The University of Florida spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on travel for highly paid Republican hires of then-President Ben Sasse, who permitted them to work from home in other parts of the country while commuting periodically to the school’s campus, according to newly released records. The new figures add to mounting questions about unusually high expenditures of public money by the university president’s office until Sasse’s unexpected resignation in July. More than half the $211,824 itemized expenses attributed to six of his senior UF hires working remotely over 17 months was for airfare or train tickets, plus nearly $50,000 more for hotels.
The costs included all their work-related travel, not just back and forth to UF from their home states — including Nebraska, Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia. The university finally turned over more than 1,500 itemized expense entries for these employees in response to requests filed July 30 under Florida’s public records law. More than half the travel expenses specified that they covered campus visits.
Others did not always indicate any destination, citing costs for “trip” with no other detail about locations. In the records UF turned over, lodging costs did not specify whether the employees stayed in budget-style hotels run by popular chains or luxury suites. Most of the rooms appeared to run $150 or $300 per night.
Meal costs did not indicate the name or type of restaurant or whether the appointees.