Ben Sasse will resign as UF president effective July 31

In a sudden announcement Thursday night, UF News said University of Florida President Ben Sasse is resigning effective July 31.

According to Sasse, this unexpected change is due to his wife's recent epilepsy diagnosis.

“My wife Melissa’s recent epilepsy diagnosis and a new batch of memory issues have been hard, but we’re facing it together,” Sasse said in a UF News release. “Our two wonderful daughters are in college, but our youngest is just turning 13. Gator Nation needs a president who can keep charging hard, Melissa deserves a husband who can pull his weight, and my kids need a dad who can be home many more nights.

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"I need to step back and rebuild more stable household systems for a time. I’m going to remain involved in serving our UF students — past, present, and future — but I need to walk arm-in-arm with my dearest friend more hours of every week.”

In a long X post, Sasse announced his resignation along with his wife’s diagnosis. He cited a need to spend more time with his family and be a father and husband “who can pull his weight.” Sasse also said he’d be staying at UF as president emeritus and professor, continuing to teach classes.

A paragraph from Sasse’s post on X reads:

“First, I’m a husband and dad. Second, I’ve been blessed to serve as president of the best dang public university in America — Go Gators! — and I’ve loved the challenge of giving this university everything I’ve got. But here’s the bottom line: Those callings are significantly at odds with each other right now. Gator Nation needs a president who can keep charging hard, Melissa deserves a husband who can pull his weight, and my kids need a dad who can be home many more nights. After extensive prayer and lots of family tears, I today asked UF Chair Mori Hosseini and our Board of Trustees to initiate a search for a new president of the university. I need to step back for a time and focus more on the needs of my family while we rebuild more stable household systems.”

A former Republican U.S. senator for Nebraska, Sasse left the Senate to become UF's president in 2022. Despite some UF community opposition and a vote of no confidence from the UF Faculty Senate, he was unanimously voted in by UF's board of trustees in November 2022.

Sasse's tenure was formally announced in October 2022, amid community and student pushback, with a five-year term that was scheduled to begin in February 2023, the Gainesville Sun previously reported. He was formally inaugurated as the university's 13th president in November 2023.

He was formerly president of Midland University, a 1,400-student Lutheran school in Nebraska.

UF News said the board of trustees "will work quickly and thoughtfully to announce an interim president and lay the foundation for the search for a new president" and "engage the UF community every step of the way."

Mori Hosseini, chair of the board of trustees, was quoted in the UF News release:

“The board of trustees thanks Dr. Sasse for his service to the University of Florida. Under his leadership, UF has continued to advance on the national and international stage, benefiting our students, faculty, alumni, community and state. He has left a lasting impact on the university and all of those associated with it. We wish Ben all the best as he steps back to focus on his family,”

Sasse on the Israel-Hamas war

Amid vigils and protests, Sasse has not hesitated to comment on the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflicts locally, which has brought much attention and praise from conservatives throughout his tenure.

Following an outbreak of chaos and injuries at a Jewish vigil being held on the UF campus (at which Sasse spoke) in October 2023, he penned a lengthy letter to Jewish students and graduates.

The letter was first obtained and published by two conservative blog sites, the Gainesville Sun previously reported, and condemned the Hamas terrorist attacks in Gaza and Israel that killed more than a thousand innocent people, including more than a dozen Americans. It also clarified that there was no attack at UF's Turlington Plaza where nearly a thousand people held a vigil for those who lost their lives overseas. The commotion that ensued, and sent dozens to the hospital with injuries, was from a misunderstanding after someone in the crowd fainted.

Sasse’s letter also stated that anti-Israel protests could potentially pop up on campus.

"But I also want to be clear about this: We will protect our Jewish students from violence," he wrote. "If anti-Israel protests come, we will absolutely be ready to act if anyone dares to escalate beyond peaceful protest. Speech is protected — violence and vandalism are not."

Six months later, in April 2024, a pro-Palestinian demonstration occupied UF campus for multiple days, leading to the arrest of nine protesters.

UF told the Sun that while peaceful protests are constitutionally protected, "Camping, putting up structures, disrupting academic activity, or threatening others on university property is strictly prohibited." UF also said the rules being enforced have been in place for years.

The university recently suspended the arrested protesters, barring them from campus for up to four years.

Fresh Take Florida previously reported that Sasse, during a May press conference, praised police: “What you have done in the face of being spit on, being shouted at with profanities, has been amazing,” he said.

UF spokesman Steve Orlando issued a statement in April 2024 that received much praise in conservative media. He said: The “University of Florida is not a daycare, and we do not treat protesters like children.”

Orlando’s statement also said: “They knew the rules, they broke the rules, and they’ll face the consequences. For many days, we have patiently told protesters — many of whom are outside agitators — that they were able to exercise their right to free speech and free assembly. And we also told them that clearly prohibited activities would result in a trespassing order from UPD (barring them from all university properties for three years) and an interim suspension from the university. For days UPD patiently and consistently reiterated the rules. Today, individuals who refused to comply were arrested after UPD gave multiple warnings and multiple opportunities to comply.”

Sasse and the university were praised by many conservatives for the way they handled campus protests, as opposed to approaches taken by leaders at many other schools nationwide.

Throughout his tenure

Sasse had a rough start to his tenure, with hundreds of protesters swarming his first visit to Emerson Hall on UF’s campus.

Students in October 2022 protested the selection of Sasse as the only finalist for the job, the Gainesville Sun reported. At one point, protesters disrupted a question-and-answer session with chants of "Hey hey, ho ho, Ben Sasse has got to go."

Many questions about Sasse’s political views were asked during his first visit.

Protesters then stormed into the ballroom before a session with staff was set to begin, continuing to chant while standing on chairs. His third session was then moved to a different location. Sasse was followed by protesters again when it ended, before he jumped into a police vehicle that quickly drove away.

Concerns among students, faculty and staff were raised regarding the transparency of the presidential search and Sasse being the only finalist. Senate Bill 520 allowed the university to conduct most of the search behind closed doors without following Florida’s open meetings and public records laws.

After Sasse was nearly a year on the job, some members of the UF community were still unsure if he was the right fit.

During his tenure, UF received $130 million in new funding from the state. Sasse established that more than half, for the first time, will be used for strategic purposes.

The university announced in October 2023 that it would fund 19 new projects related to research, technology, AI and student life through strategic funding from the state legislature. Officials said the goal of the funding initiative is to create a better student experience and increase interdisciplinary scholarship at the university.

In September 2023, a 10-year strategic plan for UF, which highlighted Sasse’s vision for the future of the university, was released. However, it was criticized as the full plan had still not been released publicly. The Sun reported in November 2023 that finalization of the strategic plan, and then consideration by the board of trustees, is planned for fall 2024.

Sasse named his former Senate communications director, James Wegmann, as UF’S vice president for communications and his former Senate chief of staff, Raymond Sass, as UF’s vice president for innovation and partnerships. He made several notable hires among his 10 leadership-level moves, which include hiring people who live out of state and firing Charlie Lane.

Sasse also created a new position to hire Penny Schwinn, former Tennessee commissioner of education, as UF’s vice president of PK-12 and pre-bachelor programs. Schwinn lives out of state and works part time and had no plan to move to Florida as of November 2023.

In September 2023 UF got good news when the Wall Street Journal ranked it the No. 1 public university in the nation. Since Sasse became president UF dropped one spot on the U.S. News & World Report list, losing its status as a Top 5 public university.

Another controversy during Sasse's tenure was the elimination of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) employee positions at UF.

The drastic change, announced in March 2024 through an emailed administrative memo, came after the Florida Board of Governors labeled expenditures related to DEI programs as prohibited expenditures. Approximately $5 million was reallocated into a faculty recruitment fund to be administered by the Office of the Provost.

UF Student Government, the United Faculty of Florida, Florida football great Emmitt Smith and others spoke out against this decision.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Ben Sasse resigns after less than two years as UF president