Ben Sasse says farewell to U.S. Senate as he prepares to enter UF presidency

Ben Sasse said he never wanted to have a long career in politics.

His tenure was always intended to be short, or so he told others during his farewell speech to the Senate this week.

“That's not what our founders envisioned for the people they would send to the federal city," he said. "They envisioned, rather, congressmen, senators, and presidents who thought of DC as a temporary stay. Washington is a place to do a good bit of neighbor-loving work, but then to go back home to the more permanent work of life and flesh and blood whole communities."

On Feb. 6, the Republican senator from Nebraska will take the reins as the University of Florida’s president, leaving behind his elected seat that he held for eight years. The new leadership comes despite opposition from the campus community that protested and held a vote of no confidence in the search process.

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Sasse, 50, will earn a salary of $1 million with benefits included based on his performance and live in the Dasburg President's House, located at 450 Village Drive.

A UF spokesperson said his inauguration will take place a few months after his start date.

During his farewell speech, he thanked the state of Nebraska and his family for supporting him throughout his eight years on the senate.

“I ran for office the very first time in my life in 2014, and then made me the most censured public official in the history of Nebraska over the next six years, but then proceeded two years ago to reelect me again, again winning all 93 counties and securing the most votes of anyone in the history of our state," he said. "Many times it felt like a noogie and a slap and a head butt and a hug all at once."

How Ben Sasse was selected as UF president

Sasse was chosen as the sole finalist for the president position in October by a 15-member search committee. The committee faced pushback from the UF community because he was the only finalist and he came from a political background.

It later came out at the UF Board of Trustees meeting where he was unanimously approved that he was the only one all 15 members agreed and no other finalist wanted to come forward unless they were selected as the sole finalist.

In a past interview with President Kent Fuchs, he claimed that the search committee had good candidates, stating that he had friends who were presidents of other universities who interviewed for the job.

Sasse came to visit UF in November where a protest erupted during a student Q&A forum. The protest resulted in Sasse having to be escorted to a police car.

He was approved by the Florida Board of Governors Nov. 9 in a near-unanimous vote. Sasse said coming into the UF president role he would put his personal politics aside.

Ben Sasse before UF

Sasse was voted into the senate 2014. Before that, he was the president of Midland University, a small private college in Freemont, Nebraska. He served as president from 2009 to 2014.

He was lauded with increasing its enrollment numbers and for transforming the university into a competitive school with larger, well-known colleges. A former colleague said that Sasse was good at pulling people together and creating a vision that people could follow.

He earned a doctorate in American history from Yale University where he later taught.

Sasse was one of seven Republican senators who voted to convict former president Donald Trump of incitement of insurrection in his second impeachment trial.

Gershon Harrell is an education reporter at The Gainesville Sun. He can be reached by phone at (352)338-3166, by email at Gharrell@gannett.com or on Twitter at @GershonReports.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Senator Ben Sasse steps down to become University of Florida president