A former Republican Senator from Nebraska, Ben Sasse is now the President of the University of Florida, and his public response to pro-Palestinian protests on campus provides a foil to responses from other university administrations.
Over the past months, college student groups have spurred protest movements on many campuses across the country, notably including Columbia University and UCLA, causing campus closures and cancellations affecting the entire student body.
Comparative Administrative Responses
When college administrators such as those at Columbia and UCLA tolerated and tacitly accepted the protest movements in earlier stages, the resulting encampments escalated to such a degree that they ultimately had to be cleared out by law enforcement. Entire campuses, course schedules, and commencements had to be canceled in the interest of student safety and order.
Proactive Leadership
Sasse, perhaps having the benefit of seeing how the protests played out in other universities, has come out swiftly and decisively in stating the rules for protest on his campus.
Restrictions on Protest
Sasse has stated that while peaceful protest is allowed, protestors cannot “take over the whole university.”
Communication Strategy
Sasse has gotten out in front of the issue by communicating in advance what the campus expectations are for all students. In an interview on CNN, Sasse stated, “What we tell all of our students, protestors and non, is there are two things we’re going to affirm over and over again: we will always defend your right to free speech and free assembly, and also, we have time, place and manner restrictions, and you don’t get to take over the whole university.”
Maintaining Order
At the University of Florida in Gainesville, the administration maintains the right to restrict protest activity in certain times and spaces on campus, as well as the manner of the protest.
Enforcement of Campus Rules
For example, Sasse said, “People don’t get to spit at cops. You don’t get to barricade yourselves in buildings. You don’t get to disrupt somebody else’s commencement.”
Impact of Protests on Commencements
At several other universities, in-person classes were canceled for the remainder of the semester and graduations were canceled. For many affected 2024 graduates, they were also the graduates who experienced graduation cancellations and school closures in their final year of high school in 2020 due to the onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Prohibition of Encampments
Additionally, under Sasse’s tenure at the University of Florida, encampments are expressly forbidden. At this university, camping is not allowed on campus.
Guidance Toward Compliance
Sasse stated, “We have rules…you can’t start to build an encampment, but our goal is not to arrest people. It’s to help them get into compliance with the rules.”
Equality in Rule Application
The rules do not target pro-Palestinian protestors, and apply equally to the whole student body, a point Sasse makes clear. “They can protest. They can try to persuade people, but they don’t get to build a camp. Nobody, nobody else does either,” said Sasse.
Commitment to Commencement Ceremonies
Sasse is committed to ensuring that University of Florida graduates will get to have a commencement ceremony even as many are canceled across the country this month.
Critique of Other University Responses
In his interview on CNN, Sasse drew attention to the fact that in many of the universities that have been the most disrupted this year with protest movements, the university administrations have been inadvertently magnifying the efforts of the protest groups.
Leadership in Managing Controversies
Sasse stated, “What you see happening on so many campuses across the country is instead of drawing the line in speech and action, a lot of universities bizarrely give the most attention and most voice to the smallest, angriest group, and it’s just not what we’re going to do here.”
Won’t Negotiate With “People Who Scream the Loudest”
He further said that he will not “negotiate with people who scream the loudest.” While many University Presidents have had some interactions in the political sphere, Sasse is exceptionally comfortable in dealing with conflictual and politically tinged controversies as a former Senator. Notably, one reason he left the Senate was due to the intractable lack of understanding and dearth of positive consensus building between sides.
