Sasse does not make it great to be a Gator
On Oct. 6, the University of Florida made a public announcement that the presidential search committee nominated Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Nebraska), as the replacement for current UF President Kent Fuchs, as he retires this semester. With this announcement, protests and a mass of social media posts came flooding in with angry and hurt students calling the university out for who they consider “not a representative of the UF student body” .
As a first-year student at UF, I too am hurt and confused why the university committee chose such a divisive and politically motivated person to represent a very diverse community of students, all with different beliefs, lifestyles and political views. What was most confusing about the decision was their choice of a politician as a public university president. The real discussion that we as a student body should be having, is what qualities a president should have as a representative of the gator nation.
Sasse has publicly commented on issues such as same-sex marriage and abortion. Most recently, when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the longstanding right to an abortion, and eliminated federal standards on abortion access, Sasse made the public statement, “America’s work of becoming a more perfect union is never over, but today – by righting a Constitutional wrong – the Supreme Court took a historic step forward. Roe’s days are over, but the pro-life movement’s work has just begun.” As a female, it hurts that a university that I am so proud to be a part of, decided after looking at over 300 other candidates that this man would best represent the entire student body. If you were asked to become the president of a public, top-five university, I would hope that you would be willing to represent and defend any and every type of student who attended that university.
Although Sasse is not without merit and experience, noted for being the youngest president of Midland University, located in Nebraska, it should be noted that it was a private, Lutheran university. It can be understood for a person with certain political and social beliefs to be a well-fitted president for a university that specifically represents and encourages those beliefs, but UF is a public university. This means that UF does not favor or encourage certain beliefs or ideas over others, especially political ones such as women’s reproductive rights. UF takes pride in representing all types of students from many different backgrounds, ethnicities, religions, etc. I believe that, as a president of a public university, you should not favor or support one kind of belief or lifestyle, but be a supporter of everyone. I am disappointed, as a woman and a student, in the university, and I hope that this recent protest and wave of outrage by the community will cause change and prevent this from occurring ever again. Not only within UF, but throughout the country. Change is not impossible, but it requires dedication and force. I believe those are both qualities of the current student body, and I have hope that change will happen and should happen in regard to the future president of the University of Florida.