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

If he fires Stricklin & Foley he deserves a statue.

 

IMO his article was accurate and probably what he believes. I’m not going to discredit him because he doesn’t speak out on other issues. That’s a standard that nobody adheres to, except for strangers in the internet.

 

They're the same issues (free speech and open inquiry). That's why his words ring hollow.

 

Interesting tirade on his part. Hard to disagree with most of it even if his core contentions on intersectionality are an intentionally oversimplified. But I like it because he took a shot at Ivy League while promoting Uf. Which is his job.

still wish he would spend more time working on a broader vision or strategy for Uf. 9 months in and only his besties have any clue what the “plan” is.

 

Don’t know if this is good or not. It does mean some continuity which the university could use.

 

he’s a really nice guy. Well liked from his days in ifas. Idk what kind of provost he’s going to be. He’s been a very light touch interim. Not sure what he will do now that the interim title is gone.

 

I know nothing about him but if he is doing a good job his appointment lends more credibility to Sasse as a reasonable leader vs being perceived as a political crony.

 

I will give Ben Sasse credit. DeSantis and Ray Rodrigues (his crony on the FL Board of Governors) ordered UF to deactivate the UF student chapter for Students for Justice in Palestine. UF basically refused because it was obvious that it was a First Amendment violation. In the lawsuit over it, UF (unlike the state entity, the FL BOG) has not tried to defend the unconstitutional deactivation order. That's principled.

 

Sasse is an old guard conservative with an abiding dedication to liberal democracy.
He is the kind of person you could have a fiery argument with and leave liking him better than before you started.
He will grow with the job and can become a great one if he sticks around.

 

I can see that. Strongly disagree with some of views. And I still don't know if he'll make an effective president. But I can at least respect his commitment to free speech, particularly at a time when DeSantis and his muppets in Tallahassee are launching an all-out war on free speech in education.

 

So far he’s been a nice enough guy and I’ve met some of his senior admin hires and they’ve been good people. The primary complaint from everyone, and I mean deans, administrators, faculty, staff, - everyone. Is that 1 year in we still have no idea what the “plan” is. And I’m sure for people on team R you don’t see any problem there but I can tell you it’s having a pretty big impact on the operation of the institution. Both short and long term.

 

WSJ editorial on Sasse and Florida becoming the unwoke Harvard. Ymmv.

 

A article from The Alligator somewhat lifting the hood on what Sasse has been up to in year one and wants to be doing in the subsequent years.

Listening, learning and ‘laying the groundwork’: Sasse spent first year as UF president mostly behind the scenes - The Independent Florida Alligator

 

Not exactly earth shattering. Get some programs ranked higher and get into the AI buzzword sweepstakes is the summary.

 

We are already ahead of the AI game with the NVDIA partnership. There is a real chance to be a global center for it, so we should absolutely be maximizing it.

 

Interesting. I did look up various rankings and we are not near the top in IT currently. Ive actually seen FSU and FIU on a few rankings ahead of our IT program. Seems like a big stretch to make IT a tentpole department at UF. I am not an expert just pondering.

 

Yeah overall we’re not, but remember Broward Beach?
The building that’s there now is specifically for this initiative. Between Chris M and NVDIA they gave like 75 million dollars and the state kicked in another big chunk. We got one of the fastest supercomputers in all of academia, and anyone in the state of Florida or the SEC can use it. Undergrads of any major can get AI certifications as well. It’s been a massive thing that was timed perfectly. Read around in it if you get bored, it’s really good stuff.

 

There's something really disturbing about this:
U. of Florida Investigates Whether Professors ‘Interfered’ With Western-Civ Center
To avoid paywall:

UF leadership is threatening faculty/department chairs with investigations for not being supportive enough of the Hamilton Center and demanding they sign a letter affirming their support for the Center. This is after the Hamilton Center hired one of Ben Sasse's close friends to be its Director.

 

Wow. That is disturbing

 

A lot of disturbing things happening at UF these days.