Following Ben Sasse’s resignation from the UF presidency after 17 months, details of exorbitant financial spending has brought increasing scrutiny to his (mis)management of the office. Under his watch, the UF President’s office tripled its spending to $17.3 million, much of it going to lucrative consulting contracts, travel expenses and remote, high-paying jobs for his former political allies. His spending has led state officials to call for an investigation into his office, while many of his original staff hires have already received letters of non-reappointment.
The disastrous and short-lived Sasse presidency came as no surprise to the majority of students, faculty and campus workers who opposed his appointment for its lack of transparency and his lack of qualification. At his first student forum, Sasse faced a crowd of roughly 300 protestors, who unceremoniously chased him out of Emerson Hall. The opposition to his appointment was not limited to protests, however, with votes from the student senate and faculty senate expressing a lack of confidence in the selection process.
In each instance, members of the UF community expressed reservations about the politically-motivated and closed-door nature of Sasse’s appointment. It comes as no surprise that Sasse engaged in the same practices that brought him into office: nepotistic hiring of former political allies, lucrative (and secretive) contracts with consulting companies and cozying up to the Florida political establishment.
Despite the obvious fact that a woefully unqualified, politically-motivated and rushed appointment would do a terrible job as the president of the highest-ranked university in Florida, a legion of cranks lined up to heap their praises onto Sasse.
The UF Board of Trustees voted to unanimously confirm his appointment, with former Student Body President Lauren Lemasters commenting: “I look forward to, throughout my experience, seeing you ready to sit down and listen and learn from these students.” She, to no one’s surprise, was later hired by Sasse’s office. Other apologists simply pretended that the opposition to Sasse was the immature whining of a far-left “small, fringe political minority.” This assessment ignored the broad population of faculty, campus workers and students who organized, protested and opposed his forcible appointment.
Once in office, a segment of conservatives portrayed Sasse as a hero: a Republican-aligned university president who refused to be beholden to the woke mob. One op-ed described his possibility to be a “transformative leader” by firing everyone in the College of Education. Another piece laughably describes Sasse’s potential to transform UF to a “Harvard for the Unwoke.” The cherry on top of the pro-Sasse echo chamber was Ben Shapiro’s description of the man as the “best state university president in all of America.”
Whether it be for a future job, ignorance or political blindness, Sasse apologists failed to see the incredibly apparent outcome of hiring a candidate based on politics rather than qualifications (ironic, considering most of them oppose DEI initiatives on the same grounds). The cranks that lined up in Sasse’s defense have shown themselves to be a deeply unserious crowd, and such a fact will become even more true as details continue to emerge about his short time as UF president.
Rey Arcenas is a UF history and women's studies senior.
