UF presidential search is getting underway (U Michigan prez is the sole candidate) update- merged

I wished this topic were on one of the other forums, but instead I will peruse this one, but just for a bit. I won't take up most of you all's time. Feel free to reply or rebuke, I just won't engage. And so, you can get the last word on me, although I can not say someone else may pick up the gauntlet and engage.

IMO, this feels like a much more important parallel to Rashada, football and the NIL "experts". It isn't that Napier was incorrect in his handling, it is just that the supposed left hand did not know what the right hand was doing, or whether it got its marching order from the brain or it was going rogue. Still, Rashada and Company heard "something" and thought it a good deal, except it came from the right hand and not the brain (or brains in this instance). And so, we get/got a "who shot who" situation that could have been avoided with better coordination and communication. And until further notice, it still looks bush league to the uninformed or those who hate UF in general.

Regarding this topic, where did the Trustees get the idea that whatever they thought was green-lighted all the way to the top (the Governors and the Governor himself)? That was about as bush league as they come. Was Ono a capable candidate or was the vetting process fraught with confirmation bias and elitism? No one thought about floating a thought bubble to the US Senate (they were the House) and the POTUS before making all the overtures they did? Really?

I do not doubt that we will get a better candidate than what has transpired (like we got Lagway and not Rashada), but the optics - and the damage to Ono and his place in academia - is quite unprofessional. And even unethical. We HAVE to stop being rubes and begin to use the brains that God and UF has granted us. And I do not believe this is a Trump drive-by shooting. He gains nothing but trying to stop the silliness. It is up to us to realize the mess we have and then do what WE need to do. It isn't pat-a-cake we are playing, this is serious business.

 

Is this some kind of metaphor or are you suggesting the Senate or president of the US needs to be consulted or involved in selecting a university president?

 

Do you not understand analogies? Sorry about that.

 

I dont know why an analogy was needed to make your point, and who would the equivalent of the president be, isnt that who they are picking, the chief executive? Just a little confusing.

 

I've been working long enough that I have options inside and outside of education. It's just kind of sad that things have become so stupid in Florida that I actually have to think about leaving.

 

Think Ono was very qualified to be President of UF. This is a bad look for UF no doubt. I agree with a previous poster as this was probably done by the trump crew who doesn't give a crap about DeSantis or the optics. If wrong I'll definitely blame DeSantis and whoever made the final call.

 

He was rejected for being too liberal, end of story. And no one was interested in hearing that he had changed his opinions, or that he would abide by a contract saying if he acted liberal he would be fired.
They basically said conservatism has to be your guiding light, your central value, or you can't work here.
Even though, hilariously, until 2022/23, that same board of governors supported DEI throughout the state.

 

As I said early in this thread, being a non-white guy, none of the worms on the board believed his change of view despite all his knee bending - his name, the way he looks - cant be trusted even with a contract that binds him to their efforts, its pretty simple. They probably see the guy as a former "DEI hire" himself, despite his academic record.

 

Looks like someone started a new thread, and it got merged into this beast.

Imho, shoulda remained and independent thread, bc its an independent issue. Now its conflated with the original searches, and largely lost in all that mess.

 

To me, it sounds like you are inferring he is spineless and does what he is told. Whether that is the case or not, he has a past, and he really couldn't give straight answers about his past. At one point, he claimed he never reviewed the clinical data on COVID mandates, yet had mask/vaccine mandates for college students. The man specializes in immunology.

He was at UBC prior to Michigan. Here is a paragraph from the Alachua Chronicle:

Oliva responded that Ono’s words at the time didn’t show that he was waiting to see what would happen, including a statement when he left the University of British Columbia that he was most proud of their Task Force on Anti-racism and Inclusive Excellence, “and that Task Force concluded whiteness is an obstacle to achieving inclusive excellence.” Ono responded that he did “not stand by that; I do not support that today, and I haven’t for about 18 months now.”


Sounds like our first contact was 18 months ago. Maybe he is just following the money and really has no strong beliefs. The more I read about this guy, the more he looks like a fraud.

 

We are living in a new age of McCarthyism, run by hate-filled megalomaniacs who feed on contrived, made-up words to stay relevant and powerful.

Ultimately, they will face the same fate and forever be remembered in the same vein of their evil.

 

I don’t know how you hire an administrator out of academia who ISN’T liberal. That’s the problem. Conservatives in academia do not exist unless you want to hire the president at Hillsdale College and give each incoming freshman a pocket sized edition of the Constitution.

 

What was "liberal" about Ono? He seems like a guy with a science background who didnt care much about politics, and went along with whatever the state's priorities were in his past gigs. To me that seems the case with most university admins and figureheads. If you mean that highly educated has become liberal-coded for dumbasses, then I take your point.

 

DeSantis hand-picked the board of governors.They are loyal to him. This rests significantly on DeSantis’ shoulders.

 

Constitution? I think you mean Bible. Trump abridged edition.

 

Well, on his weakness anyways. Seen this in Tally too on the budget stuff, he's certainly not anyone Republicans are afraid to defy. When you cant even get your cronies to do your bidding and push through your hand-picked guy ... (or care enough to politic and make sure you have the votes)

 

I wouldn’t go this far, but certainly these people have a high opinion of their own opinion. I see this mostly as a symptom of the right’s current obsession with “winning”. Who are they winning against? Americans who disagree with them. That’s the main goal. It is assumed that beating those other people makes the world better, but no one actually shows interest in evaluating whether that is true. Just keep beating them in any arena that is physically possible.

 

He also hand-picked the UF Board of Trustees who nominated Ono in the first place, and he stayed out of the Ono bashing.

I’m hanging the blame for this one primarily on Byron Donalds (who saw this as a way to embarrass the DeSantises because there’s still some possibility of Casey running against him next year) and the Trump-world folks supporting him.

 

he was a typical pandering higher ed administrator. Which should have been fine. He told the state he’d do whatever they said. Idk why the state had to throw such a hissy fit.

 

That’s kind of my point. But you stated it better.