Sasse formally inaugurated at UF
University of Florida President Ben Sasse was officially inaugurated into his role nearly nine months after he started during a ceremony held in the University Auditorium Thursday afternoon.
Sasse took to the stage to recognize and thank his supporters in the UF student community, the Board of Trustees, government representatives and UF faculty and staff members.
“I wasn’t looking for some university presidency, in general,” he said. “Instead, I was persuaded. I was pursued and moved … telling me that this was not just a place, but a cause that I needed to join.”
In his inaugural address, Sasse pledged to make practical majors “even more practical,” refine the core curriculum, vigorously defend tenure as a critical tool for UF and increase transparency and accountability at the university. “Too much of higher education wants to resist change. Too many institutions are complacent,” Sasse said. “This place has somehow been relatively insulated against complacency and self-satisfaction, and that’s darn attractive.”
Sasse, who has faced backlash from some students and faculty for his conservative political views, also said he seeks to encourage viewpoint diversity on campus, rejecting zealotry and facilitating good faith agreements and conversations.
Other speakers included Scott Angle, UF’s interim provost, Mori Hosseini, the chair of the UF Board of Trustees, and Ray Rodrigues, the chancellor of the State University System of Florida, among others.
“What a fortunate generation of gators we are,” said Angle, who referred to Sasse as “Gator Ben.” “The dawn of a new era for our University coincides with a new era for our society.”
Hosseini said the Board of Trustees is fully supportive of Sasse and his presidency. He said UF is entering a new era, reiterating multiple times that UF currently ranks as the number one public institution in the nation.
However, the top ranking comes from the Wall Street Journal, which isn’t a popularly referenced ranking list. Since Sasse’s presidency has begun UF has lost its status as a “Top 5” public university, dropping one spot on the U.S. News & World Report list this year.
FDA may ban soda additive BVO
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday proposed to revoke the regulation authorizing the use of brominated vegetable oil as an additive in food. It’s most commonly seen in fruityflavored drinks and sodas.
The ingredient, commonly referred to as BVO, is no longer considered safe after the results of studies conducted by the FDA in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health found the potential for adverse health effects in humans,
“We are ready to write this university’s next chapter. Ben, we entrust with you the destiny of the flagship university of the great state of Florida and the number one public university in the country,” Hosseini said. “Let’s change the world.”
Numerous local and state officials sat in the audience Thursday including Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez, Florida Reps. Chuck Clemons and Yvonne Hayes Hinson, state Sen. Keith Perry, Gainesville Police Department Chief Lonnie Scott, Alachua County Sheriff Emery Gainey, Alachua County School Board chair Tina Certain and Alachua County Commissioner Marihelen Wheeler.
In January 2022, Fuchs announced he would be stepping down as president and would return as a professor in the College of Engineering. The Board of Trustees then began a secret search to find a new leader. Senate Bill 520, a bill signed into law in March 2022, allowed UF to conduct most of the search in the dark without abiding by the requirements of Florida’s open meetings and public records laws.
Sasse’s role as the 13th president of the university was announced in October 2022 by a 15-member search committee. He was the sole finalist to come out of a months-long presidential search involving over 700 candidates at UF. Officials claimed no other finalist the FDA said in a news release.
California became the first state to ban the ingredient in October. BVO is already banned in Europe and Japan.
The ingredient is currently authorized by the FDA for use in small amounts to “keep the citrus flavor from separating and floating to the top of some beverages,” according to the agency, but the FDA determined in 1970 the ingredient was no longer “Generally Recognized as Safe” and began overseeing its use under its food additive regulations.
The FDA says many beverage makers have reformulated their products to replace wanted to come forward unless they were chosen as the sole finalist.
The decision to name Sasse as president was met with pushback from the UF community, not only because he was the only finalist announced, but also due to his previously stated anti-LGBTQ and anti-abortion stances.
During the former Nebraska senator’s first visit to UF, he was met with 300 protestors in Emerson Alumni Hall demanding he “get his Sasse out of the Swamp.” The UF Board of Trustees unanimously approved Sasse in January anyway, The Gainesville Sun reported. He resigned as senator on Jan. 8 and officially became president of UF on Feb. 6.
Before UF
Sasse’s background largely revolves around politics, with little experience at educational institutions of UF’s size.
He earned his doctorate in American history from Yale University where he later taught. From 2009 to 2014 he served as president of Midland University, a private college in Fremont, Nebraska, with less than 2,000 students.
During his eight years in the U.S. Senate, Sasse was one of seven Republican senators who voted to convict former president Donald Trump of incitement of insurrection during his second impeachment trial. BVO with an alternative ingredient. However, the ingredient can still be found in smaller grocery store brands and regional beverages, such as some Great Value drinks and Sun Drop.
According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, an independent consumer advocacy organization, BVO “leaves residues in body fat and the fat in brain, liver, and other organs.”
Additionally, the organization says that BVO is transferred from mother’s milk to the nursing infant and can cause heart lesions, fatty changes in the liver and impaired growth and behavioral development.