Ben Sasse, controversial University of Florida president, announces his resignation

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — University of Florida president Ben Sasse, a controversial pick almost two years ago when he was named to lead one of the top public universities in the U.S., plans to leave his position to focus on taking care of his family after his wife was diagnosed with epilepsy.

In a post on the social platform X, the former U.S. senator from Nebraska said Thursday night that “after extensive prayer and lots of family tears,” he asked university officials that day to start looking for a new president. In a statement, the university said his resignation is effective July 31.

“I need to step back for a time and focus more on the needs of my family while we rebuild more stable household systems,” Sasse said, adding that he would continue to teach at the university in Gainesville, Florida.

Sasse’s wife, Melissa, who had an aneurysm and a series of strokes in 2007, was recently diagnosed with epilepsy and has been having “a new batch of memory issues,” he said.

“We’ve battled some nasty seizures the last couple years, but she’s always remained a warrior,” he said.

The couple has two daughters in college, and their youngest child is turning 13, he said.

Sasse, a Republican, left the senate last year after being named the 13th president of the university.

While in the Senate, he was a prominent critic of former President Donald Trump who joined with a handful of other Republicans to vote in favor of conviction in his impeachment trial after the 2021 Capitol riot. That led to criticism from within Sasse’s own party even though he voted with Trump 85 percent of the time and helped get his three Supreme Court nominees confirmed.

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Sasse was a controversial pick to head the University of Florida, and he faced vocal opposition from some faculty and students who objected to his stance against same-sex marriage and positions on other LGBTQ issues. Some faculty and students also questioned his qualifications to run such a sprawling school with more than 50,000 students. The university’s faculty Senate voted no confidence on an opaque selection process in which Sasse emerged as the sole finalist.

Asked Friday to describe Sasse’s legacy at the school, Meera Sitharam, chapter president for the union representing the university’s faculty said, “I don’t think he has done very much that was positive.”

Sasse did little to protect the university’s faculty and students from the political meddling of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration, implied faculty members weren’t productive and infringed on students’ rights to peacefully protest Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, she said.

A report by the American Association of University Professors released last December said academic freedom and independent governance have been under political and ideological assault in Florida’s university system during the tenure of DeSantis.

Among other things, the Republican-controlled Legislature last year passed a law that requires a review every five years of tenured professors and forces state universities to be accredited by a different agency each accreditation cycle. Tenured professors traditionally have been given indefinite academic appointments to promote academic freedom, the report said.

Earlier this month, the University of Florida kicked out of school some pro-Palestinian protesters who were arrested during an April demonstration, overruling a lighter sentence that had been recommended by hearing bodies who heard testimony and watched police video of the protest.

“We wish we didn’t have to, but the students weighed the costs, made their decisions, and will own the consequences as adults,” Sasse said in a May opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal. “We’re a university, not a daycare. We don’t coddle emotions, we wrestle with ideas.”

The chair of the university’s board of trustees, Mori Hosseini, thanked Sasse for his leadership.

“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,” Hosseini said.

Sasse thanked the university for welcoming his family and said he was grateful for the professors and students as well those behind the scenes, like third-shift maintenance crews and the early morning cafeteria workers.

“We love you. You touched our hearts and made this more than a job — you made it our community,” Sasse said. “That’s why we’re not going anywhere.”

Slevin reported from Denver.