UF President Ben Sasse announces resignation

College of Florida president Ben Sasse introduced on Thursday that he shall be resigning from his put up later this month.

His final day as president of UF shall be on July 31.

“My spouse Melissa’s current epilepsy prognosis and a brand new batch of reminiscence points have been laborious, however we’re going through it collectively,” Sasse stated in a information launch. “Our two great daughters are in faculty, however our youngest is simply turning 13. Gator Nation wants a president who can preserve charging laborious, Melissa deserves a husband who can pull his weight, and my youngsters want a dad who will be house many extra nights. I must step again and rebuild extra secure family methods for a time. I’m going to stay concerned in serving our UF college students — previous, current, and future — however I must stroll arm-in-arm with my dearest good friend extra hours of each week.”

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Sasse has requested the Board of Trustees to provoke a seek for a brand new president.

Sasse was appointed the thirteenth president of UF in November 2022.

“The Board will work rapidly and thoughtfully to announce an interim president and lay the muse for the seek for a brand new president,” the college stated in an announcement. “The Board will interact the UF group each step of the best way.”

Sasse’s spouse, Melissa, who had an aneurysm and a sequence of strokes in 2007, was not too long ago recognized with epilepsy and has been having “a brand new batch of reminiscence points,” he stated.

“We’ve battled some nasty seizures the final couple years, however she’s all the time remained a warrior,” he stated.

Sasse, a Republican, left the senate final 12 months after being named the thirteenth president of the college.

Whereas within the Senate, he was a distinguished critic of former President Donald Trump who joined with a handful of different Republicans to vote in favor of conviction in his impeachment trial after the 2021 Capitol riot. That led to criticism from inside Sasse’s personal celebration though he voted with Trump 85% of the time and helped get his three Supreme Court docket nominees confirmed.

Sasso was a controversial decide to move the College of Florida, and he confronted vocal opposition from some school and college students who objected to his stance towards same-sex marriage and positions on different LGBTQ points.

Some school and college students additionally questioned his {qualifications} to run such a sprawling college with greater than 50,000 college students. The college’s school Senate voted no confidence on an opaque choice course of by which Sasse emerged as the only real finalist.

The chair of the college’s board of trustees, Mori Hosseini, thanked Sasse for his management.

>> The Related Press contributed to this report