At the University of Florida, the Cancel Mob Comes Up Short against Ben Sasse

L ast week, Senator Ben Sasse (R., Neb.) visited the University of Florida, where I am a junior. Earlier this month, Sasse announced that he intends to leave the Senate and accept the position of president here at UF; he had come to campus to answer questions and address various groups.

As an admirer of the senator who agrees with 90 percent of his politics, I was saddened by the news that he was set to leave the Senate. But that sadness dissipated when I learned he was set to come to UF. Putting Sasse’s political views aside (as he promised to do as president), he has some innovative ideas to bring to the campus. Unfortunately, some of my fellow UF students seem to disagree. And they decided to make their disagreement known through a mindless, pointless display of the sort of campus agitation that had, up to this point, not been a feature of my time here.

Growing up in a conservative family in a red state, I read and heard plenty of stories about college-campus intolerance. As a young fan of Ben Shapiro, I watched many videos of college protesters screaming in his face as he tried to give a speech on a campus. The liberal lean of college students is no secret. So I always assumed that, once I made it onto a campus, I would have to endure some of that nonsense. Since starting at the University of Florida in August 2020, however, I had been pleasantly surprised by the lack of such activity. The students I met and interacted with were mature. Our political discussions were polite. And even though I was often the only conservative in the room, I never felt out of place. The caricature of the university mob seemed just that: a caricature.

My optimism was dashed last week. I saw the mob in full force. And though it seems to have failed in its aims, it definitely lived down to its familiar caricature. While Ben Sasse was here, a protest assembled outside the alumni hall, where he was speaking. I directly observed the protest, which had hundreds of participants. The protesters occupied the building while Sasse was speaking to students. They then began chanting, “Hey hey, ho ho, Senator Sasse has got to go.” In between speaking sessions, they occupied the conference room where the senator had been talking. Sasse was then forced to hold his third Q&A via livestream. The protest focused on a number of issues, but the most prominent were Sasse’s positions on abortion and on LBGT issues.

If these protesters were at all serious — or, frankly, if they had known what they were protesting — they would have known that Sasse is no threat. Instead, they decided to chant. In doing so, they showed their cards. The room in which Sasse held his second Q&A was packed with students, many of whom — such as the members of a gay-rights group who sat right at the front of the conference room wearing pro-LBGT shirts — looked like they opposed Sasse. As the Q&A began, Sasse addressed the protesters’ concerns. Asked about his commitment to LBGT protections on campus, Sasse explained that he believed in the individual dignity of every human and would do nothing to ban such groups (not that the law would allow it even if he wanted to, given UF’s status as a public university). Asked about his abortion stance, the senator explained that as the president of a university he has zero control over state abortion law (which should not have needed explaining). Two questions, and two answers that should have been acceptable to everyone concerned — that is, if they’d been listening.

After the Q&A, however, I saw the protesters firsthand. They did not strike me as the listening type. As I mentioned above, they occupied the building while Sasse was speaking to students. Walking out of the building required me to wade through the protesting mob, which gave me a close-up view of who these people were. I was, frankly, unimpressed. One protester in particular caught my eye. She was holding up a sign that said, “Where were you on January 6th?” When I explained to her that Sasse was one of the seven GOP senators who’d voted to convict Donald Trump in his impeachment trial after the Capitol riot, she responded with, “It’s just a question.” I left it at that and walked out of the building.

It does not seem that the protests will end there. According to at least one student who attended the first protest, another is scheduled for November 1, when the senator addresses the university’s Board of Trustees. Others have promised that the senator “won’t live a day in peace” while he is university president.

Thankfully, it seems the mob will not get its way. It does not appear that the university will back down from its choice of Senator Sasse as president. However, this knee-jerk response to the announcement that a Republican would be taking the position is just the latest sign of a culture of intolerance that has sprung up on campuses across the nation.

These protestors had no interest in real campus issues. The woman with the January 6 sign had no idea what she was protesting. She saw the “R” next to Sasse’s name and reacted reflexively. It should not have been hard for these students to stop and question whether Sasse could affect either issue they were up in arms about. If the student with the January 6 sign, for example, had any idea who Sasse was beyond his political affiliation, she would have known how ignorant her sign was. Instead, the protesters jumped at the first sign that people they disagreed with might be in charge. They apparently believe that, if they stomp their feet and complain loudly enough, they’ll get their way. Maybe at other times, and in other places, they’d be right. But at UF, it looks like they will have to learn to get along with people they disagree with.

Welcome to college.