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During his presidency, Sasse spent $7.2 million in university funds to consultants for advice on his strategic planning and to fill leadership gaps— over 40 times more than Fuchs’ total consulting expenses over his eight-year term.
Sassepaid nearly two-thirds of the $7.2 million to McKinsey & Company, where he once worked as an adviser on an hourly contract.The firm carries prestige as one of the “big three” management consulting giants,but is notoriously secretive about its dealings and shielded its work from public view using records laws protecting trade secrets.(CIA)
A critical “scope of work” attachment, which would outline McKinsey's responsibilities to UF, was redacted from a copy of the contract obtained from a public records request. The redaction, permissible under state public records laws, makes it virtually impossible for the public to know what the firm did to earn its fees.
A UF spokesperson said McKinsey was using data analysis to help Sasse build his strategic plan, but the university hasn’t disclosed further details about its $4.7 million contract with the firm since The Alligator first reported its existence last August. Public records requests for any reports, presentations and data produced under the contract have yielded no responsive documents.
Sasse offered the only public glimpse of McKinsey’s work at UF last fall during “roadshows” of his strategic plan. Accompanied by slides displaying “sobriety data” provided by McKinsey, Sasse argued some faculty weren’t pulling their weight and had “quiet retired.”
One slide showed only 10% of research faculty drove 39% of research awards on campus. Another showed in one unidentified 47-person department, only 13 were engaged in research.
In two roadshows that were open to the press, Sasse skipped over a slide that sparked controversy after the Alligator reported on anonymous faculty accounts of previous presentations. The slide suggested reducing UF's total number of departments from 200 to an ideal number of 140.
Beyond the $4.7 million contract,Sasse payrolled three former McKinsey consultants as full-timeemployees in his office, with salaries ranging from $150,000 to $200,000, according to university records.
It remains unknown who Sasse paid the remaining $2.5 million in consulting expenses to.Public records requests for the president’s consulting contracts were not fulfilled in time for publication.
McKinsey’s contract allowed for UF to pay additional fees for consulting services until February 2025.The university has gone months without responding to public records requests for invoices related to the contract.
https://www.alligator.org/article/2024/08/sasse-s-spending-spree-former-uf-president-channeled-millions-to-gop-allies-secretive-contracts