs Residential Complex, said he plans on attending a protest scheduled Oct. 10 outside of Emerson Alumni Hall where Sasse will speak to faculty, staff and students in three forums.

“We either have someone who's a genuine homophobe as our president or we have a sleazy politician who just says what the people that he’s trying to get elected by want to hear,” he said.