Slight rankings drop at University of Florida and its law school may have been factor in president's exit
Former University of Florida President Ben Sasse, center, stands on the field during a ceremony in the first half of an NCAA college football game Sept. 16, 2023, in Gainesville, Florida. (Photo by Phelan M. Ebenhack/The Associated Press)
Former University of Florida President Ben Sasse cited his wife’s health when he resigned his position in July, only 17 months into the job that paid $10 million over five years.
But his exit follows a drop in the rankings published by U.S. News & World Report for the university and the law school, the New York Times reports.
Sasse, a Republican former senator from Nebraska, came to the school in February 2023.
The university’s No. 5 ranking dropped to No. 6 during Sasse’s presidency, and the Levin College of Law’s No. 21 ranking dropped to No. 22. Less than 10 years before achieving the No. 21 ranking, the law school was ranked No. 48, the article says.
“Dr. Sasse didn’t have much respect for the U.S. News & World Report rankings,” the New York Times reports, “But the university’s politically connected board of trustees very much did.”
Whether that indifference led to Sasse’s departure isn’t clear, the New York Times says, “but the chasm between the president and the board of trustees seemed to develop as the university’s rankings status became more tenuous. Some on campus are convinced it explains his departure from the presidency.”
The article recounts tactics used to boost the law school’s ranking before Sasse took over.
Tuition discounts were offered to students with higher LSAT scores. The aggressive discounts led to a decline in inflation-adjusted tuition revenue from about $36 million per year in fiscal year 2013 to about $8 million per year in fiscal year 2022, Paul Campos, a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder’s law school, told the New York Times, which linked to his analysis.
Michelle Jacobs, a former University of Florida law professor, told the New York Times of other efforts to boost the law school’s rankings.
All new chairs were purchased, and “perfectly good chairs” were thrown out, she said. Guest speakers at the law school were counted as part-time faculty members. The faculty count increased from 250 in 2021 to 343 in 2022.
Despite the emphasis on rankings, bar passage rates “lagged behind some other schools in the state,” the New York Times says. In May, the law school ranking dropped to No. 28.
Student journalists at the Independent Florida Alligator, the student newspaper of the University of Florida, meanwhile, reported that Sasse’s office had tripled its spending—“a majority of which was for lucrative consulting contracts and high-paid, remote positions for GOP allies.”
Sasse defended the spending as part of an effort to transform the school.
“Amid the tumult, some good news emerged,” the New York Times reports. “Florida’s bar passage rate increased—to more than 90%, a 10-percentage point increase over 2023’s.”
And Sasse is still a University of Florida professor paid $1 million per year.
