Seize the day President Sasse “Emmett Smith and the NAACP have just handed UF President Ben Sasse a golden opportunity: Not only to get himself out from under The Great DeSanitizer’s (TGDS’s) increasingly toxic shadow, but to begin to emerge as the consequential leader that Florida’s Flagship University deserves. “The Great DeSanitizer’s prohibition on DEI says UF can’t spend state or federal money on DEI programs. UF has a Foundation with $2.5 billions in assets. Its Athletic Association is a $500 million enterprise. And we know there are Bull Gators out there willing to pledge millions of dollars for NIL payments to athletes. Bet they could also muster up some extra cash to help keep Black players from jumping the flagship as well. “Listen, if Sasse doesn’t want to alienate the anti-Ron he doesn’t even have to call his reinstated office DEI. Hell, he can call it the Office Of Making Folks Feel Welcome At UF if he wants. So long as its staffers continue to do what they do best…whatever’s needed to help students of diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds succeed here. “So long as nobody in Tigert Hall actually utters the damnable words “Diversity,” “Equity” or “Inclusion” out loud, UF can do whatever it pleases to help minority students feel a part of this Gator Nation.” It’s past time for Sasse to come out of his shell and lead.
I would imagine that is happening already, but like you mentioned, no one is going to make a big deal about it.
They already did that to some degree, they changed the titles of about a dozen faculty members to comply with the law.
What's funny about the post @Ben? That's certainly not a response I anticipated. For the life of me, I don't understand what is funny about this thread.
What did the DEI department do? We already have laws against discrimination in the workplace. I also love the "$5 million dollars is chump change". We should be hiring on Merit just like the major sports league operate. You think NBA or NFL teams care what color someone on their team is? Nope.
Lara Trump agrees on your meritocracy principles. Thank goodness the Republican Party is finally putting words to action — no nepotism, no favor-based hires. Merit rules the day.
Sasse is at UF for one reason. To firmly attach his lips to the ass cheeks of Ron DeSantis, who he is hoping can drag his sorry excuse for an ex-Senator self back to Washington DC and give him some pseudo-meaningful position in government, ie continue to leach off the tax payer until the end of days. Sasse is nothing but a political puppet who has interest in Ben Sasse's career/finances only. If he were serious about being president of the University of Florida, his first official act would have been to throw that unqualified grifter Lapado off of campus. He didn't and won't because he does not have permission to do so. He will do absolutely nothing to provoke DeSantis or the MAGA's who are responsible for running the Board of Trustees who hand picked him over numerous actual qualified candidates.
I’m an independent but thanks for bringing up something unrelated to the topic. I’m all for removing nepotism in everything. So i assume you were against Hillary holding office also since you know, nepotism and all.
Are you talking about the faculty members who were demoted and stripped of their titles? Because that's 100% not what this article is talking about. Not gonna happen. Sasse has made it very clear he's not going to rock the boat.
No, I’m taking about the 6 who have similar roles but just had their titles changed. Florida shut down state funding for diversity, equity and inclusion. These UF programs could be affected - The Independent Florida Alligator
Seems awfully odd: UF eliminates diversity: What’s known and what remains unclear - The Independent Florida Alligator After reaching out to all college administrators with current or former diversity-related positions through phone and email, The Alligator was unable to confirm any of their current employment statuses. Jean-Marie Stacciarini, former associate dean for DEI and current associate dean for community engagement and global affairs in the College of Nursing, shared on a phone call March 1 she could not confirm whether or not she was still employed with UF. Michael Bowie, former associate dean for DEI and current assistant dean in the College of Veterinary Medicine, said faculty are still figuring everything out and that people’s lives are being affected by the memo. Bowie had no comment on his own employment status. Donna Parker, former associate dean for diversity and health equity and current associate dean for healthcare excellence, community and belonging in the College of Medicine, is on extended medical leave, reported her office on a phone call March 1. The remaining administrators, including diversity-related deans in the colleges for law, pharmacy and education, could not be reached as of March 3.
They were likely told not to talk to the press about anything DEI related. But their profiles are all still up on the UF website.
Its embarrassing when anyone uses lame nicknames for politicians and think they are clever or funny. The Great Desantisizer? How do you take the article seriously? Maybe that's what Ben's laughing at. That you took this article seriously. And yes, a Trump is garbage for being the king of lame nicknames.
Interesting thought by the author. Since the law prohibits state funds from supporting DEI, why couldn't they invoke endowment funds or UAA support? One reason was covered here: Now to be fair, the UAA operates as a separate fiscal entity, so Sasse has no control of those funds. The endowment might be a different case. Unfortunately, the use of endowment funds for DEI would pi$$ off a bunch of ignorant/racist donors, so that option would be differently complicated. Let's see how Sasse navigates this process. Will he a) 100% suck up to corrupt FL politics, b) show some sack and support all people, or c) do something in between? My guess is a or c.
Again, this doesn't strike you as odd? Jean-Marie Stacciarini, former associate dean for DEI and current associate dean for community engagement and global affairs in the College of Nursing, shared on a phone call March 1 she could not confirm whether or not she was still employed with UF. Michael Bowie, former associate dean for DEI and current assistant dean in the College of Veterinary Medicine, said faculty are still figuring everything out and that people’s lives are being affected by the memo. Bowie had no comment on his own employment status.
Don't hold back, it isn't healthy. I agree with everything you said though other than Sasse wants to go back to DC as anything oyher than potus
Again, if you were told not to discuss employment matters externally and didn’t have a lot of experience with the media, what would you say? Or if you didn’t want to look like you were not in solidarity with your colleagues who were let go, what would you say? If they are eventually proven to be gone I will happily revisit it and admit I was wrong. But it wouldn’t make sense to go through the trouble of getting their titles changed to get around the law, seemingly making sure that got leaked to the press to show UF was trying to quietly do some things to push back, going back on it and firing them anyway even though they didn’t have to, and then leaving them on the website after they were let go. I mean it’s certainly possible, just doesn’t seem to be the most plausible answer.
