Giving up a public leadership search, UF sacrificed legitimacy

Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Nebraska, got the expected rough welcome Oct. 10 when he visited the campus of the University of Florida. He arrived as the sole university presidential pick to emerge from a secret conclave’s deliberations. Nothing to see here, folks. Move along. Show’s over.

Earlier this year, when the Legislature pushed university presidential searches into the shadows, it was widely assumed — I assumed so, anyway — that the change was enacted to allow the right Republican politician to slide into the presidency of Florida's flagship university with the minimum amount of fuss, questioning or opposition by troublesome academics who aren't with the program.

Nate Monroe: The plundering of the University of Florida

UF protest: UF presidential finalist Ben Sasse confronted by protesters during his first campus visit

And with help from the governor's office, Sasse emerged as that politician.

Bills to enable this had been popping up for years. They were introduced every time some part of the state university system posted a want ad for administrators — seven out of the previous eight legislative sessions. Always a term-limited legislator or two, with one foot in the Florida Retirement System, would develop a deep interest in higher education. And this time, the bill passed.

The rationale for making the process secret was that Florida's public records laws, broader and more encompassing than similar laws elsewhere despite the best efforts of legislators, discourage heavyweight applicants who might be publicity shy, and would like to discretely apply without a lot of questions asked. Why such a secretive applicant would want to be the public face of a public university in a state that still has strong public records and open government laws was a question that got waved off.

And ignored in the debate was the signal benefit that comes from choosing new leaders in the open. That is, that an open process confers legitimacy on the person picked. Just automatically.

But because he was chosen in secret and sprung on the university community without warning, Sasse arrived on campus with a legitimacy problem. A big one.

A secret selection process allows for no advanced talking up of the favored candidate.  No chance to work on a little public buy-in. No chance to back off from a candidate who starts to appear unpalatable. And once the choice is made, everyone is free to assume the worse for lack of other information.

Students assumed that Sasse was tapped to prosecute Gov. Ron DeSantis’ culture wars and that LGBT students would not be as welcome on campus — a reasonable enough fear given Sasse’s strong opposition to gay marriage.

Sasse attempted to be reassuring on Oct. 10, saying, in essence, that was then, this is now. Not a particularly powerful rebuttal.

Faculty assumed that Sasse was tapped to weaken tenure and clamp down on the free speech of an academic community which is seldom on the same page as the governor, either in the media or in court. A reasonable enough fear given that Sasse eliminated tenure when he was president of the tiny private Midland University in Nebraska. (Fun fact: more students are enrolled in Daytona Beach's Mainland High School than in Midland.)

Sasse attempted to be reassuring, saying that he’s playing in the big leagues now and knows the rules are different.

Nor has Sasse been entirely helped by his supporters. “I suspect that the University of Florida will lead the charge to rid itself of some of the ‘wokeism’ that still exists on our campuses. All this diversity, equity and inclusion nonsense,” huffed State Rep. Randy Fine, R-Palm Bay, responding to a reporter. In other words, Sasse is expected to get to work turning back the clock. 

What is "wokeism"? What does it mean to be 'woke,' and why does Florida Governor Ron DeSantis want to stop it?

On his Twitter account, Sasse said he’s “delighted to be in conversation with the leadership of this special community about how we might together build a vision.”

But you know what would have been an excellent forum for a “conversation with the leadership of this special community about how we might together build a vision”? A public, transparent selection process. But it’s too late for that.

Mark Lane is a Daytona Beach News-Journal columnist. His email is mlanewrites@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Mark Lane: UF sacrificed legitimacy with pick of U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse