Latest / Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott / So, What Is Happening At The University of West Florida?

Transcript

So, What Is Happening At The University of West Florida? · Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: If I passed the hour third hour Tuesday in the
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Morning Show with Preston Scott. Great to be with you, friends.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Hope you enjoyed your weekend and appreciated the reason why
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: you got to enjoy your weekend. That's ose in Studio
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: one A. I am here in Studio one B, and
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: I am joined by our friend from the Heritage Foundation.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: He's Senior Legal Fellow and manager of the Supreme Court
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Apellate Advocacy Program at the Heritage Foundation. Our friend Zach Smith,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: proving once again that knowles and gators can play together. Hello, sir,
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: how are you.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: I'm doing well. Thanks so much for having me on
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: the show this morning.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: I'm really excited because this is the first time we're
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: talking about something where I did not initiate. The contact
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: is saying Zach helped me understand something, because this is
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: a whole nother world here. I have been sharing with
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: listeners about your appointment, but I want to back up
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: a little bit, Zach, how does one get appointed a
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: trustee of a state university here in Florida.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: Well, I appreciate you asking. Preston. The governor was nice
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: enough to ask me to serve on the board of Trustees,
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: and so I was very pleased to accept. I'd already
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: been serving on the Pensacola State College or local community
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: college here in Pensacola, on their board of trustees, and
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: so the governor asked me to also serve on the
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: University of West Florida's board, and I'm happy to do that.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: So this is going to sound so silly, but I
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: think people want to know what is it that got
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: you on the radar of Florida's governor.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: Or.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: Let's be honest, the people that are probably surrounding him
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: and advising him. What puts you on the radar is
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: somebody that would be useful to help the University of
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: West Florida because best as I can tell, it needs
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: some help.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: Well, it does, Preston. And look, I'm a lifelong resident
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: of Pensacola, Florida. I worked for the Heritage Foundation. I
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: live in Pensacol. I served our community as an assistant
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: US attorney. I thought at the University of West Florida.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: I've been teaching freshman government there for many, many years now,
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: and so I know our community and I know the
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: university in particular, and as you mentioned, unfortunately some of
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: the things that have been happening at the university over
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: the past past several years, particularly as it comes to diversity,
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: equity and inclusion initiatives, are not where they needed to be.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: And so I stepped in and had a very interesting
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: first board meeting a couple of weeks ago, and I'm
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: working to try to make sure that not only is
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: the university complying with Florida's relevant laws, but more importantly,
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: that the focus is on the students and making sure
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: that the students did the best education that they deserve.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: I know that we are in a state that has
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: a law Sunshine law prevails, and so there's probably nothing
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: I'm going to ask you that's really off the record,
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: because it all is on the record. When you showed
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: up at that first meeting, did you have a list
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: of questions you wanted answers to or because you've been
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: on faculty there, you're very well versed on the good,
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: the bad, and the ugly of the university. Did you
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: go in already with a bit of an agenda on
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: a whiteboard.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: Well, I don't know if I would call it an
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: agenda press and I did have questions I wanted answers too.
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: I wanted to ask the president why some of the
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: certain troubling things I had seen take place at the university,
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: why they had taken place, Why either she or her
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: staff thought it was appropriate to promote certain activities or
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: certain speakers at the university. And if they didn't think
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: it was appropriate, what steps have been put in place
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: to make sure that future instances would not take place
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: again in the future. And I'll give you one example.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: One of the things I asked the president at that
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: board meeting is why she thought it was appropriate for
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: the university, the university itself to co sponsor a drag
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: show called Drag Me to Hell. The President talked a
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: lot about inclusion, talked a lot about making students still welcomed,
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: respect for all viewpoints. And my point to her was,
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: you know, I disagree with the university co sponsoring your
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: drag show, but even if you didn't, would it make
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: religious students feel welcomed? Would it make them feel included
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: to essentially have their religion mocked by Dragney to Hell
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: drags show? I don't think so, And unfortunately I didn't
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: receive a satisfactory answer from the president at that meeting.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: Levin passed the hour. Zach Smith with me, Yes with
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: Heritage Foundation. But we're talking about his role as trustee
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: at the University of West Florida. Zach, you mentioned some
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: topics you brought up and asked questions of the university
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: president before we get to the president specifically and the
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: status of the president in light of some rumors floating
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: around the day in state news. What what was the
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: tone in the room as as you could best determine
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: from other fellow trustee members.
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: Well, this was a virtual meeting. Unfortunately, some of the
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: trustees who had been on the university board for some time,
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: some of the trustees who had been on the board
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: while these activities were taking place, were not supportive of
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: my questions. In fact, one of my fellow trustees has
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: been on the board for some time said that he
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: supported the rights of students to have drag shows that
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: he was offended by my line of questioning and unfortunately
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: chose to engage in an add hominum personal attack without
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: really addressing the issues that I brought up. But look,
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: my goal president, and I made this clear when I've
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: talked about this. When I was talking, you know, to
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: the Florida Senate, I start to be confirmed by the
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: Florida Senate. Is my duty as a trustee is to
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: do what's best for the students, to do what's best
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: for the faculty and staff, and to do what's best
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: for the community and the university overall. And so if
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: that means sometimes asking some difficult questions, if that sometimes
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: means asking me some uncomfortable questions for the president and
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: others on staff who are there, I'm okay doing that,
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: and I think I have a duty to do just that.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: Well, by the virtue of your appointment, we settle the
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: fact that this is not a private university, it is
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: a publicly funded university. Don't some of these programs run
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: a foul of what state law determines now is appropriate.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: Well, I think that's certainly a concern. Obviously, there was
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: discussion about a grant that the Governor's office had flagged
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: a previously a Florida Dog more specifically, had flagged about
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: potentially running a foul. Now the university administration says that
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: it doesn't run a foul of current DEI prohibitions. I'm
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: not convinced, but we're going to take a close look
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: at all of that, and look, Preston, Look, there's a
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: lot of really talented faculty and staff in students at
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: the University of West Florida. Unfortunately, I think there's been
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: a culture where students who may have a certain religious inclination,
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: where students who may have a different political view, typically
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: a more conservative world view than many of the fact
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: that the of staff there have been mixed up, silenced,
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: They're not free to express their views. And I'm committed
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: to changing that so that all students can feel free
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: to express their religious beliefs, can feel free to express
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: their political beliefs, whether or not I agree with them,
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: on campus, and she can freely engage in a free
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: exchange of ideas. That should be the goal of really
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: all of higher education.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: Zach Smith with me, Trustee University of West Florida. Zach
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: the president of the university. Who is president right.
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: Now, Well, it was that it is doctor Martha Sanders,
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: but in fact doctor Sondras. She resigned about a week
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: after that board meeting where I asked her some of
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: those difficult questions. Apparently she did not want to answer
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: many of those questions that gave her, so she has
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: submitted her resignation, and in fact, we're talking at a
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: good time present. I have a board of trustees meeting
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: in just about an hour where we're going to discuss
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: who should be the interim president of the University of
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: West Florida. We're going to stand up a search committee
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: to look for the future president at the University of
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: West Florida. Instead of all your listeners, I say stay tuned.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: The University of West Florida is an excellent institution. There
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: have been some problems. We're working to address those, and
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: I'm confident that going forward, this will be not only
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: an institution to serve our community and a region, but
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: a conservative students in our state and across the nation.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: Twenty one minutes past the hour final segment, here was
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: Zach Smith. Yes, professionally with the Heritage Foundation, but he
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: serves as a trustee at the University of West Florida.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: Governor Ron de Santas appointed him. He was confirmed by
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: the State Senate. Zach. Before we get back to the
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: University of West Florida, your alma mater is apparently narrowed
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: down their president's search to the current president of the
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: University of Michigan, Santa Ono oh no, I mean, oh.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: No, Yeah. Well, look, I'm very troubled by some of
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: the past statements that President Ono has made. Obviously, if
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: you go on social media, they're very easy to find.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: He's been a very strong advocate of certain DEI type initiatives.
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: He's given land acknowledgements before many of his speeches, and
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: so he's held very radical views in the past on
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: some issues where I veemently would disagree with him. Now,
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: Santa Ono, he said he has recently converted. He seemed
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: to like he's a skewed many of those previous positions
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: and says he is now anti DEI forward treating everyone equal. Now,
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: that's a very recent conversion, Preston. That seems to have
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: come about about the same time the University of Florida
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: president's job came open. So take that, yeah, take that
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: for what you will. But the University of Florida Border
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: Trustees is a meeting this morning to decide whether to
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: move his nomination forward or not. But I certainly think
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: there are very proubling statements he's made, very real questions
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: that need to be asked about whether his newfound commitment
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: to antide at policies is indeed.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: Genuine tell me about the search for an interim. The
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: reports today in Politico Florida stay that Manny Diaz, the
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: Commissioner of Education for the state, is likely to be
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: chosen as the interim. Is that something that you think
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: is on the radar?
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: Well, I have to be a little bit circumspect about
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: what I say, Preston, As I mentioned the University of
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: West Florida Boarder Trustees, we're meeting in about an hour
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: to take up this very question. What I can say
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: is that I appreciate Ny Diaz's work as the Commissioner
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: of Education. I'm a big fan. I think it'd be
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: a fantastic selection to be an interim if he is
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: chosen to do that. But we'll talk about that at
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: the border trustees meeting later this morning, but that is
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: certainly in the news this morning and over the weekend
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: as well.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: You've mentioned that before even taking the appointment as trustee,
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: you were aware of and concerned about and interested in
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: the affairs of the University of West Florida, and as
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: much as you were able, you constructed a bit of
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: a list of things that you think ought to be priorities,
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: at least from your chair as a trustee, give us
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: a top two or three things on that list.
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well we'll preston. I think in universities we should
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: be committed to the free, fair exchange of ideas, even
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: ideas we may disagree with. The student voices should not
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: be silenced or one preferred political narrative be pushed. And unfortunately,
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: where addressed with President Saunders at the last board meeting,
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: you had Marxist ideology being uncritically promoted, you had a
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: radical transgender ideology being uncritically promoted to students, and those
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: are very, very troubling things. So I think we have
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: to get back to the basic blocking and tackling of
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: if fostering an environment where free, open debate can occur.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: Then on the heels of that, we have to also
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: make sure the students are getting an affordable education, that
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: they are able to go into the workforce, the needs
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: of businesses and other entities in our region so that
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: they can get good, high paying jobs, get a good
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: return on their education. And then obviously, because UWF and
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: Pensacola State, we sit in Pensacola, we have a large
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: military population here, we're home with the Blue Angels, yeah,
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: and the Air Force members over at EGLIN. I think
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: it's important that we make sure that we're adequately serving
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: our active duty military personnel and our veterans for seeking
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: to transition into civilian lives. And so those will be
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: just a few of my focuses as a member of
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: the board of trustees of PSC and UWF, and I'm
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: excited to stay engaged and help move both of these
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: institutions into the future.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: As if you're not spending enough place, you also mentioned
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: that you are a professor teaching at a state college,
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: Pensacola State College. What kind of professor are you?
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: You? Tough?
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: Are you a tough grade? I mean, are are you well?
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: It depends on who you ask. Preston, I have a
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: I bought freshening government at both Pensacola State and the
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: University of West Florida. I'm not in the fall since
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: I'm a newly appointed trustee, but look, I focus on
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: the founding of our country. I focus on the ideals
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: that made our country great, and I've enjoyed the experience
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: and I hope to get back to teaching that freshman
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: government class relatively soon.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: What's a timeline for an interim, and what's a timeline
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: for that interim to serve before the search really focuses
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: on a permanent president or do you feel like I
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: mean to the trustees, and I know you can only
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: speak for yourself, Zach, but do you think there's a
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: feeling that an interim needs to get in there and
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: kind of settle things for a little while.
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: Well, we will talk about that as a board meeting
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: later today. Of President Sonders. Her resignation is effective ninety
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: days from the date seat she submitted it. We can
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: waive that we can shorten that time period if the
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: Board of Trustees sales we need to do that, or
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: Doctor Sonders we'd like us to do that. I think
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: we'd certainly consider that, But so we have a little
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: bit of time if we need to. But look, I
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: think once the interim is in there, they'll kind of
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: get the lay of the land, look at some of
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: the problems we flagged, and likely take steps to address those.
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: But I'm excited. I think we're getting ready to turn
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: a corner corner here, Preston, and I think is a
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: bright future in front of the University of West Florida. Zach.
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: Thanks so very much. I appreciate the time this morning.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: Best of success in the meeting today.
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: Of course, thanks so much for having me on.
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Zach Smith, Heritage Foundation trustee. Now we've got
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: an end at the University of West Florida, just saying,
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: just saying, see we're spreading our tentacles like a hydra. Yeah, anyway,
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: good would you love to be in his government class
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: freshman government? Come on, dude from Heritage Foundation teaching your kids.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: That's a reason to send your kid to Pensacola State College.
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: Right there.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: Twenty seven minutes after the hour, it's The Morning Show
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: with Preston Scott.