The University of Florida Board of Trustees unanimously recommended U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska as the school’s next president Tuesday.
This is the second to last step in the process. The Florida Board of Governors, which oversees the state’s public university system, will also need to sign off on Sasse. That step is scheduled for its next meeting on Nov. 10.
“I genuinely believe this is the most interesting university in the country right now,” Sasse told the board. “I think this is the most important institution in the most economically dynamic state in the union, and there is so much happening here.”
The Republican answered questions for nearly two hours during the hearing. The trustees asked Sasse about his politics and the influence they might have on the position.
“I would have zero bandwidth for it,” he said. “I look forward to a period of political celibacy.”
Sasse vowed not to make financial contributions to any political causes or speak at partisan events.
“I do think one of the things that's sad about our moment is that we often reduce whole humans to specific views on supercharged policy issues at a given moment,” he said. “I think humans are a lot more complex and interesting than that.”
Sasse said he’d not been in a room with or spoken to Gov. Ron DeSantis since he was a congressman in 2016.
The Republican’s votes and statements on LGBTQ issues had previously been the focus of criticism from University of Florida students and faculty. Sasse promised to continue the school's current efforts to listen to and welcome those communities in Gainesville.
Sasse said he’d spend a majority of his first months on campus learning and listening. He centered many of his answers around the idea that colleges and universities around the country will need to change.
“Large portions of higher education appear more complacent and self satisfied, rather than more innovative and more humble,” he said.
Those changes could include rethinking how four-year universities prepare students for the workforce and addressing the concerns of today’s students who may not value higher education as much as previous generations did.
If confirmed by the Board of Governors, Sasse is expected to resign his seat from the Senate. Nebraska’s governor is required by law to appoint a replacement within 45 days of the vacancy. Gov. Pete Ricketts has said he will leave that decision to the next governor.
The Republican’s announcement as the school’s sole finalist for the presidency drew backlash from both students and faculty. A large group of students protested outside the room where Sasse took questions from the public last month. The Student Senate condemned the student body president for supporting Sasse.
The UF Faculty Senate voted “no confidence” in the search process last week. Many faculty members expressed concern that the school only announced one finalist. Search committee members and Board of Trustee members countered that all 12 finalists stated they would only move forward if they were named the sole finalist.
To address concerns about the search process, Rahul Patel, a Board of Trustee member who led the search committee, revealed at the meeting on Tuesday more details about the other 11 finalists for the job.
Nine were presidents of top research universities. Seven were presidents or provosts of colleges or universities that were members of the American Association of Universities, an elite list of 65 schools around the country. And more than half were women or people of color, according to Patel.
The search committee unanimously chose Sasse from that pool of candidates.