Latest news with #BenSasse
Wall Street Journal
2 days ago
- General
- Wall Street Journal
Not Everything at Harvard Needs Improvement
Ben Sasse makes an important observation in his op-ed 'Can Trump Force Harvard to Improve?' (May 31): The university isn't an 'undifferentiated monolith.' It has some wonderful parts and others that are broken and need to be repaired. Mr. Sasse got to experience both as he went onto the stage of Harvard's Sanders Theatre during ROTC commissioning for his daughter. A lone heckler started to yell about the University of Florida, Gaza and genocide. The audience booed for a bit and let the heckler speak for 30 seconds. Then, as Mr. Sasse's daughter was presented as a new officer in the Air Force, the hundreds of people in the audience rose in a standing ovation. There are appalling things occurring in some corners of Harvard, including disruptive Palestinian activism at the Divinity School and ideological suppression about racial topics at the Kennedy School of Government. But there are also wonderful things at the university, such as its ROTC graduates, whose numbers have been growing in recent years, with the encouragement of Harvard's administration. Our mission shouldn't be to destroy the university. It should be to fix the broken parts and help the great parts thrive.
CBS News
27-05-2025
- General
- CBS News
Former University of Michigan President Santa Ono gets initial approval to lead University of Florida
University of Michigan president expected to take same role in Florida University of Michigan president expected to take same role in Florida University of Michigan president expected to take same role in Florida The University of Florida's board of trustees on Tuesday approved Santa Ono to be the next leader of Florida's flagship university, though one more vote is required before it becomes official. Ono, the past president of the University of Michigan, needs approval by the governing body of the state university system before he becomes the 14th president of the University of Florida. "The energy here at the University of Florida is palpable, and I am eager to join the wonderful students, faculty and staff of the Gator Nation," Ono said in a statement. The school's board of trustees selects the president, and, per state law, the appointment is subject to confirmation by the Florida Board of Governors. Ono is set to replace Kent Fuchs, who became the school's interim president last summer after ex-U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse stepped down. Sasse left the U.S. Senate, where he had represented Nebraska, to become the university's president in 2023. Sasse announced in July that he was leaving the job to focus on his family after his wife was diagnosed with epilepsy. Soon thereafter, there were reports that Sasse hired six former staffers and two former Republican officials with salaries that outstripped comparable positions and spent over $1.3 million on private catering for lavish dinners, football tailgates, and extravagant social functions in his first year on the job. The amount was about double the spending of his predecessor, Fuchs, who was brought back to head the university temporarily. Ono was appointed the 15th president of the University of Michigan in July 2022. At that time, he agreed to a five-year term. Ono said the decision to step down was not made lightly, and he would work with the chair of the Board of Regents to "ensure a smooth and seamless transition." Before becoming Michigan's president, he served six years as president and vice-chancellor of the University of British Columbia and as president and provost of the University of Cincinnati. On May 8, Michigan named Domenico Grasso its interim president. Grasso will lead the university's search for its next president, which is set to begin in the coming weeks.
CBS News
27-05-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Former University of Michigan President Santa Ono gets initial approval to lead the University of Florida
University of Michigan president expected to take same role in Florida University of Michigan president expected to take same role in Florida University of Michigan president expected to take same role in Florida The University of Florida's board of trustees on Tuesday approved Santa Ono to be the next leader of Florida's flagship university, though one more vote is required before it becomes official. Ono, the past president of the University of Michigan, needs approval by the governing body of the state university system before he becomes the 14th president of the University of Florida. "The energy here at the University of Florida is palpable, and I am eager to join the wonderful students, faculty and staff of the Gator Nation," Ono said in a statement. The school's board of trustees selects the president, and, per state law, the appointment is subject to confirmation by the Florida Board of Governors. Ono is set to replace Kent Fuchs, who became the school's interim president last summer after ex-U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse stepped down. Sasse left the U.S. Senate, where he had represented Nebraska, to become the university's president in 2023. Sasse announced in July that he was leaving the job to focus on his family after his wife was diagnosed with epilepsy. Soon thereafter, there were reports that Sasse hired six former staffers and two former Republican officials with salaries that outstripped comparable positions and spent over $1.3 million on private catering for lavish dinners, football tailgates, and extravagant social functions in his first year on the job. The amount was about double the spending of his predecessor, Fuchs, who was brought back to head the university temporarily. Ono was appointed the 15th president of the University of Michigan in July 2022. At that time, he agreed to a five-year term. Ono said the decision to step down was not made lightly, and he would work with the chair of the Board of Regents to "ensure a smooth and seamless transition." Before becoming Michigan's president, he served six years as president and vice-chancellor of the University of British Columbia and as president and provost of the University of Cincinnati. On May 8, Michigan named Domenico Grasso its interim president. Grasso will lead the university's search for its next president, which is set to begin in the coming weeks.
Associated Press
27-05-2025
- General
- Associated Press
Former University of Michigan president gets initial approval to lead the University of Florida
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — The University of Florida's board of trustees on Tuesday approved Santa Ono to be the next leader of Florida's flagship university, though one more vote is required before it becomes official. Ono, the past president of the University of Michigan, needs approval by the governing body of the state university system before he becomes the 14th president of the University of Florida. 'The energy here at the University of Florida is palpable, and I am eager to join the wonderful students, faculty and staff of the Gator Nation,' Ono said in a statement. The school's board of trustees selects the president and the appointment is subject to confirmation by the Florida Board of Governors, per state law. Ono is set to replace Kent Fuchs, who became the school's interim president last summer after ex-U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse stepped down. Sasse left the U.S. Senate, where he had represented Nebraska, to become the university's president in 2023. Sasse announced in July he was leaving the job to focus on his family after his wife was diagnosed with epilepsy . Soon thereafter, there were reports that Sasse gave six former staffers and two former Republican officials jobs with salaries that outstripped comparable positions and spent over $1.3 million on private catering for lavish dinners, football tailgates and extravagant social functions in his first year on the job. The amount was about double the spending of his predecessor, Fuchs, who was brought back to head the university on a temporary basis.
New York Times
27-05-2025
- Business
- New York Times
University of Florida Approves New President, Recruited From Michigan
The University of Florida's new president will be Santa J. Ono, a biomedical researcher lured from the University of Michigan with a large pay package, despite criticism of him that social conservatives had raised. Dr. Ono's selection was approved unanimously on Tuesday, less than a month after he was named as the sole finalist for the job. In recent years, the state's leadership has sought to steer Florida's education system to the right, and several supporters of President Trump, including Representative Byron Donalds, a candidate for Florida governor, expressed opposition to Dr. Ono because of his past stances on diversity, equity and inclusion. But the university's board chair, Mori Hosseini, who has been on a quest to move the college up in national rankings, strongly endorsed Dr. Ono. 'He is the right person to accelerate U.F.'s upward trajectory and help make it the undisputed leader among America's public universities,' Mr. Hosseini said in a message to the Florida community before Tuesday's meeting. Dr. Ono was chosen after a search to find a permanent successor for Ben Sasse, a Nebraska senator whom Florida recruited in late 2023. He arrived with great expectations but resigned abruptly last summer, little more than a year into his presidency. After Dr. Sasse stepped down, questions were raised about his spending in office. He remains a professor at Florida. The university has sought to regain its spot as a top-five public university in the rankings published by U.S. News & World Report, a place it held for several years but lost in 2024. It was, perhaps, not surprising that its board looked to hire Dr. Ono, who was the president of Michigan, a top-five school. Dr. Ono was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, to Japanese immigrant parents and grew up in Pennsylvania and Maryland, where his father was a math professor. He also holds United States citizenship and degrees from the University of Chicago and McGill University. He was previously the president at the University of British Columbia and the University of Cincinnati. Before becoming a university administrator, he was known primarily for his work studying juvenile diabetes and macular degeneration. He was also known for advocacy around climate change. Dr. Ono was once a vocal proponent of diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and the University of Michigan, where he became president in 2022, was known for its expansive D.E.I. apparatus. But Dr. Ono recently renounced such programs while at Michigan and in an opinion essay published in Florida newspapers. 'Over time, I saw how D.E.I. became something else — more about ideology, division and bureaucracy, not student success,' he wrote. 'That's why, as president of the University of Michigan, I made the decision to eliminate centralized D.E.I. offices and redirect resources toward academic support and merit-based achievement.' He said he ended the programs despite opposition. 'I'll bring that same clarity of purpose to U.F.,' he wrote. The circulation of Dr. Ono's essay followed an attack from the right, both from Mr. Donalds, a Republican, and from Christopher Rufo, a conservative activist who serves on the board of trustees at New College of Florida, another state-funded university. Mr. Rufo had found prior statements by Dr. Ono that supported D.E.I. programs and reposted them online. In one social media post, Mr. Rufo wrote that Dr. Ono was a left-wing administrator who recently declared his support for 'D.E.I. 2.0' and claimed that 'the climate crisis is the existential challenge of our time.' Mr. Rufo also disseminated a statement Dr. Ono made, while president of the University of British Columbia, in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students. Despite such criticism, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida supported Dr. Ono for the position. Speaking to the Florida board on Tuesday, Dr. Ono specifically addressed the issue. 'I understand that a few individuals have circulated older statements or videos from me regarding D.E.I. programs at the University of Michigan and U.B.C.,' Dr. Ono said. 'In hindsight, I see those moments differently now, too. What matters most is not what I said two to six years ago, but what I have done in the past year and a half.' Dr. Ono did not renounce his past positions on climate change, but he also told the board he would not use his personal opinions to influence Florida policy. 'My goal is to provide the state with the best possible data,' he said. Details of Dr. Ono's contract have not been disclosed, but the total cash compensation could be as high as $3 million a year, based on a pay range established by the board. His appointment still technically requires the approval of the state's Board of Governors, which oversees all of Florida's public universities.
