Posted on 05/06/2024 5:40:43 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Sane-minded people who felt a sense of despair after seeing how the pro-Hamas college protests were playing out early on at places like Columbia University and UCLA were heartened in late April when the University of Florida issued a no-nonsense response to the "outrage" that ensued from the arrest of some campus agitators.
As RedState reported at the time, the statement released by U of F school spokesman Steve Orlando confirmed that they were not a daycare center and that if their rules were not followed, then consequences would follow.
"This is not complicated: The University of Florida is not a daycare, and we do not treat protesters like children — they knew the rules, they broke the rules, and they’ll face the consequences," he noted.
READ-->> Go Gators: Statement From University of Florida After Arrest of Campus Occupiers Was Perfection
What was especially fascinating about the school's response was knowing that former Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) is now their president.
Sasse, as RedState readers will recall, left a lot to be desired during his time as Senator, but his administration's handling of the encampments has earned a lot of praise from many of his conservative critics.
In an update to this story, Sasse himself followed up with an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal on Friday that put an exclamation point on how these protests should be handled both from a free speech perspective and the perspective of making sure the campus is kept safe and welcoming for all students:
To cherish the First Amendment rights of speech and assembly, we draw a hard line at unlawful action. Speech isn’t violence. Silence isn’t violence. Violence is violence. Just as we have an obligation to protect speech, we have an obligation to keep our students safe. Throwing fists, storming buildings, vandalizing property, spitting on cops and hijacking a university aren’t speech.
[...]
Second, universities must say what they mean and then do what they say. Empty threats make everything worse. Any parent who has endured a 2-year-old’s tantrum gets this. You can’t say, “Don’t make me come up there” if you aren’t willing to walk up the stairs and enforce the rules. You don’t make a threat until you’ve decided to follow through if necessary. In the same way, universities make things worse with halfhearted appeals to abide by existing policies and then immediately negotiating with 20-year-old toddlers.
Appeasing mobs emboldens agitators elsewhere. Moving classes online is a retreat that penalizes students and rewards protesters. Participating in live-streamed struggle sessions doesn’t promote honest, good-faith discussion. Universities need to be strong defenders of the entire community, including students in the library on the eve of an exam, and stewards of our fundamental educational mission.
In my view, Sasse has provided an important blueprint other higher education institutions should follow when it comes to drawing the line in the sand as to what is and is not okay.
To reiterate a point I've made before, hats off to people like Sasse and others who are making the critically important distinctions between what protecting free speech means versus the enforcement of sensible policies designed to make campuses safe, secure, and welcoming for all, especially at a time when cries of "First Amendment violations" are nearing fever pitch.
Related: Absolute Hilarity Ensues After Pro-Hamas Vanderbilt 'Sit-In' Does Not Go According to Plan
How will Sasse respond when the latest teen scholar gets gunned down by police and the Dindu Nuffins start rioting?
I’ll tell you what he’s going to do.
He’s going to make the obligatory speech about race and how America must atone for its past, blah, blah, blah.
All these system cops are going to bend the knee when the blacks start rioting again, just watch
Should be able to get some mileage out of that quote. It would make a good t-shirt.
RE: How will Sasse respond when the latest teen scholar gets gunned down by police and the Dindu Nuffins start rioting?
What happened to the troops who shot the protesters at Kent State University decades ago?
Memories of 1968 Al Capp.
Reminds me of the old Li’l Abner comic strip from 1968 in which the Students Wildly Indignant about Nearly Everything (S.W.I.N.E.) take over the campus.
The terrified University Regents decide to sell the University! The only buyers were the Mafia who brings in the mob enforcers.
Here come the SWINE protesting!
I still get a thrill remembering how the leader of the S.W.I.N.E. used his front teeth to assault the brass knuckles of the mob enforcers. Who says brass won’t make a spark! These did. Big ones at that!
Anyone else remember that old comic strip? Could easily be reprinted today with no changes.
These kinds of events are bread and butter for anti-MAGA RINOs like Sasse.
He’s in a red state where they don’t put up with bull crap.
Isn’t this the RINO dbag that tried to silence Trump?
Maybe you should focus on what Sasse actually did, which is stand up to the woke crowd, instead of your fantasy of what he might do in the future.
Sasse is following the lead of America's Governor Ronald Magnus DeSantis.
You might as well criticize DeSantis; he is calling the shots.
Or, criticize Trump for making up with DeSantis.
Some people are never satisfied they are not satisfied with any sort of success, Sasse was a RINO as a Senator but his actions as the president of the University of Florida have been rock solid everything from firing all DEI personnel to handling the anti-Israel protests but some are unwilling to enjoy the victory and complain about what might happen or has happened in the past, I don’t know how you go thru life miserable and unhappy all the time
That’s no possible for some people who go through life miserable and unhappy all the time
” Sasse was a RINO as a Senator but his actions as the president of the University of Florida have been rock solid everything from firing all DEI personnel to handling the anti-Israel protests but some are unwilling to enjoy the victory and complain about what might happen or has happened in the past,”
Well said. I wasn’t a fan of Beb Sasse when he was a senator, but that’s water under the bridge. If he’s doing a good job now at U. of Florida, then let’s give credit where credit is due. Neither enemies nor allies necessarily have to be permanent.
That’s what I believe, maybe Washinton so toxic he got sucked into all the corruption, Gainesville is a far cry from Washington, maybe being President of a large public university is his calling, because he’s doing a good job, as an Alumnus of that school until he shows me otherwise, I’m enjoying the success he’s having right now.
Some of you may remember that when Sasse was hired for this position the Dems tried to stop him from being hired because he was a Republican. The leftwing nuts that run our colleges need to be purged.
No, you’re wrong.
There are things happening that are not apparent, I understand this. The Trump-Desantis dynamic is one such thing.
And perhaps Sasse will turn out to be another. But on the surface, Sasse has shown himself to be against Trump, so until proven otherwise he is an advocate for the America-last movement.
Um, like the rest of higher ed in the US, U of FL does, unfortunately treat its students like children.
Any and all can go get “help” with reading and with writing their assigned papers at any time. Couple that with the AI tools online and academia is slow grinding through the farcical idea that students are getting graded and graduated for “their” work.
https://archive.registrar.ufl.edu/catalogarchive/03-04-catalog/student-information/reading.html
RE: Any and all can go get “help” with reading and with writing their assigned papers at any time.
I dunno, there used to be a time when High School grads on average could do those without needing much “help”.
He stood up to the “woke” crowd because they were protesting Israel.
When they protest against muh White oppression, he’s not going to do a damn thing.
A lot of colleges are down to about the 6th grade level now
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.