The University of Florida (UF) is facing major backlash from its student body due to its announcement on Oct. 6 of Ben Sasse being the sole finalist for the job of President. There are concerns over Ben Sasse not being an accurate representation of the values held by the students of UF. But who exactly is Ben Sasse?
Ben Sasse is an American politician who has served as the Senator for Nebraska since 2015. He is a Republican who has taken many conservative stances during his political career. His most controversial interpretation is that of the Supreme Court case Obergefell v Hodges. The Supreme Court decision of Obergefell v Hodges ruled that it was unconstitutional for a state to ban same-sex marriage. Sasse disagreed with this, saying “marriage brings a wife and husband together so their children can have a mom and a dad.” His other conservative opinions include abortion and the environment, with him recently celebrating the Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision which eliminated federal protections for abortion access.Â
Then there comes the controversy surrounding him being the sole finalist for president of UF. UF is one of the largest and highest-ranked public universities in the state of Florida and the university announced that its presidential search committee unanimously voted to select Sasse as their sole finalist. Sasse’s prior experience as president of a university comes from being the president of Midland University for five years. Midland University is a private Lutheran college in Nebraska, with a total enrollment of 1572 students for the 2020-21 school year whereas UF had an enrollment of around 58000 students for the 2020-21 school year.Â
Shortly following UF’s announcement, the student body of UF staged a protest on Oct. 10. The protest began outside until around 300 protestors entered Emerson Alumni Hall. Also happening on Oct. 10 were Ben Sasse’s Q&A sessions with university faculty, students and staff. During the session, you can hear the chants from student protestors which Sasse had to speak over in order to answer questions. The shouts continued to be so loud that the forum ended 15 minutes ahead of schedule. The protestors eventually made their way into the ballroom where Sasse was seated mere moments before. When asked about the protestors, Sasse responded that he “intellectually and constitutionally welcomed” them. Sasse was moved to a different location to finish the Q&A forum and UF spokesperson Steve Orlando declined to disclose where he was located. Eventually, protestors were cleared from the building, but they continued to chant from the back of Emerson Hall. Sasse was later seen being escorted into a waiting vehicle by the University Police Department.Â
The fate of UF’s new president is yet to be finalized. In order for Ben Sasse to officially be the new president of UF, the university Board of Trustees needs to approve his nomination (they are currently set to interview Sasse on Nov. 1) and then he must be confirmed by the Florida Board of Governors. Whether the protest will cause UF to seek out alternatives for the president position is yet to be seen.Â
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