Ben Sasse next UF president?

Absolutley; if he’s a bigoted misogynist ; I wouldn’t want within 100 feet of actual humans that are going to lead other humans. I keep hearing STEM; not much of a worldly education without some philosophy and understanding of human behavior. I have STEM and thank goodness I find phsychology; philosophy; history; art and human behavior interesting enough that I read non stop on the subjects or I’d be a moron that can count and read a financial statement. That later piece is a very small part of a full life. It just makes me money; it does not make for a fulfilling life. If money is your singular goal; that’s a sad existence. Much more inmpressed with a good speaker who’s well read that knows how to understand why people do what they do than an expert in a single subject. Robots and AI will be experts in a lot of the skills in STEM; they don’t take bathroom breaks; vacations and have emotions; why do I need a human. Data science will not need humans in 50 years.

 

there is a reason you do not have any idea what I was referring to-I quoted your response but was responding to the post above yours (108). Sorry. I am old and suck at this technology thing.

but thanks for responding anyways.

 

Well he accused UF of cheating at football 4 years ago.
Shouldn’t that be a disqualifier?
UF presidential hopeful, football fan Ben Sasse once made dig at Gators

 

Okay. Now I agree he is not qualified.

 

That was a fantastic read. Thanks for sharing!

 

Why would someone be snowflake for doing what they want with their own money? Also, if it make a snowflake to decide what to fund based on politics, then…

DeSantis revokes Disney's special status after ‘Don’t Say Gay’ opposition

Governor DeSantis Announces Legislative Proposal to Stop W.O.K.E. Activism and Critical Race Theory in Schools and Corporations

 

Or, like the rest of us, they will not support a political appointee who has absolutely no qualification for the position. This is an epic fail by the states "super secret search committee". The fact that he is intolerant of a large majority of the student body at UF just makes it worse, but he is ill qualified long before you get to that stuff.

 

bullshit. He has almost no academic experience at all.
Ugh. At least it looks like he’s a good fundraiser. That’s more important for a president than most academic will admit.

 

These are not the same thing.

Jury's still out on what exactly Sasse will do. Also, the status quo in higher education is heavily left-leaning. If one conservative president before he even does anything is enough for them to take their ball and go home, yeah, they're snowflakes.

Disney deliberately tried to fight back against DeSantis Administration policy, so DeSantis wanted to revoke special privileges. That's engaging in the culture war because Disney engaged in the culture war, not sensitivity. Same with the CRT stuff. It's fighting for the culture because the culture drives policy. Leftists know this, which is why they mobilize behind the whiners... i.e. snowflakes.

 

What evidence do you have that he is "intolerant" of a "large majority" of the student body?

Also... "no qualification," come on... even you have to admit that's a bit of a stretch. Risky... sure... no qualifications, definitely not.

 

A lot of conservatives are unhappy too. I can guarantee some big time donors who farm in the middle of the state are not happy. Sasse is a holier than thou fraudster who thinks he is the smartest person in the room because he has degrees in government, liberal studies and history. The only thing he is qualified for is teaching those classes. His supposed questions, which were actually self dialogue were too much for me with the ACB nomination. Google them if you want to throw up.

 

Sounds like a guy who pisses everyone off.

Nice.



Just kidding. I hope he's good. But "holier than thou" and "snobbishness" really rubs me the wrong way more than most things.

 

Not me.

Machen actually did something that help me and other faculty that played lunchtime pick up basketball. He let us play at the small gym near the stadium. It turned out that he was an old friend of one of us.

We really missed the days of playing pick up at Florida Gym.

 

Actually my question had nothing to do with forgiving student loans. It was more a reflection of comments from the Rs I have heard over the years as to liberal arts degrees being a waste of money. In many cases that is true, but certainly not most

As for fiscal conservatives, a lot of people say they are but few really are when it comes to their personal agenda (Not saying ur not).
I have 2 finance degrees and my wife thinks I'm a fiscal conservative. R friends don't think it's possible for any D to be a fiscal conservative..... and so it goes.

 

I think it's important to keep in mind that this would be a very unusual move for someone with future political ambitions. You don't often (or ever) see a sitting US Senator with 4 years left on his second term resign to become a university president.

It puts him way outside the limelight and almost certainly takes him off any path to higher office.

If this were a lower-level party guy who could earn standing by being a partisan stooge, I'd see a good reason to be concerned. But Sasse has no real compelling reason to act like that. He's reached the mountaintop and is on the way down, voluntarily.

We'll see how it goes, but I'm cautiously optimistic that politics won't play a big part in how he does his job.

 

Interesting that u mention Shalala. She is a good example of the risk in hiring an ex pol. One side will always look for negatives no matter how good she does.
I know plenty of canes that blamed her for every neg that occurred with the university, esp in sports. Every cane football loss was her fault. Of course the critics were all Rs.
I thought she did a great job upping miami's academic rankings, far better than her predecessors. But some were never happy.

 

I don't care about Shalala. I don't care about the University of Miami. I'm just showing that this isn't unprecedented, and it probably won't be the last time it happens.

 

I have argued on here that we need more conservatives in academia, but I’m just saying that anybody should be able to spend their own money however they like. If they don’t want to support a university led by Ben Sasse, I don’t think they should be judged at all.

As for DeSantis, I agree it is different. He isn’t choosing how to spend his own money; he is choosing how to spend the state’s money based on politics, which is the problem with his behavior.

 

Choosing how to spend the state's money IS politics, and that's one of many things that politicians are elected to do: choose how to spend that money.

They have every right not to donate to UF while led by Sasse, but their rationale for refusing to donate indicates quite a bit of sensitivity.

 

I have only heard persons bemoan another’s choice of majors in the context of loan reimbursement or parents bemoaning their child’s inability to find work after receiving their degree in their chosen field.

And Clinton was fiscally conservative. Hell his major accomplishments read like a current conservative wish list-toughest and most restrictive immigration laws ever(IIRIRA)-pretty much gutted now, toughest criminal laws in modern history including minimum mandatory sentences, Welfare reform, and, most importantly a balanced budget. (Tried the line item veto but found unconstitutional).

But you are correct -neither party is fiscally conservative—hence 31 trillion dollar debt. One party wants to spend alot and not tax, the other wants to spend even more and tax but nowhere near enough to cover the expenditures.

Americans don’t like making sacrifices or tough choices-that is reflected in our politicians.