Joe Henderson: Ben Sasse is a splash hire for UF’s President, but is he the right hire?

Choosing U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska as the next President at the University of Florida (UF) will draw criticism because everything does these days.

Technically he doesn’t have the job yet, but as the only finalist chosen by the UF presidential search committee, you have to like his chances. That is, of course, unless the backlash against his hire creates enough momentum against Sasse. When he visited the campus Monday, hundreds of student protesters gathered in Emerson Alumni Hall to demand Sasse’s ouster before he even started.

For the sake of argument, though, let’s assume he gets the job. He would be a splash hire, but is he the right hire?

He’s an outsider and a conservative Republican taking over an orange and blue (mostly blue) university. But while he may look like an out-of-the-box choice, he really isn’t.

A university President must understand how to navigate the chambers of state power, and Sasse certainly knows how to work a political room. He’ll get up to speed soon enough on how things work in Tallahassee, and UF will benefit from that.

There’s a tightrope to walk politically, however. There is already some unrest because of a growing belief that UF is under the weight of Tallahassee’s increasingly heavy thumb. A series of edicts by Gov. Ron DeSantis about what instructors can and can’t say in the classroom raised many concerns about the future of academic freedom.

Sasse must convince them through his actions that his priority is the university students and professors. Will he fight for them or become an unofficial campaign arm of DeSantis 2024? Right now, he would have a lot of explaining to do.

However, there were the same initial misgivings when veteran Tallahassee pol John Thrasher took over at Florida State. Many wondered if Thrasher would be just another tool of the Legislature, but he won them over. FSU’s academic standing increased significantly on Thrasher’s watch, and when he retired last year, he did so to widespread acclaim.

“Leave the politics on the front steps,” Thrasher told the USA TODAY Network. “Deal with what’s in the best interest of the university and the students.”

Well, politics is already part of Sasse’s impending arrival.

UF Board of Trustees Chair Mori Hosseini is a major DeSantis donor and helped expedite the controversial hiring of Joseph Ladapo to a tenured position at the university. Ladapo was then appointed as Florida’s Surgeon General amid more criticism.

So, yes, there are concerns that Sasse will soon be the delivery boy for more of Tally’s top-down edicts. And LGBTQ advocates already slammed the choice because of statements Sasse made blasting the legalization of same-sex marriage.

“It blows my mind that this is the sole person that they came up with,” UF student Alex Noon, president of the law school’s LGBTQ organization, told Alan Halaly of The Independent Florida Alligator. “I could probably go downtown on a Thursday and find someone better.”

Let’s give him a little benefit of the doubt, though. He showed enough independence and gumption to vote for conviction in Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial.

“An impeachment trial is a public declaration of what a president’s oath of office means and what behavior that oath demands of presidents in the future,” Sasse said.

“But here’s the sad reality: If we were talking about a Democratic President, most Republicans and most Democrats would simply swap sides. Tribalism is a hell of a drug, but our oath to the Constitution means we’re constrained to the facts.”

Real facts, mind you — not alternative facts.

“On election night 2014, I promised Nebraskans I’d always vote my conscience even if it was against the partisan stream. In my first speech here in the Senate in November 2015, I promised to speak out when a President — even of my own party — exceeds his or her powers,” Sasse added.

“I cannot go back on my word, and Congress cannot lower our standards on such a grave matter simply because it is politically convenient. I must vote to convict.”

The Mar-a-Lago Menace was not pleased with the idea of living in the same state as Sasse. That’s a big point in Sasse’s favor.

“The University of Florida will soon regret their decision to hire him as their President … We have enough weak and ineffective RINOs in our midst,” Trump wrote.

Yawn.

If DeSantis tried to troll Trump with this hire, it was ingenious and well-played. But Sasse’s mission is to keep Gator Nation in the top tier of public universities. He must protect academic freedom and put students ahead of politics.

Oh, and Gator football, too. That’s kind of important, but we’ll get into that another time.