Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) is pressuring the state’s university system to investigate former University of Florida (UF) President Ben Sasse’s expenses after a student newspaper reported on the matter.
“We take our stewardship of state funds very seriously and have already been in discussions with the university leadership and board of trustees to investigate this matter,” DeSantis spokesman Brian Griffin said in an emailed statement to The Hill on Thursday.
The Florida Board of Regents “oversees the operation and governance of the 12 institutions of the Florida public university system.” According to the webpage Visit the Florida State University System website.
The Independent Florida Alligator, the student newspaper of the University of Florida It was reported earlier this week Sasse, a former Republican senator from Nebraska, boosted spending During his tenure as president of the school, spending has more than tripled, with most of the increase coming from contracts with key consulting firms and high-paying jobs for himself and former Senate staffers connected to Republicans, according to the Alligator.
Sasse said last month that he planned to step down as the school’s president by the end of July, citing family health issues.
“After much prayer and my family’s tears, today I asked University of Florida President Mori Hosseini and the Board of Trustees to begin the selection process for a new president for the university,” Sasse said in a post on social platform X. “I need to step back for a while to focus more on the needs of my family while I rebuild a more stable family system.”
The Hill has reached out to the University of Florida and the Florida governor for comment.
