Editorial: Cronyism on campus is flourishing in Florida

Working remotely has become immensely popular since the COVID-19 pandemic. But it is ridiculous that two of the University of Florida’s new highest-ranking and highest-paid officers will continue to reside in the Washington, D.C., area, some 775 miles from Gainesville.

UF President Ben Sasse, himself a former Washington insider, has made himself an avatar of cronyism by appointing those people, who worked for him when he was a U.S. senator from Nebraska.

Cronyism is flourishing in Florida.

Its epicenter may be New College, founded as an idealistic institution dedicated to innovation and inclusion — two things that mortally offend DeSantis, who has vowed to remake the small college in the mold of ultra-conservative Hillsdale University. Two of New College’s new right-wing trustees have never lived in the state and its new permanent president, Richard Corcoran, is a former House speaker who passed on running for governor in 2018, leaving room for Ron DeSantis, who appointed him commissioner of education once Corcoran was term-limited out of the Legislature two years later.

Upon cashing in, Corcoran was handed a $699,000 salary to replace a fired New College president whose base salary was $305,000.

With perks, Corcoran’s compensation is about to rise to as much as $1.3 million — about the same as Sasse’s pay for running a major research university with an enrollment of some 61,000.

New College has just under 700 students. Corcoran’s general counsel, Bill Galvano, is a former state Senate president. The dean of students, David Rancourt, is a former lobbyist and political strategist in Tallahassee. The college foundation is run by Sydney Gruters, the wife of a former state Republican chairman.

‘Abuse of leadership’

The hypocrisy here is stunning.

As Corcoran climbed Florida’s political ladder a decade ago, he created Blueprint Florida, an 86-page manifesto for supposed political reform. Among its tenets (page 33): “Leadership is about service, not about advancing your own career. Yet because self-promotion dominates, this abuse of leadership is viewed as a normal part of the process. This must change.”

At UF, Sasse’s cronyism is a perfect fit for Gov. Ron DeSantis’ practice of political plunder. Notably, he gifted state Rep. Fred Hawkins of St. Cloud the presidency of South Florida State College even though Hawkins was in no way qualified to hold that position. Thursday, Rep. Randy Fine spilled his tale of would-be bromotion to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, saying the governor’s office told him he’d be a shoo-in for the presidency of Florida Atlantic University. Sadly, Fine and DeSantis have apparently undergone a recent, ugly breakup.

Sasse’s hires went unnoticed until The Independent Florida Alligator, the feisty UF student newspaper, reported them Oct. 16. They had already been listed as members of his transition team, a function more commonly associated with governors and presidents than with heads of universities.

James Wegmann, who was Sasse’s chief publicist, is now UF’s new vice president for communications, at a starting salary of $432,000, according to the Alligator, which noted that his predecessor, a media relations employee since 1996, had been paid just $270,000.

Raymond Sass, who was Sasse’s Senate chief of staff, is UF’s vice president for innovation and partnerships, a new position. His starting salary is $396,000, more than twice the $181,677 he earned in his last year on Capitol Hill.

Sass, who worked for Sasse when he was president of Midland University in Omaha and became vice president of strategy there before rejoining him in D.C., “will focus on strategic value creation for the university, at speed, to improve student learning and life-change,” a UF press release said. “He will also work to leverage technology and partnerships to improve measurable outcomes across a wide variety of initiatives.”

Whatever that means. (Somebody at UF needs a refresher course in basic English composition.)

On UF’s payroll, in Maryland

Whatever it means, he won’t have to reside at the university to do it. Sass will work remotely from Maryland, the Alligator said. Wegmann will continue to live in Washington.

It is common practice for universities to hire people from faraway places, but it is virtually unprecedented in Florida to not require them to relocate to their new campuses at some point. The few plausible exceptions in Florida should be those who represent state government in Washington, but lobbying does not seem to be in the job descriptions of either of Sasse’s high-priced appointees.

Working remotely can accomplish many things, as the pandemic demonstrated, but it does not foster collegiality. Nor does it demonstrate a personal investment in the society that’s paying one’s salary.

It is impossible to imagine that even Florida in the days of DeSantis would allow a new university president to work remotely. It’s just as inappropriate for his top-level staff. But it does suggest that perhaps Sasse doesn’t want them getting too close to the faculty and staff who were there before him.

We report by way of endorsement what Danaya Wright, UF’s Faculty Senate chair, said of the hirings, and her tongue-in-cheek commentary on how the generous salaries might set a good example.

“I think it is great,” she told the Alligator. “At the same time, I hope that he looks deeply and creatively around UF and realizes that there are highly qualified and capable people already here who have experience in higher education and a deep knowledge of the history of UF and that he also promotes them to similarly well-paying positions.”

One can always hope.

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The Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board includes Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson, Opinion Editor Krys Fluker and Viewpoints Editor Jay Reddick. The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Editorial Page Editor Dan Sweeney, editorial writer Martin Dyckman and Anderson. Send letters to insight@orlandosentinel.com.

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