Vote of no confidence in University of Florida Faculty Senate chair fails

A resolution of no confidence against the University of Florida Faculty Senate chair failed Thursday night after a tense meeting where some faculty members expressed disappointment in her vote to approve a new UF president while others were supportive.

Amanda Phalin, UF Faculty Senate chair, was up for a vote of no confidence after she voted alongside other UF Board of Trustees members to approve U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse as UF's 13th president.

Phalin called the resolution "hypocrisy" and said that the argument was empty given that the authors of the resolution chose to remain anonymous.

"Just because I voted in a way that has angered many of you does not mean that I am not representing you or that I discount all your concerns," Phalin said at the meeting.

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The resolution was introduced by members Breann Garbas and Valeria Kleiman. Thursday's vote followed an Oct. 27 vote of no confidence in Senate Bill 520, which allowed the 15-member presidential search committee to search for the next president behind closed doors.

Garbas said the vote of no confidence against Phalin was meant to be a reprimand, not a vote for Phalin to resign as a senate leader.

"This is a motion to censure because our concern here is an issue of trust," Garbas said.

Rob Hatch, from the UF College of Medicine, said he likes Phalin, but he has constantly been disappointed in her actions as chair.

"Repeatedly she has taken steps that I don't think represent us well. So I'm in favor of this motion and what I hope that at the least it gives her a clear message that we expect different of her and we expect her to represent what we want," Hatch said.

One faculty member apologized to Phalin, stating that the vote of no confidence in her leadership was ridiculous.

"Your vote, in my opinion, did not have to represent our vote of no confidence in the process. What we voted on was the process, not the candidate," a faculty member said.

The controversy around Sasse’s appointment

Faculty members were alarmed over Sasse’s selection, given that he was a Republican senator from the state of Nebraska. They questioned what credentials he had to run a Top 5 university like UF and expressed concerns over his past comments about China and the LGBTQ community.

At the Nov. 1 Board of Trustees meeting, Phalin asked Sasse about political interference, which was a concern from other faculty members, and asked whether, during the search process, anyone from the Gov. Ron DeSantis administration reached out to him or guided him through the process.

"I do not think I have had a conversation with or been in a room with Governor DeSantis since he was a congressman in about 2016. Zero conversations with him about this and have been shepherded through this process by no one," Sasse said.

Phalin also addressed the concerns that came from the LGBTQ Presidential Advisory Committee (LPAC) and questioned how he was going to continue to the inclusive initiatives that UF President Kent Fuchs put in place, such as gender-neutral bathrooms, adding personal pronouns to Canvas, and increasing transgender healthcare options.

"I have had at least one conversation, maybe two, with President Fuchs about what he's been doing in this space, and I expect that my record would be fairly indistinguishable from his," Sasse said.

Toward the end of the interview process, Phalin said that, within her best judgment, she would support Sasse becoming the next president for UF.

"I would never support a decision that I believe in any way would harm our LGBTQ plus community or any other underrepresented group. In fact, I believe the opposite will true," Phalin said.

After the trustees' vote, Sasse was voted in by the Florida Board of Governors on Nov. 9.

His contract proposal shows that he will make a base salary of $1 million, along with more than $300,000 in additional benefits.

About the Sasse selection

On Oct. 6, UF announced Sasse as the sole finalist after a nationwide search that was kept out of the public eye due to Senate Bill 520, which prevented information of the search from being public record.

Sasse's selection brought an onslaught of controversy and protest from UF community members, many of whom took issue with his past statements on same-same marriage, abortion rights for women, as well as other controversial stances.

His second of three Q&A forums held on campus was interrupted when students took over Emerson Alumni Hall, forcing Sasse to move his final forum to another location.

Sasse, who currently resides in Fremont, Nebraska, will move into the Dasburg President's House, located at 450 Village Drive in Gainesville.

Sasse's five year contract will begin his five-year term that will begin Feb. 6, 2023.

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: University of Florida Faculty Senate chair dodges no-confidence vote