University of Florida approves outgoing GOP Senator Ben Sasse as new president despite protests

‘We want the best faculty to stay at this place and to be recruited to this place, and that requires academic freedom,’ Republican says

The University of Florida has formally approved outgoing Nebraska GOP Senator Ben Sasse as its new president, despite protests over his hiring.

The appointment of Mr Sasse was given the green light on Tuesday from the university’s Board of Trustees in the face of protests from some members of the faculty and parts of the student body, the Associated Press reported.

The state university system Board of Governors will vote on 10 November to make Mr Sasse the 13th president of the school.

The compensation package for the senator has been recommended to be $1.6m – a matter that will also be decided at the board of governors’ meeting.

The meeting at the campus in Gainesville lasted four hours on Tuesday, during which Mr Sasse said he would take a “pledge of political celibacy” concerning partisan matters.

“I would have no activity in partisan politics in any way as I arrive at the University of Florida,” he said.

He claimed that his candidacy wasn’t being boosted by any elected officeholders in the state, including GOP Governor Ron DeSantis.

Mr Sasse was elected to the Senate in the 2014 midterms. The protests against his appointment have centred around his opposition to gay marriage.

Both faculty and students have shared concerns about Mr Sasse’s qualifications to run a school with 50,000 students.

This led to a vote of no confidence by the faculty Senate at the university.

Mr Sasse is a historian and has a doctorate from Yale University. He previously served as the president of Midland University in his home state – a school with around 1,600 students. He has also taught at the University of Texas.

Nathaniel Pelton, a freshman, asked at the meeting on Tuesday: “I want to ask, senator: Why are you here?”

“I don’t want any politician to be my president. I want someone who cares about my community,” he added.

Dozens of people protested outside the meeting, according to the Associated Press.

The 50-year-old Mr Sasse said that he doesn’t believe the US Supreme Court will change the ruling legalising same-sex marriage across the country, adding that LGBT+ students and staff will be treated with “dignity and respect”.

“Communities of ideas are built on respect and trust,” Mr Sasse said. “Everybody is created with infinite worth.”

The student body president, Lauren Lemasters, said that some of the students want assurances that Mr Sasse’s promise of being politically neutral will be held up.

“There is this hill of trust that is going to have to be climbed by you,” she said.

Mr Sasse said that Chinese students should feel welcome despite his severe criticism of the Chinese government.

“We want the best faculty to stay at this place and to be recruited to this place, and that requires academic freedom,” he said. “We want more and all students from every background.”

A lot of the protests against the appointment of Mr Sasse focused on the anonymous process of choosing a candidate. Mr Sasse’s name was only revealed when he was the only person left in the selection process.

Trustee chairman Mori Hosseini said “I can tell you for a fact – none of the top 12 we considered would have moved past the initial conversation with us” if the selection process had been public.

“It’s that simple,” he added, according to the AP.

If he becomes the university president, Mr Sasse would leave the senate and a replacement would be appointed by the Nebraska governor to serve the remaining four years of his term.

Outgoing president Kent Fuchs has been in the role since 2015.