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

And why I call him an empty suit, like the other professional politicians. I disagree on the university presidents. They didn't do a good job of speaking to people who value "woke ideology" either.

 

It requires no explanation. It was THE right thing to do and say.

We as a people, despise terrorism. We abhore the holocaust. Israel is one of our closest allies...

...and Oct 7 was the biggest terrorist attack since 9/11, and the worst attack against Jews since the holocaust.

It should have been a no Brainer position for college presidents across the country.

Alas, so many sought to be too clever by half, and look the fool for it, while our guy wound up looking excellent, for just doing the right thing, and not feeling the need to impress anyone.

 

I think to characterize Sasse as some Desantis/Trump acolyte is inaccurate. He's no Trumper. And I haven't seen UF policy change in any way that contradicts that.

I think his agenda is twofold: call out the free speech double standard on campuses and, and probably more important, declare that Universities should be preparing students to be able to work in a world where often they will meet challenges and situations that test their mettle. Learning to coexist. He thinks the best way in which to do so is emphasizing that which unites us rather than divides.

It's as David Brooks stated in his recent column: "Pluralists seek to replace the demonizing, demeaning and dividing ethos with one that encourages respect, relationships and cooperation. Pluralists believe that people’s identities are complex and shifting, that most human beings shouldn’t be divided into good/evil categories, that we become wise as we enter into many different points of view. Patel says that universities shouldn’t be battlefields but potluck dinners, where all guests bring their own cuisines to the common table."

Opinion | Universities Are Failing at Inclusion

 

Failing at inclusion? I suppose we will be increasing funding for DEI right ... right?

God why do people care so much about universities? I know David Brooks likes to leave his wife to marry college age people, but as a middle age man, he really shouldnt care about college campuses at all.

 

I highly recommend the 2 linked episodes of f Books Could Kill on Brooks and more recently Yaschua Mounk. Both point out the "flaws" in that reasoning, and Peter Shamshiri is hilarious while doing so

‎If Books Could Kill: The Identity Trap on Apple Podcasts

https://player.fm/series/if-books-could-kill/david-brookss-bobos-in-paradise

 

I generally agree with you but as a general rule I don’t think it is the job of college presidents to comment on political events.

 

Except that we've NEVER dignified terrorism as a political behavior.

It's viewed worse than criminal, and in a sense, worse than war, bc in war, the assailant stands by their acts, prepared to answer for them, while cowardly terrorists seek to hit and hide. Avoid answering for their acts.

Standing against terrorism is simply NOT a political statement.

It is a humanitarian, civilized statement.

Again...no @%%#@ brainer.

Except for those who've lost any sense of common sense.

 

I think there is a lot of terrorism happening around the world university presidents haven't issued any comment on and we haven't slipped into anarchy.

 

First, not to our allies;

Second, even if so...STFU, don't take up for the poor terrorists;

Third, they're not just looking to terrorize--they regularly call for the extermination of the Jewish people, and would if they could (plus Iran and SA; prolly would, but for us).

What the hell are you trying to accomplish anyway?

 

I'm certain terrorism has happened to client states that university presidents haven't commented publicly on

 

Are ya now?

Any of them protest--pardon mua--gather and parade, and celebrate--on their campii to harass group(s) of students at their schools, and to endorse these supposedly ubiquitous, common, every day acts terrorism?

 

I'm certain there have been pro-Palestinian protests on campuses before this year, yes. But its just recently that some dimwits have decided those are anti-Semitic endorsements of terrorism and want to do safe space discourse like the crybaby libs they claim to be nothing like.

 

As if October 7th never even happened.

NB: in the wake of 10/7, it was CELEBRATING TERRORISM, not protesting.

 

Hamas has been firing rockets for a long time bro, I guess your boy Sasse is soft on terror

 

I don't recall hundreds of douchebags coming out to celebrate Hamas' chickenshit campaign prior to Oct 7, but maybe I missed it.

That'd be the type of crowd you'd surely run with, so by all means... enlighten me.

 

Not taking a side in this but it was jewish terrorism against the Brits that was key in the founding of the nation of Israel. Made the Brits want to leave. Terrorists? Freedom fighters? POV matters.
JEWISH-ZIONIST TERRORISM AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF ISRAEL | Office of Justice Programs

King David Hotel bombing - Wikipedia
The British administrative headquarters for Mandatory Palestine, housed in the southern wing[1] of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, were bombed in a terrorist attack[2][3] on July 22, 1946, by the militant right-wing[4] Zionist underground organization the Irgun during the Jewish insurgency.[5][6][7] 91 people of various nationalities were killed, including Arabs, Britons and Jews, and 46 were injured.[8]

Menachem Begin was the leader of the group that did the bombing. He later became Prime Minister of Israel.

 

Seems to me you are projecting a negative image of him because you disagree with his views. Can a person who disagrees with you be a good person?

 

If that's what you've gotten out of our exchange, you haven't meaningfully considered my position. I agree with his core contention (that universities should err on the side of classical liberalism, particularly when it comes to promoting open inquiry and free speech). I am "projecting a negative image of him" because he has thus far refused to stand up for those values here in Florida, a place where they are under fierce attack. Actions speak louder than words.

 

My suggestion is you are holding him to a higher and unrealistic standard than you would have somebody of similar political persuasion. Or if not that, you are being unrealistic as to the level people can and will go against their otherwise like minded peers. He decided to quit the Senate and uproot his life and take this job. For him to speak out on the issues you are upset about would have no effect on the outcome, other than to needlessly torpedo his career.

Would any other recent UF college president have spoken out on these issues against a sitting and vindictive governor?

 

I'm happy to hold any liberal university president in Florida to the same standard if they write an editorial like this while having been silent about what's happening here in the state.

Yes, standing up for what's right is hard sometimes. It also may result in consequences. If a person isn't willing to risk those consequences, that's fine. But if that's their POV, I don't care to hear them lecture others about not standing up for the values they themselves won't fight to protect.

I don't know.