Former Sen. Ben Sasse Takes Office as UF President and now announces he is retiring

Sasse Announces Interim Provost

 

Angle is not a bad interim. Based upon what I know of the current dysfunction in the provosts office I wouldn’t be surprised to see a lot of staff changes start changing there in august.

 

Another sighting too.

 

He’s being slowly but surely “brainwashed” into supporting things like post-teenager thought.

Prolly subscribes to Disney+.

 

Sasse attended the vigil on campus in support of Israel and penned a great letter to UF students/alumni/faculty. “Shocked” no one that has criticized him since his hiring has posted about it.

 

Feel better?

 

That you replied? Not really.

 

Did you personally give AOC credit for condemning the attacks?

 

No is she the president of UF?

 

I thought the game we were playing is why aren't we applauding people we don't like for what they said about Israel? Guess we're playing some other dumb game?

 

Here’s his statement:

Dear Jewish Gator Alums,

Many of you have reached out about the vigil at UF [Monday night]. I was overwhelmed to see a thousand Gators standing with Israel. You can find my remarks here.

The chaos at the event was an unfortunate end to a beautiful gathering, but I wanted to let you know that there was no attack on campus and the injuries that have been reported seem to be relatively minor. From what we can gather, a student passed out and, when a fellow student called for 911, other students – understandably on edge – fled.

While we all wish the night had ended differently, we are tremendously proud of the students who came to stand with Israel. I hope Rabbi Jonah and Rabbi Berl reschedule the vigil, and I hope the community reconvenes.

Like you, I am tremendously grateful for our students. The University of Florida is home to the largest number of Jewish students at any university in this country. We are honored by and committed to that legacy. Our Jewish students and alumni around the world have been devastated by Hamas’ terrorism.

I will not tiptoe around this simple fact: What Hamas did is evil and there is no defense for terrorism. This shouldn’t be hard. Sadly, too many people in elite academia have been so weakened by their moral confusion that, when they see videos of raped women, hear of a beheaded baby, or learn of a grandmother murdered in her home, the first reaction of some is to “provide context” and try to blame the raped women, beheaded baby, or the murdered grandmother. In other grotesque cases, they express simple support for the terrorists.

This thinking isn’t just wrong, it’s sickening. It’s dehumanizing. It is beneath people called to educate our next generation of Americans. I am thankful to say I haven’t seen examples of that here at UF, either from our faculty or our student body.

As for us, our educational mission here begins with the recognition and explicit acknowledgment of human dignity – the same human dignity that Hamas’ terrorists openly scorn. Every single human life matters. We are committed to that truth. We will tell that truth.

In the coming days, it is possible that anti-Israel protests will come to UF’s campus. I have told our police chief and administration that this university always has two foundational commitments: We will protect our students and we will protect speech. This is always true: Our Constitution protects the rights of people to make abject idiots of themselves.

But I also want to be clear about this: We will protect our Jewish students from violence. If anti-Israel protests come, we will absolutely be ready to act if anyone dares to escalate beyond peaceful protest. Speech is protected – violence and vandalism are not.

I’m grateful to have heard from so many of you. Like I said at the vigil last night: When evil raises its head, as it has in recent days, it is up to men and women of conscience and courage to draw strength from truth and commit ourselves to the work of building something better – to the work of pursuing justice and pursuing peace. That is what we aim to do through education, compassion, and truth here at the University of Florida.

Sincerely,

Ben

 

This whole time I thought you were “Ben Spaz”

JK!

 

Lol... too funny. Watch out for logical fallacies getting launched at you.

 

As a Jewish Gator alum, Bravo Ben Sasse for saying it out loud.

 

It's what university presidents do. UMinn prez sent a similar message this week.

 

Maybe it comes from Sasse having been a politician, but his statement reads to me as much stronger (and much better written) than most of the similar educational leader statements I’ve seen.

IMO the principal statement about this doesn’t need to, and probably shouldn’t, include the “Middle Eastern politics are complex” or “regardless of how you feel about the Palestinian/Israeli issues” language. That, to some degree, undermines the core “there’s no excuse for this” message and impliedly lumps this act of violence in with political disputes more broadly and gives it some of the very credibility you’re trying to disclaim from it.

If you really want to provide the “context” and “nuance,” you’ve got to wait some amount of time to do that. Out of the gate it needs to be a simple, unqualified, and unconditioned “we share Israel’s pain and express our absolute and unconditional disgust at these actions.” This isn’t the time for “we understand why Palestinians might be upset, but this went way too far” kinds of messages IMO.

 

Let's be clear here. This wasn't the Palestinians. This was Hamas. Unfortunately, innocent Palestinians are paying and will continue to pay the price for Hamas's evil. That will get lost in all the jingoism. A courageous statement would have acknowledged that. Sasse made a statement that will prove popular with the majority. In that vein, it was definitely a politician's statement.

 

I don’t have any issue with the “we mourn and think of all of those innocent lives within Israel and Gaza who will likely suffer from this violence” kinds of statements.

It’s the “Middle East politics is a complex issue” or “we understand that people have strong feelings on both sides” or “regardless of your views on the origin or causes of the longstanding conflict” clauses that people ought to be holding their tongues on for now, because those inappropriately tie acts of terrorism to the political dispute in a way that gives them undeserved legitimacy, and frankly come across as the kind of “there’s some bad guys on both sides” statements that don’t have any place in either offering condolences or condemning terror.

 

He called out the luke warm limp wristed attempts at equivocation and seeking middle ground. It should have been a typical run of the mill statement, bc every col. pres. Should have come right out and called this clear atrocity out as the heinous evil that it is.

Instead it stands out against so many attempts to come off as more learned than thou 'adult in the room lecturing ignorant kids about the need for understanding why the poor oppressed Muslims engaged in evil'-- "fighting back," "apartheid", "deserved what they got", "justified".... tweets, declarations, displays of Palestinian flags.... combine to make his clear declaration stand out, pitch perfect, and welcome.

Also very cool that the letter was addressed to the Jewish alumni contingent of UF--not the world at large (albeit published, so the world can read it), not seeking to appease everyone... just a direct communication to our Jewish contingency speaking for our university--straight truth, period--expressly disavowing other elite academia who lacked the vision and clarity to do that. That's called leadership. Follow us--THIS is the correct stance--rather than I'm going to say X, so *Harvard* et. al. think us enlightened...

Surprising given his political background--but quite respectable--certainly earned mine (and I had my reservations about him)--and well worthy of our Alma mater.

Sad, tragic occurrence, but a proud day for UF. We proudly claimed our Jewish heritage and brethren fellow Gators, even inviting Hamas sympathetic types to mark a big ol David's Star over our campus on their maps. That's what it means to "stand with our Jewish brethren", not just lip service about understanding why evil.

Jmho/fwiw.