Sasse, a Republican from Nebraska, was named as the sole finalist for the UF post last month. If he accepts the job, he is expected to resign from the Senate in December. If Sasse eventually accepts the position, Nebraska’s Gov. Pete Ricketts (R) will appoint a successor under state law.
Sasse would take office in early 2023, the university said. Trustees also agreed to negotiate a compensation package with Sasse of up to $1.6 million.
UF trustees voiced support for Sasse’s vision to harness technological disruption to make Florida’s flagship university more nimble and relevant, promising great change even as he reassured faculty members that he supports academic freedom and the tenure system.
“I am grateful for the Board of Trustees’ unanimous vote and for their endorsement of our shared vision to make the University of Florida a world-changing institution and a pioneer in higher education,” Sasse said in a statement.
Sasse will succeed Kent Fuchs, who announced earlier this year that he would step down as president once a new leader was appointed.
On Tuesday, protesters gathered outside the meeting — they were barred from entering — some wearing Sasse masks, and chanting, according to the campus newspaper the Florida Independent Alligator.
In recent months, some faculty members have complained about excessive political influence on the public university, charging that Republicans in Tallahassee, including Gov. Ron DeSantis, have threatened academic freedom.
Last week, the university’s faculty senate passed a no-confidence resolution, criticizing what they said was a flawed selection process, and the UF chapter of the United Faculty of Florida passed a resolution expressing deep concern with the choice of Sasse as a finalist. Some faculty also said they wished they had seen more academic credentials, such as academic writing or experience advising graduate students.
On Tuesday, Sasse pledged to leave partisan politics behind if selected as university president.
Amanda Phalin, faculty senate chair and a trustee, pressed Sasse during the board interview on several issues faculty have raised, including concerns from LGBTQ members about whether he would be inclusive and continue efforts Fuchs had made on campus such as increasing all-gender bathrooms and providing some domestic-partner benefits. Sasse said he didn’t know all the particulars of what Fuchs had done but that he expected the trajectory would be the same.
Phalin asked if anyone from the governor’s office had guided him through the search process, and Sasse said he had had zero conversations about it and hadn’t spoken with DeSantis in years, not since he was a congressman.
Sasse earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and a doctorate in history from Yale University. He served as president of Midland University, a private Lutheran institution in Nebraska with about 1,700 students, before he was elected to the Senate in 2014.
A trustee asked Sasse to compare university operations to those at Midland, asking what had prepared him to lead an institution as large and complex as UF. Sasse responded that in decades of career experience, including time as a board member and an executive, he believed in building an excellent team of people.
Before his time in the Senate, Sasse worked with several Christian organizations and federal agencies including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Another board member asked about partnerships between tech firms and universities. Sasse acknowledged that change is often unsettling and scary. But he said UF “should be screaming, ‘We’re open for business!’ ”
Even as he promoted the need for innovation and responsiveness to the technology upending the economy and culture, Sasse also talked about his appreciation for the liberal arts, saying, “I’m a historian — I’m a lover of books and literature.”
In a statement, Mori Hosseini, chairman of the board of trustees, said “Dr. Sasse stands ready to lead UF through a dynamic period in our history, and he has the right combination of experience and innovative thinking that will propel UF to the next level of leadership nationally and globally.”
Sasse told the board members interviewing him that he is a romantic when it comes to the importance of education and the mission of the university. “The quest for knowledge and truth is a lifelong endeavor,” he said.
Paul Kane contributed to this report.
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