College student Garrett Shanley sat in a green beach chair in the lawn outside his apartment, noise-canceling headphones blasting Charli XCX, as he typed his bombshell story.
University of Florida President Ben Sasse abruptly resigned in July, citing his wife’s poor health. But Shanley, 21, a University of Florida senior, broke a scoop that went viral and was recognized by some of the biggest newspapers across the state.
UF’s student-run newspaper reported that spending under Sasse’s office tripled to $17.3 million in his first year as president. Sasse, a former Republican U.S. Senator from Nebraska, gave contracts to his GOP allies who worked remotely from Washington, D.C.
“A majority of the spending surge was driven by lucrative contracts with big-name consulting firms and high-salaried, remote positions for Sasse’s former U.S. Senate staff and Republican officials,” Shanley wrote. “Sasse’s consulting contracts have been kept largely under wraps, leaving the public in the dark about what the contracted firms did to earn their fees.”
The reaction was instant and a whirlwind when Shanley’s story was published Aug. 12 in the Independent Florida Alligator.
“I saw the amount of retweets it instantly got, and then I turned off my phone,” Shanley said.
University Editor Garrett Shanley in the offices of the Independent Florida Alligator on Aug. 4, 2024. Shanley broke the story about high spending by former UF President Ben Sasse. (Diego Perdomo // Alligator Staff)
Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis ordered an investigation. Even U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz and high-profile attorney John Morgan — unlikely allies — went back-and-forth on social media about the story’s revelations. The Miami Herald printed the Alligator’s story in its entirety. Shanley even appeared on MSNBC to talk about his reporting.
“It’s one of those stories that I think you could tell that it was going to make an impact from the moment you read it,” said Aidan Bush, the newspaper’s summer editor-in-chief, who called Shanley “a one-man army.”
Shanley’s work was based on old-school bootstrap reporting, using publicly available data and record requests to get contracts.
With the scoop firmed up, Shanley wrote fast. He sat outside his apartment, typing in the sun, on a Thursday. By Monday, the story was published.
Shanley had been under the gun. He knew the Associated Press and other media outlets were chasing the story too. It was also the end of the summer and the Alligator’s entire staff was on the verge of turning over. Shanley was off soon to an internship at the Chronicle of Higher Education this fall, so this was his last chance to write it.
The story was a fully student-led effort – no UF faculty or outside professional journalists mentoring them or helping in the process, Shanley and Bush both said.
The students view themselves as serious journalists working in a professional newsroom that’s often fighting against better-funded professional outlets for scoops. But this is also college, so Shanley once played DJ at a newspaper staff party.
Covering their school officials has been notoriously difficult for the Independent Florida Alligator.
Sasse was willing to be interviewed by the New York Times but refused to sit down with the campus publication. He agreed to one interview – by email. The UF communications staff abruptly canceled the regular monthly meetings with student editors after Sasse took over. Public records – the only way to glean insight into the administration’s moves – took months to get back.
“I don’t think (Shanley) is exaggerating. I think he told me at one point he’s done over 200 record requests,” Bush said.
Then at 8:22 p.m. July 18, Sasse announced on social media he was resigning from UF’s presidency.
“As many of you know, my wife Melissa suffered an aneurysm and series of strokes in 2007. … In recent months, Melissa has been diagnosed with epilepsy and has been struggling with a new batch of memory issues,” Sasse wrote on X. “Gator Nation needs a president who can keep charging hard, Melissa deserves a husband who can pull his weight, and my kids need a dad who can be home many more nights.
“After extensive prayer and lots of family tears, I today asked UF Chair Mori Hosseini and our Board of Trustees to initiate a search for a new president of the university. I need to step back for a time and focus more on the needs of my family while we rebuild more stable household systems.”
“Nobody saw it coming. It was completely out of left field for us,” said Bush, a 21-year-old UF senior from Citrus County.
The rumors started flying.
Four days after Shanley’s piece, the Alligator published its second big scoop in a row.
There was more to the story about Sasse stepping down, according to the student newspaper.
Vivienne Serret, reporter for the Independent Florida Alligator at the University of Florida
UF senior Vivienne Serret reported Sasse’s relationship with UF’s influential board chairman Hosseini had also fallen apart as they were in a power struggle to overhaul the university. Sasse’s resignation was made to look like a voluntary resignation under good terms, Serret wrote in her Aug. 16 story where she interviewed nine current and former administrators and top school donors, all of whom spoke anonymously.
A UF spokesman denied any personal conflicts forced Sasse to quit.
Some of her sources contacted her after her previous reporting on Sasse. They were eager to talk about what was happening behind the scenes although they were uncomfortable doing so publicly on the record, Serret said.
Serret’s and Shanley’s stories had more than 300,000 online views on the Alligator’s website, Serret said.
Serret said she was especially proud of her work because she once felt behind in her journalism career as a transfer student. She had attended a nearby two-year state college first to save money. And now at UF, the 21-year-old juggles two bartending jobs with working at the Alligator to pay her bills and still send money back to support her mother in Miami.
“There’s been times where I might get out of a meeting for class and then immediately have to run to a shift. I could be getting out at 11, midnight, 1 a.m., 2 a.m., three, maybe four,” Serret said. “I operate on a lot of coffee.”
Journalism professor Roger Boye said the UF story is just one of multiple examples in the past few years where professional media outlets are playing catch up to student journalists.
“Eventually the day is coming that a student newspaper will win a Pulitzer Prize,” predicted Boye, a Northwestern associate journalism professor emeritus. “The reason is that you just can’t overlook some of these accomplishments that these student journalists have and their resourcefulness, the way they approach the stories and the results that they are getting.”
In April, four Northwestern University students won not Student Journalist of the Year but Illinois Journalists of the Year in a category against professional media outlets. Their investigation into the football team’s hazing scandal won the award, which had never been given out to students before since the Northern Illinois News Association’s award began in 1972.
And then in May, as it gave out awards, the Pulitzer Prize Board took a moment to recognize “the tireless efforts of student journalists across our nation’s college campuses, who are covering protests and unrest in the face of great personal and academic risk.”
Meanwhile, the Independent Florida Alligator isn’t done, by any means, of reporting on the aftermath of Sasse.
Serret wrote a deeper look into the UF board chairman who was reportedly at odds with Sasse.
Shanley, who is heading off to his internship next month, passed his tips and sources to his former colleagues taking his spot at the student newspaper. The Alligator is waiting to learn more details on whether UF spent more consulting fees than what’s publicly known. Other questions remain: Sasse’s hires are still at UF. The newspaper also wants to know how Sasse’s office spent money on traveling and catering, Shanley said.
The international attention and wave of admiration for their work has paid off for the student newspaper in a tangible sense. Some students occasionally paid for record requests out of their own pocket when the Alligator’s budget ran out of money. But following the series of big stories, the school newspaper received more than $10,000 – the second biggest donation in the paper’s known history, Bush said.
