Welcome home, fellow Gator.

The Gator Nation's oldest and most active insider community
Join today!
  1. Hi there... Can you please quickly check to make sure your email address is up to date here? Just in case we need to reach out to you or you lose your password. Muchero thanks!

Sasse Grifting UF

Discussion in 'Too Hot for Swamp Gas' started by 108, Aug 12, 2024.

  1. 108

    108 Premium Member

    18,108
    1,223
    803
    Apr 3, 2007
    NYC
    Smh

    Sasse’s spending spree: Former UF president channeled millions to GOP allies, secretive contracts - The Independent Florida Alligator

    In his 17-month stint as UF president, Ben Sasse more than tripled his office’s spending, directing millions in university funds into secretive consulting contracts and high-paying positions for his GOP allies.

    Sasse ballooned spending under the president’s office to $17.3 million in his first year in office — up from $5.6 million in former UF President Kent Fuchs’ last year, according to publicly available administrative budget data.


    A majority of the spending surge was driven by lucrative contracts with big-name consulting firms and high-salaried, remote positions for Sasse’s former U.S. Senate staff and Republican officials.

    Sasse’s consulting contracts have been kept largely under wraps, leaving the public in the dark about what the contracted firms did to earn their fees. The university also declined to clarify specific duties carried out by Sasse’s ex-Senate staff, several of whom were salaried as presidential advisers.
     
    • Informative Informative x 15
    • Like Like x 1
    • Fistbump/Thanks! Fistbump/Thanks! x 1
  2. BLING

    BLING GC Hall of Fame

    8,948
    882
    2,843
    Apr 16, 2007
    Isn’t that what fiscal conservatives always do?
     
    • Agree Agree x 9
    • Like Like x 3
    • Funny Funny x 3
    • Wish I would have said that Wish I would have said that x 1
  3. ncargat1

    ncargat1 VIP Member

    14,461
    6,326
    3,353
    Dec 11, 2009
    While none of this shocks me, it continues to amaze me how stupid people are buying into this populace BS from the Republicans about caring for Americans, when all they are doing is laughing while taking tax payer dollars and enriching themselves, their friends and associated businesses at the expense of the tax payers the same as the Democrats, and in most cases to a much greater extent of grift.

    The state of Florida truly deserved this scumbag.

    Sasse’s spending spree: Former UF president channeled millions to GOP allies, secretive contracts - The Independent Florida Alligator
     
    • Agree Agree x 10
    • Disagree Bacon! Disagree Bacon! x 1
    • Winner Winner x 1
    • Informative Informative x 1
  4. BLING

    BLING GC Hall of Fame

    8,948
    882
    2,843
    Apr 16, 2007
    So basically UF paid this guy with no higher education experience, and he turned around and spent multiples of his salary “consulting” how to run higher education. Except the people paid “consulting fees” were political hacks, so essentially it was millions of dollars lit on fire.

    How surprising a self professed conservative would do such a thing. Not!
     
    Last edited: Aug 12, 2024
    • Agree Agree x 8
    • Funny Funny x 1
  5. FutureGatorMom

    FutureGatorMom Premium Member

    10,936
    1,255
    808
    Apr 3, 2007
    Florida
    Thanks DUHSantis! You know he forced the university to hire this guy. Keeping the process secret so he can again hand his cronies lucrative positions and contracts. The students knew.

    Can't wait for him to leave office.
     
    • Like x 4
    • Agree x 4
    • Funny x 2
    • Winner x 2
    • Best Post Ever x 1
  6. slocala

    slocala VIP Member

    3,302
    784
    2,028
    Jan 11, 2009
    Should not be a partisan topic. Should just be viewed for what it is: a conundrum when you put people in place who have no experience running a university.
     
    • Optimistic Optimistic x 2
    • Agree Agree x 1
  7. ajoseph

    ajoseph Premium Member

    7,214
    2,666
    2,998
    Jan 15, 2008
    DEI hire?
     
    • Funny Funny x 15
    • Like Like x 3
    • Winner Winner x 2
    • Fistbump/Thanks! Fistbump/Thanks! x 1
  8. wgbgator

    wgbgator Premium Member

    30,267
    1,911
    2,218
    Apr 19, 2007
    Well everyone knows Sasse got the job because of partisan politics not qualifications, those are beside the point when the people doing the hire hate the idea of public education
     
    • Agree Agree x 3
    • Like Like x 1
    • Winner Winner x 1
  9. wgbgator

    wgbgator Premium Member

    30,267
    1,911
    2,218
    Apr 19, 2007
    I remember people telling me this guy wasn't a lightweight. Unfortunately a lot of the people running things work this way. Its all just a way to hire consultants and keep certain people happy. And the consultants always arrive at "pay the administration more but cut jobs and spending." Its the elite "circle of life."
     
    • Agree Agree x 3
    • Winner Winner x 1
  10. slocala

    slocala VIP Member

    3,302
    784
    2,028
    Jan 11, 2009
    You gave away the punchline :cool:
     
    • Fistbump/Thanks! Fistbump/Thanks! x 1
  11. Orange_and_Bluke

    Orange_and_Bluke Premium Member

    10,320
    2,543
    3,288
    Dec 16, 2015
    Finally, a libbie institution doing good with its funds instead of blowing it on libbie progressive programs.
    Sasse will be missed.
     
    • Come On Man x 5
    • Disagree Bacon! x 4
    • Winner x 4
    • Funny x 3
    • Optimistic x 2
    • Like x 1
    • Agree x 1
    • Wish I would have said that x 1
  12. gator_lawyer

    gator_lawyer VIP Member

    18,220
    6,173
    3,213
    Oct 30, 2017
    Looks like that poster on the Den was right about Sasse and why he got pushed out.
    I know you're making a joke, but they just call this "hiring." It's only a "DEI hire" when a person from a minority group gets the job. Underwhelming white men get jobs all the time due to friendships, nepotism, political connections, etc. Nobody ever complains.
     
    • Agree Agree x 4
    • Best Post Ever Best Post Ever x 2
    • Fistbump/Thanks! Fistbump/Thanks! x 1
  13. gator_jo

    gator_jo GC Hall of Fame

    1,855
    243
    193
    Aug 9, 2024
    Lettuce be real : the bigger surprise would have been an unqualified political hire made by a Trump lackey in Florida NOT grifting the institution and taxpayers who hired him.
     
    • Agree Agree x 9
    • Disagree Bacon! Disagree Bacon! x 3
    • Winner Winner x 3
  14. ajoseph

    ajoseph Premium Member

    7,214
    2,666
    2,998
    Jan 15, 2008
    Yea, this was said with unbridled sarcasm.
    But it was a hire (which I actually grew to like) made to ensure a Florida State school was run by a conservative, without regard to actual merit in running a large, high-achieving university of note. IF the hire happened to have been a person of color or a woman, regardless of merit, the screams and shouts of DEI would’ve fallen from the sky. There is so much hypocrisy right now.
     
    • Agree Agree x 9
  15. staticgator

    staticgator GC Legend

    870
    220
    1,818
    Nov 27, 2016
    This is not good but at least Sasse is an old school Republican who steals from you with a smile rather than a new school Alt-Right like Rufo who just takes a flamethrower to everything. DeSantis has 2 more years. The next guy he appoints to UF could be worse.
     
    • Agree Agree x 2
    • Funny Funny x 2
    • Disagree Bacon! Disagree Bacon! x 1
  16. BossaGator

    BossaGator GC Hall of Fame

    4,563
    202
    203
    Apr 10, 2007
    Arlington, VA
    Isn’t this the Free State of Florida way? Directing stakeholder funds to your buddies?
     
    • Winner Winner x 4
    • Agree Agree x 2
  17. wgbgator

    wgbgator Premium Member

    30,267
    1,911
    2,218
    Apr 19, 2007
    That's what its all about. Gotta employ those consultants and build up the school's real estate portfolio.
     
  18. gator_lawyer

    gator_lawyer VIP Member

    18,220
    6,173
    3,213
    Oct 30, 2017
    Agreed. Hell, Harvard hired a well-qualified Black woman, and she was still accused of being a "DEI hire."
    That is true. Only can only hope there are enough people on UF's BOT who care about the university to prevent that from happening.
     
    • Optimistic Optimistic x 1
  19. wgbgator

    wgbgator Premium Member

    30,267
    1,911
    2,218
    Apr 19, 2007
    UF law professor challenges state constitutionality of tenure changes - The Independent Florida Alligator

    One of the funniest things coming out of the DeSantis reign of terror over UF is a Republican law professor suing the state over its tenure review law:

    A big chunk of professors flunked UF post-tenure review
     
    • Informative Informative x 3
    • Like Like x 1
    • Wish I would have said that Wish I would have said that x 1
  20. channingcrowderhungry

    channingcrowderhungry Premium Member

    9,251
    2,083
    3,013
    Apr 3, 2007
    Bottom of a pint glass
    Absolutely nothing will come of this. Because nothing ever comes of stuff like this
     
    • Agree Agree x 1