Trustees Confirm GOP Sen. Ben Sasse As UF President

The Gainesville Sun reports:

It’s official: U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse was approved Tuesday as the next University of Florida president, after receiving praise from trustees but criticism from students.

The 13-member UF board of trustees unanimously approved hiring Sasse, R-Neb., for the job after interviewing him about his academic views and past political positions.

Some of the dozen people who spoke at Tuesday’s meeting criticized the secretive process and Sasse’s opposition to same-sex marriage as a senator. Alana O’Brien, a Ph.D. candidate, said Sasse “is not the right president for UF” and that his hiring will greatly affect enrollment.

Read the full article. Last month Sasse fled an event through a side door as hundreds of UF students loudly protested his candidacy. Sasse, who attended Harvard and Yale, got his start in academics in 2005 as an assistant professor at UT Austin. His Senate term ends in January.

“I’m here because I believe that this is the most interesting institution, in the state that has the most happening right now. And it’s the best institution to lead our country through a time of unprecedented change.” https://t.co/EuWhO3nxNP

— GainesvilleSun (@GainesvilleSun) November 1, 2022