- June 22, 2025
TALLAHASSEE — State university system leaders’ stunning rebuke of Santa Ono’s selection as president of the University of Florida brought into sharp focus efforts by Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Republicans to push higher education into closer alignment with conservative ideology.
The University of Florida Board of Trustees last week unanimously recommended Ono, an immunologist who recently stepped down as president of the University of Michigan, to lead the state’s flagship university.
But after conservatives launched a coordinated campaign attacking Ono on issues such as diversity, equity and inclusion programs, the state university system’s Board of Governors on Tuesday, June 3, rejected Ono’s selection. The 10-6 vote came after a harsh grilling of Ono by allies of DeSantis on the board.
Ono’s treatment has raised questions about the state’s ability to draw high-profile candidates in future presidential searches.
Board of Governors member Eric Silagy told The News Service of Florida he was “disappointed” in the questioning of Ono during Tuesday’s meeting. Silagy said it was important that board members have an opportunity to ask questions and get answers about their concerns.
“But I am disappointed in how some of the meeting was conducted and feel that we just didn’t put our best foot forward,” Silagy said in a phone interview on June 4. “And I am concerned about the chilling effect that yesterday’s proceedings may have on our ability to attract high-quality candidates for these very important positions.”
The board rejected Ono despite a proposed contract that would have linked his salary and bonuses with adherence to elements of DeSantis’ overhaul of the higher-education system, such as rooting out diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, programs and services on campus. Some national experts have likened the contract to a “loyalty pledge” unique in state-university presidential compensation packages.
Mori Hosseini, chairman of UF’s Board of Trustees and chairman and CEO of ICI Homes headquartered in Daytona Beach, said on Thursday, June 5, that he stood by the board’s selection of Ono.
“It was a powerful signal that the Florida model for higher education, grounded in merit, academic excellence, institutional neutrality and accountability to students and taxpayers, is earning the trust and interest” of academic leaders across the country, Hosseini said.
“Let me be clear. This moment, while disappointing to our Board of Trustees and many of you, will not diminish the University of Florida’s momentum, with or without Mori,” he added.
Controversy over university presidential searches has swirled since lawmakers in 2022 created exemptions to public-records and public-meetings laws for searches. Under that law, only information about finalists for presidencies is made public.
House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, this year supported a proposal to repeal the public-information shield, but the Senate did not go along with the plan.
If it had passed, the House proposal could have exposed the “deficiencies” surrounding Ono and avoided “a very embarrassing moment for the entire state of Florida,” Perez told reporters on Thursday, June 5.
“The problem that we have now is we have one of our top universities in the country in a position where they will struggle to find a candidate to replace the last president,” Perez said. “Who is going to want to apply for that position now, knowing that the process is flawed?”
The search for UF’s president will be rebooted amid a revolving door of leaders at the state’s colleges and universities that one critic said has resulted in a “political patronage” system. That has included jobs going to allies of DeSantis and other Republicans who have pushed to get rid of “anti-woke” ideology.
In addition, University of South Florida President Rhea Law has announced she is resigning, while leadership at state colleges is churning.
Pasco-Hernando State College, North Florida College and Lake-Sumter State College have had presidents recently resign or are in the search process for new leaders. Torey Alston, an ally of DeSantis, was selected to head Broward College in February, and Eric Hall, who has served as secretary of the Department of Juvenile Justice in the DeSantis administration, was picked last month to become interim president at Pasco-Hernando.
Three former Republican lawmakers also have taken the helm of state colleges during the past two years.
Former state Rep. Mel Ponder, R-Destin, became president of Northwest Florida State College in November. Former Rep. Fred Hawkins, R-St. Cloud, was chosen in June 2023 to serve as president of South Florida State College, while former Rep. Tommy Gregory, R-Lakewood Ranch, was chosen last year as president of State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota.
George Mason University professor Judith Wilde, an expert in university presidential searches and compensation, said that, while the hiring of ideologically aligned leaders isn’t unique, “most other states haven’t gone as far towards the political patronage side as Florida has.”
But as an indication of broader ideological issues, Ono’s selection wasn’t only torpedoed by allies of DeSantis. It also drew criticism from conservatives such as U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla. — both of whom have clashed with DeSantis at times.
“We have been clear about DEI not being a pillar of our educational systems in Florida,” Donalds, who is running for governor, said in a statement last month. “It does not comport with the values of the state of Florida.”
The higher-ed turnover in Florida comes amid President Donald Trump’s crackdown on funding to universities such as Harvard that haven’t cooperated with an executive order to rid campuses of diversity and inclusion efforts.
Political interference in the independence of higher-education institutions can have lasting negative effects, experts caution.
DeSantis and education leaders in Texas are offering blueprints for other conservatives to “engage in the politicization of higher education and erode academic freedom,” Lynn Pasquerella, president of the American Association of Colleges and Universities, told the News Service.
“They are attempting to replace what they perceive as a woke ideological agenda with their own ideological agenda, and in the process, casting the pall of orthodoxy. They’ve been very clear in saying, ‘Our goal is to discredit higher education,’” Pasquerella said.
She said public institutions and campus leaders throughout the country “are experiencing enormous moral distress” because they fear they will lose their jobs if they don’t adhere to conservatives’ agenda.
“It puts presidents in an untenable position,” Pasquerella added.
