By Paul Basken

Following a scheduled vote of approval by the statewide governing board, Dr Sasse was set to replace Kent Fuchs, who earlier this year asked to step down after seven years on the job, amid numerous instances of political interference in academic activities by the state’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, a likely 2024 US presidential candidate.

Mr Hosseini and his board were generally correct, said Michael Horn, a higher education strategist, in warning that presidents of prominent universities generally will not take the risk of letting their names be made public if they are not assured of winning an appointment at the institution recruiting them.

“The reality,” he said, “is that some of these presidents, they won’t get the job, and they’ll be back at their institution, and then the institution is going to ask, ‘Does this person even really want to be here?’”