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

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’ spokesman Bryan Griffin said in an email to the Herald/Times on Thursday.

The governor’s office made its position public 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 that the board should “ensure tuition and tax dollars are being property used.”

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

The interest in Sasse’s spending at the university comes in response to findings outlined in a report 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-salaratied, remote positions for Sasse’s former U.S. Senate staff and allies.

Travel expenses during Sasse’s 17-month sting 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.

Following the report of Sasse’s spending habits, Congressman 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 the 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 August 1.