Ben Sasse next UF president?

It's quite a sight seeing the left vacillate on 18-21 year olds.
One moment is they are too young to be held responsible for their actions and their brains aren't developed. The other take, they are well reasoned in their stances and make sound judgements and should be heard.

 

When does he get confirmed officially?

Ready for him to fundraise that athletic money!

 

Ah yes, here comes the protest police to tell us what the proper way of protesting is.

"Aren't you the intolerant ones when you're intolerant of our desire to discriminate?" It's always amusing to watch them think they're scoring points with that one.

 

Speaking only for myself, I don't think that the judgments of the younger set are uniformly wise. Just the opposite. Simple logic tells you that many of their current stances will not stand the test of time as they have lacked the filter of being tested in the real world. Parenthetically, empirical real life failure does not necessarily doom an idea anymore, unfortunately.

But I do think the younger generation has a different lived experience and that adapting different generational positions than their parents is the story of human history, an inevitability. And while it will not be uniformly wise, it will certainly be an improvement in many areas.

But I especially think this generation has a valid point in feeling a lot of resentment towards our generation. We are leaving them a pretty screwed up world. We are not leaving them a better world than we inherited, I would submit. That is the deviation from prior human nature, at least the recent version. We are leaving a worse world for our children than we inherited.

In terms of rejecting the past ideas and some form of prelapsarian fallacy, I would submit that the Right is far worse at this in the Left. The Right is the one that is so invested in blowing up the whole post WWII international order and at least flirts with fascism and some form of totalitarianism, failed governance models of the past, which again appears to be seducing European voters for fear of immigration. I would submit that they should look to Ukraine to see that the value of Western multicultural ideas is still preeminent over homogeneous totalitarianism.

It's a bit like the "I want my country back" debate. Both sides use the phrase, referring to different eras. At least in my mind, I refer to the e pluribus unum, post World War II US as defender of world liberty and rules based international order, formation of the UN, etc. The Right usually fantasizes about a return to the pre Progressive Era, in which the social hierarchy was rigidly defined, in a world that was not constructed for the industrial/technological age. And they're willing to blow up everything, including democracy, to try to get there.

 

Well, he is not leaving the Senate until the end of the year, so he cannot start regardless of when he is formally approved. Given he was the sole candidate and hand chosen by the very same people who have to rubber stamp his approval, I would say that part is a given.

 

My major hope was that he would leave the Senate in December and that no successor could be appointed before the next Congress opened. On the off chance that it ended up 50-50 again or even the Republicans having a one seat advantage, his vote would be unavailable for the organizing resolution that sets the affairs of the next Senate. If that were to happen, his appointment would’ve been worth it because it would help save the country

 

Is there a lengthy process to replacing him with an appointment in Nebraska? Seems that with this news in early October, the governor would able to appoint someone before January. I just don't know the process for this type of thing.

 

1. "The university has been pushed hard left for decades": disagree with this. No one has pushed UF left. 1 - more people who are already liberal are going to college. 2 - the last two presidents UF has had have been politically conservative. They didn't push UF further left. Hell... Machen pretty much didn't want anyone drinking on campus ever, that's how conservative he was.

2. Having worked at the University in different capacities for a long time, your premise of left leaning group think is overly simplistic - by a lot. Sure there can be a lot of administrative group think at UF which is bad, but much of the bad groupthink isn't tied to politics. It's tied to poor leadership. The jury is out on whether or not he will be an effective leader.

3. Agree with your last point. If he pushes draconian right agendas it will damage the school brand and he won't be president long - so it would be against his own self-interest to do that.

4. His record is problematic because probably 2/3 of the schools students, staff, and faculty disagree with him, on a fundamental level. Now... this wouldn't have been as problematic had UF had 3 candidates to choose from, but he is being force-fed to the university community - and when you are force fed someone you disagree with fundamentally, it is easy to become angry. The BOT and executive university leadership has screwed this up yet again, telling the UF community they are doing us a favor and doing what is best for us, and basically pissing on us and telling us it is rain. So, IMO, that could have been handled better.

All of this being said, Sasse could still be a good hire.

 

I think you’re right. Different states have different procedures but I’ve heard they just require a governor’s appointment. So I presume it would be quick. Plus he has hedged on when he will formally leave the Senate, which says to me that he’s trying to make sure he doesn’t interrupt that process. That was my big hope when I heard he was appointed, that the process would be interrupted

 

You missed a significant point. Because of his open hostility towards certain groups, particularly LGBTQ+, some companies that would be funding research with UF faculty will no longer be able to, or it will become much more difficult. HR reviews of research partners and whether or not they meet the oft times "Draconian Left" HR policies set out by companies is very real. I have personally been a part of a situation like this with another university.

His very presence, with his past, public record on certain positions could hurt the university without him taken any additional draconian steps. This is is why I am so worried about the appointment of political puppets to the president's office.

 

I see we are just making up crap at this point. Funny. Let's see what happens before UF becomes worse than Seminole State in your mind.

 

Lol, the fragility of some. Oh my god, let’s make a hire that won’t upset anyone! Good lord, you certainly cannot please everyone and this bromide is even more true with the myriad of newly created libbie subgroups.
One thing is clear, people like you will be upset. There’s always a few and I think that’s okay.

 

Why would certain groups not be able to fund research with UF faculty?

 

You mean the one that was originally denied but the threat of a lawsuit made UF change it's mind
University Of Florida Denies Richard Spencer Event, Citing 'Likelihood Of Violence'

UF Flip Flops, Will Consider Allowing White Nationalist Speaker On Campus

UF President “shocked” to learn that he must uphold the First Amendment [VIDEO]

 

And given that a white supremacist fired a shot at protesters, they were certainly correct about the threat of violence, weren't they?

 

The University President's stance on social matters are inconsistent with the stated HR policies of the company looking to fund the project.

Many, many companies are audited in some way, shape or form by customers and more and more Social Responsibility has become an increasingly important element of the audit. Your internal practices, the practices of your suppliers, research partners are equally under scrutiny.

Most people blow this off as ridiculous, but in the semiconductor industry, with its endless customer audits, this is a huge concern that I have already had experience with.

 

I don't understand why he seems to have been singled out for the spot, and it concerns me if others weren't considered. The University has an anti-discrimination policy which includes LGBTQ. I assume he cannot change that unilaterally even if he wanted to do so. Also included in the non discrimination policy as I read it is political opinions and affiliations. Does that mean the University has to provide a platform for neo-Nazi speakers/groups? Does NAMBLA get equal speaking time to promote adults having sex with minors as groups do who are trying to protect children from child sex abuse and trafficking?

 

If their speech is constitutionally protected and they are using public spaces that are for general use by the public, then yes, that’s why the neo-nazi got to speak at UF.
Having said that, I think it’s a bit of a reactionary post to a perfectly valid answer. Keeping kids from being exposed to things they don’t agree with only harms them long term. They should have their views challenged, that’s part of growing up and learning who you are and what you truly believe. We have gotten away from that on all sides of the aisle, people only want to hear opinions that fit their world view. We would all be a bit better off if we listened instead of shouted. And in fact them trying to shout him down yesterday was a perfect example of where things have gone. If you are truly right, then your ideas would win without having to try and silence your opponent. In that sense, their protest yesterday likely did more harm than good, it makes them look like the irrational ones, not him.
Jmo.