DeSantis says state will look into former UF President Sasse’s millions in expenses (2024)

Gov. Ron DeSantis and top Florida Republicans are putting pressure on the state university system’s Board of Governors to look further into the spending habits of former University of Florida President Ben Sasse after a student-run newspaper reported that he’d spent millions in university funds on secretive consulting contracts and jobs for GOP allies.

“We take the stewardship of state funds very seriously and have already been in discussions with leadership at the university and with the Board of Governors to look into the matter,” DeSantis spokesperson Bryan Griffin said in an email to the Times/Herald on Thursday.

The governor’s office made its concerns about Sasse’s use of university funds public on Thursday, shortly after Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis called on university officials to investigate Sasse’s “exorbitant spending.” Patronis said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that the board should “ensure tuition and tax dollars are being properly used.”

Griffin did not disclose what the governor’s office discussed with the board. Florida Chancellor Ray Rodrigues, who oversees the state university system, has not responded to a request seeking comment.

On Friday, Sasse issued a lengthy statement defending his office’s spending. He acknowledged his office directed “substantial funding for a number of important initiatives” that he said had gone through the appropriate approval process. He said the university’s board of trustees had raised no concerns.

“These are initiatives we were running out of the president’s office — and there should be even more — and I am dang proud of each of them, as I believe they will benefit Floridians immensely if brought to fruition,” Sasse said.

Sasse added that he intends to write a memo for the governor’s office and “other interested parties in Tallahassee.”

The interest in Sasse’s spending at the university comes in response to reporting by The Alligator, the student-run newspaper at the university.

According to the report, Sasse’s office spent $17.3 million in his first year in office — up from the $5.6 million spent by former UF President Kent Fuchs last year. The majority of the spending was driven by lucrative contracts with big-name consulting firms and high-salaried, remote positions for Sasse’s former U.S. Senate staff and allies.

Travel expenses during Sasse’s 17-month stint also soared to $633,000 — over 20 times higher than Fuchs’ annual average of $28,000. This was in large part due to Sasse allowing many of his political appointees to work outside of Florida and commute to Gainesville at the university’s expense, The Alligator reported.

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Sasse did not deny any of The Alligator’s reporting. Instead, he defended the expenses and largely focused on the success the university has had in growing the Hamilton Center — a relatively new academic center that was initially largely focused on civics courses. In 2022, the Republican-led Legislature and DeSantis approved the creation of the center, which was pushed by an obscure group with ties to conservative and religious groups.

“I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve been building at Hamilton, and gratified by the caliber of folks who’ve agreed to join in this noble effort. Parents: you should send your kids here,” Sasse said. “But guess what? With each new initiative comes new staff — and new investment expenditures. So did we hire some new staff? Yep. And did all of them move immediately to Gainesville full-time? Nope.”

Sasse’s statement is the first time he acknowledged the scrutiny that came from The Alligator’s reporting. Earlier this week, U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Republican from the Florida Panhandle, called Sasse a “terrible university president who never should have been hired.”

“Send him back to Nebraska,” Gaetz said about Sasse, who served as the junior senator for Nebraska prior to taking the job at UF, the state’s flagship university.

Sasse resigned from his post at the university July 31, citing the need to care for his wife, who was recently diagnosed with epilepsy. Fuchs began serving as interim president of the university on Aug. 1.

©2024 Miami Herald. Visit miamiherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC