Latest news with #AdamHasner
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
FAU partners campus police with ICE, makes foreign students deportation targets
The Florida Atlantic University website asks the question, 'Why FAU?' 'Ranked as one of the most culturally and ethnically diverse universities in the U.S., we value the insights our international students bring to our community …' … And we look for new ways to use the campus police to question their immigration status and help deport them and their loved ones with or without reason or due process.' OK, that last part was my update. That's because FAU, under its new private-prison president, has become one of the first public universities in Florida to request using its campus police force as partners with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. By volunteering to participate in the controversial 287(g) program, FAU would essentially deputize its campus officers to help ICE to identify deportables among its 2,500 international students who make FAU 'the most diverse public university in the state,' as it claims. Who knew that FAU was full of Tren de Aragua gang members? I thought all those tattooed students were just vinyl record collectors, baristas and young adults who really love their mothers. And in the years I spent as an adjunct professor there, I never ran into any Middle Eastern terror cells in my classes. I did encounter so-called Dreamers, who were exemplary, motivated students who came to this country as children and were hoping to eventually attain permanent legal status here. Is looking for ways to deport them and their family members going to be a new priority? I thought the main job of the campus police — after zealously enforcing parking regulations on campus — was to keep the students safe from harm. The FAU Police mission statement says, in part: 'Our vision is to maintain a high caliber organization of professionals that provide our diverse community with the most efficient and effective public safety services possible. 'While providing these services we will ensure that we maintain optimal efficiency by cultivating high professional and ethical standards, providing ongoing training and a continued assessment of the needs of our community.' Who knew that the 'needs of our community' would involve converting students into immigration detainees? Using campus police as proxy ICE agents will mean that many of FAU's international students will avoid reporting crimes or requesting help from the campus police. Even in the cases where the students are here legally, they may be living with family members or friends who have immigration issues. But it could be that my concern about how this ICE partnership will make FAU students less safe is just some outdated pre-DeSantis thinking? After all, it was just two months ago that Gov. Ron DeSantis installed Adam Hasner as FAU's president in a selection process that reeked of a fix. Hasner, the only finalist without an administrative background in higher education, was an executive vice president for the GEO Group, a Boca Raton-based private prison company that owns or manages 28 immigration jails for ICE and derives about 42 percent of its revenue from ICE contracts. GEO has a blemished history at FAU and its Florida Owls identity. This came to a head in 2013 when the company bought the naming rights for FAU's football stadium for $6 million. Opinion: Florida can change how it picks university presidents. There's a bill for that. The deal was approved by the school's board of trustees but later rescinded after students began protesting and calling their new football stadium, 'Owlcatraz.' Naming the university football stadium after a private-prison company is symbolically tacky. But that's small potatoes compared to using campus police as an arm of a branch of government that, under its present command, has been known for gross errors, the lack of due process, and a penchant for performative cruelty. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been busy canceling the visas of foreign students for engaging in protests and writing op-ed pieces critical of U.S. foreign policy. 'They're visitors to the country,' Rubio told reporters. 'If they're taking activities that are counter to our foreign, to our national interest, to our foreign policy, we'll revoke the visa.' In light of all this, FAU ought to change its 'Why FAU?' marketing pitch to international students. Cut the happy talk about what a 'diverse' student body the university has. Headline: the word 'diverse' has been recently banned in Florida. Instead, remind these potential foreign students that if they enroll at FAU, those friendly-looking campus police officers are really ICE agents. So, think twice before you call them for help. Also, for your own good, avoid all campus political activities. To be safe, if you see a crowd of people, just walk the other way, unless you want to end up being swept up by plain-clothes masked men and sent to a dark site in some distant state. And don't even think of getting a tattoo. Opinion: For FAU's next president, DeSantis will probably want the prison guy Remember: Your university president has a background working for a company that requires replenishing warm bodies inside immigrant detention facilities. In light of this, the university's marketing pitch requires a slight punctuation change. Why, FAU? Frank Cerabino is a news columnist with The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network. He can be reached at fcerabino@ This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: FAU turns campus cops into ICE, harms foreign students | Opinion
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
FAU police seeks immigration enforcement authority to question, detain people
Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton. Credit: FAU Florida Atlantic University's police department has a pending agreement with the federal government that would allow campus officers to question and detain people they suspect are in the country without authorization. The public university in Boca Raton could be the first to enter such an agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which lists the campus police department as one of 75 entities that have submitted paperwork for consideration. FAU's trustees in February picked a new president: Adam Hasner, a former GOP state lawmaker and executive of a for-profit prison group that manages 16 ICE detention centers across the country. Hasner served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2002 to 2010, taking the role of House majority leader during his last three years in the chamber. Between 2016 and his appointment at FAU, he was executive vice president for public policy at the GEO Group, where he oversaw 60 consultants representing the company's interests in D.C., according to his resume. The $4 billion company's stock value doubled after Election Day, according to ProPublica. Following a two-year-long presidential search, FAU's trustees picked and the state university system's Board of Governors confirmed Hasner as the new president, with a base salary of $875,000 and a potential performance bonus of $150,000, according to his contract. 'When I step onto this campus, if I were to be the eighth president of this university, my commitment to you, sir, and my commitment to this board and my commitment to this entire university community is that I am not involved in partisan politics,' Hasner told trustees during the Feb. 10 meeting when they picked him. 'I do not believe that it is politically red or politically blue to be a university president.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The university of more than 31,000 students describes itself as a Hispanic-serving institution and the number-one Florida public university in terms of campus ethnic diversity. Details of the paperwork FAU submitted to ICE, such as the number of officers it intends to deputize, have not been published. Paula Muñoz, executive director of Florida Student Power Network, said that, considering Hasner's background with GEO Group, she wasn't surprised FAPD could be the first campus department to deputize its officers to act as immigration enforcement agents, which requires them to undergo a 40-hour online training. 'It's incredibly concerning. It's something that should not be a part of the education or institutions,' Muñoz said in a phone interview with Florida Phoenix. 'They should be worried about how to make sure that students are feeling safe on campus.' The pending agreement raised concerns for FAU junior Nicholas Ostheimer in light of the detention of nearly a dozen students and faculty across the country. He led the student protests against Hasner's selection as president. 'It's unbelievable and it's an insult to our community and an attack on our freedoms,' Ostheimer told the Phoenix. Meanwhile, the DeSantis administration is pushing for cities and counties to enter into the agreements that the governor has characterized as the maximum level of collaboration and has said will lead to street-level enforcement. So far, Florida cities, counties, and state agencies have entered into 194 agreements with ICE, although some of the agreements are aimed at apprehending people without legal status already in jails and prisons. In early March, the chief of Pinellas County Schools Police signed and submitted paperwork to enter into the task force model agreement with ICE without the knowledge or authorization of the school board and superintendent, which he later told the board he had done because he thought he had to comply. The school district didn't know about the agreement until the Phoenix contacted a spokesperson for comment. FAU and ICE didn't respond to the Phoenix's request for comment. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Another Florida university picks a former Republican lawmaker as its next president
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Atlantic University on Monday picked a former Republican lawmaker as its leader in what is the latest example of a public university in the state picking someone with a political background for such high-paying posts over experienced academic leaders. The board of trustees of the university in Boca Raton picked Adam Hasner to be the school's next president, following a lengthy and controversial search process that resulted in FAU tossing out its initial slate of finalists. The announcement comes as Gov. Ron DeSantis works to expand his influence on education in the state. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. State officials called off the school's previous presidential search after a Republican state senator then-aligned with DeSantis was not named as a finalist. After FAU relaunched the search, Hasner, a former Republican majority leader in the Florida House, emerged as a finalist. Now a vice president at Florida-based private prison company GEO Group, Hasner beat out two academics for the role: a dean at Florida State University and the provost of the University of Maine. Hasner argued his experience representing Palm Beach County in the Capitol gives him an edge over the university administrators vying for the job, saying a president's top responsibility is to be their school's 'top lobbyist.' 'If you're coming from the outside and you're trying to get to know the Florida legislative process or the regulatory process in Florida, it's going to take somebody years to be able to do that,' Hasner said. 'I can hit the ground running on Day One.' Hasner's appointment came over the concerns of some students and faculty members who questioned his political background, his lack of experience in higher education and his work for GEO Group, which stands to profit from President Donald Trump's push for mass deportations. FAU, which serves more than 31,000 students, has been without a permanent president for more than two years, after then-president John Kelly stepped down in December of 2022. Hasner's pick comes just days after Florida International University in Miami announced it's tapping Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez — DeSantis' second-in-command — to be that school's interim president, without conducting a public search. ___ Kate Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Florida Atlantic University selects Adam Hasner as new president
Florida Atlantic University on Monday welcomed former House Majority Leader Adam Hasner as its new president, concluding a presidential search that was off and on over the past two years, and at times became mired in discord. The FAU Board of Trustees unanimously voted Monday afternoon to select the former state legislator, saying in part it believed his connections with the Legislature will bring crucial funding to FAU, bolstering it as a premier university in Florida. Hasner is the latest in a string of former lawmakers who've become a college or university president in the state in recent years. 'FAU is at a turning point today, hopefully for greatness,' Board of Trustees member Jonathan Satter said Monday afternoon. 'The university needs an advocate that can attract the attention of the community of donors, the Legislature, of students, of parents that can keep the dream alive and take the university to new limits. 'I'm excited about the possibilities of Florida Atlantic University under president Hasner.' Hasner, a Republican, served in the state House for eight years through 2010, including as majority leader in those last three years in office. He's a lawyer who works as the executive vice president for a public policy for the GEO Group, a Boca Raton-based prison operator. He was chosen from among other finalists. The other two finalists were Michael Hartline, a business dean at Florida State University and a finalist from the previous search; and John Volin, an executive vice president and provost at the University of Maine. The board asked each candidate a set of interview questions — what challenges and risks they've faced in their careers, how they would sell FAU to prospective students, donors and legislatures, how they would go about fundraising efforts and how they would support mental health and wellness for students. FAU's mission should be 'about changing lives,' Hasner told the board during his interview. 'Our mission is about providing opportunities so that these students who are attending our university have the opportunity to improve their lives and improve their families' lives and then ultimately go on to do things that have a tremendous impact on our community, on our state, and perhaps beyond,' he said. The finalists each visited FAU campuses last week to meet with students, faculty, staff and community members in a series of public forums. The prominent issues brought up during the public forums were how the new president would go about finding a new provost, what he would do about academic freedom, how to attract South Florida's high school students to FAU, how he would support research efforts and how he would deal with political interference and pressure. During Hasner's visit last week, he drew opposition from some people who expressed concern about him being the favored choice. Nicholas Ostheimer, an FAU junior studying political science and the FAU College Democrats campus organizer, said he felt it was a 'disingenuous' process, where picking a president should be 'a selection, not a coronation.' Hasner on Friday replied to the criticism, saying he understands 'we have a highly diverse student population, we have a strong responsibility in terms of advancing the academic mission for our students,' and would work to boost the university in many ways. Some community members also believed Hasner to be the best candidate for the job, with several voicing this opinion during the public comment portion of Monday's Board of Trustee's meeting. 'I represent a lot of a large group of conservative students on campus, and as it stands, a lot of us are really concerned about our ability to voice our classes and confront with our fellow students,' said Nick Coyte, a student and the president of Turning Point USA at FAU. 'I personally believe that Adam Hasner is, out of the three candidates, the best to help solve this issue where, where we haven't seen a lot of headway in terms of conservative voices given freedom to speak in the way that other students feel so emboldened.' Former FAU President John Kelly stepped down in late 2022, and since then Interim President Stacy Volnick has served at the helm. FAU had previous launched a search for a permanent leader that became mired in controversy. Initially, the university named three finalists on July 5, 2023, but two days later, the State University System's Board of Governors halted the search, alleging anomalies. At the time, some alleged the reason the search was stalled was because Randy Fine, a state legislator who had been endorsed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, wasn't selected as a finalist. Fine previously told the Sun Sentinel that he'd been pretty much guaranteed the job by the governor's office. A state investigation concluded that FAU broke a number of laws related to open meetings and the process to narrow the candidates. The search for a president continued. Then last month, Hasner and the other two candidates were publicly named as the three finalists in the running for president.
Miami Herald
10-02-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Florida Atlantic University selects former Florida state rep. Adam Hasner as new president
Florida Atlantic University on Monday welcomed former House Majority Leader Adam Hasner as its new president, concluding a presidential search that was off and on over the past two years, and at times became mired in discord. The FAU Board of Trustees unanimously voted Monday afternoon to select the former state legislator, saying in part it believed his connections with the Legislature will bring crucial funding to FAU, bolstering it as a premier university in Florida. Hasner is the latest in a string of former lawmakers who've become a college or university president in the state in recent years. 'FAU is at a turning point today, hopefully for greatness,' Board of Trustees member Jonathan Satter said Monday afternoon. 'The university needs an advocate that can attract the attention of the community of donors, the Legislature, of students, of parents that can keep the dream alive and take the university to new limits. 'I'm excited about the possibilities of Florida Atlantic University under president Hasner.' Considering candidates Hasner, a Republican, served in the state House for eight years through 2010, including as majority leader in those last three years in office. He's a lawyer who works as the executive vice president for a public policy for the GEO Group, a Boca Raton-based prison operator. He was chosen from among other finalists. The other two finalists were Michael Hartline, a business dean at Florida State University and a finalist from the previous search; and John Volin, an executive vice president and provost at the University of Maine. The board asked each candidate a set of interview questions — what challenges and risks they've faced in their careers, how they would sell FAU to prospective students, donors and legislatures, how they would go about fundraising efforts and how they would support mental health and wellness for students. FAU's mission should be 'about changing lives,' Hasner told the board during his interview. 'Our mission is about providing opportunities so that these students who are attending our university have the opportunity to improve their lives and improve their families' lives and then ultimately go on to do things that have a tremendous impact on our community, on our state, and perhaps beyond,' he said. Read the full story at the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
