Back to the drawing board: UF presidential finalist nixed for conflicting DEI stances

In a stunning move, the panel that oversees Florida’s state university system voted against hiring Santa Ono as the next president for the University of Florida during an extended special meeting Tuesday. 

The State University System Board of Governors voted 6-10 against Ono following hours of contentious questioning and debate during which they grilled Ono over his past positions on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The vote came a week after UF trustees approved Ono, the immediate past-president of the University of Michigan and sole finalist for the job, which would have paid him a $3 million annual package that included $1.5 million base salary 

After conducting a months-long search, UF remains without a permanent president. Former UF President Kent Fuchs has been serving as interim president since former President Ben Sasse resigned last year.

Approving Ono was the only item discussed during the board meeting, which ran nearly two hours longer than originally scheduled. Some members compared the vetting to a courtroom interrogation.

Members mainly asked about Ono’s changing stance on diversity, equity, and inclusion, and how he could carry out Florida’s agenda denouncing DEI, but delved into other topics, like a Christian’s interpretation of original sin and Gov. Ron DeSantis’ COVID-19 response. 

“It’s insidious that it feels like pushing a rope uphill when we establish these policies, if a president doesn’t really believe in those policies,” Board of Governors Vice Chair Alan Levine said during the meeting in Orlando. “And it’s a powerful position — you can be an inhibitor, or you can help advance. And so I guess so much of your record reflects your deeply held beliefs, that you have been an advocate of DEI up until recently.”

Ono supported diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives at the University of Michigan, one of the top-ranked public institutions in the country, guiding its “DEI 2.0” initiative and touting benefits of such programs but ultimately closed DEI offices earlier this year.

“It looks to me like you got rid of the program because you needed to do what you had to do with the president’s orders and the funding issues. But you didn’t really push to get rid of DEI,” Levine said. 

Ono replied with an answer he repeated several times —that he began looking at DEI when he took office at Michigan, rather than an immediate decision after Trump’s executive order. 

Ono told UF trustees last week that he developed his new stance on DEI in the past year and a half after talking with students and other members of the university community. Before, he wasn’t an expert on the topic, which had been universal in higher education, he said, and told trustees his conviction is “rock solid.”

Ono said he mirrors Florida’s evolution with accepting, and then rejecting, DEI.

“For anyone who believes Dr. Ono’s earlier views on DEI, views that many university leaders and civic organizations once shared, are disqualifying despite his evolution and the changes made under his leadership at Michigan, I would remind you that this body adopted DEI strategic priorities as recently as 2020. Like Michigan, the Board of Governors has evolved since,” BOG member Charles Lydecker said, adding that Ono’s previous positions on the topics governors were concerned about “are not meaningfully different from those previously held by this board.”

“The real question is this: Should we punish someone for evolving beyond a view this very body once held, especially when that person has already led one of the nation’s most prominent universities to a different course, a course that mirrors our own?” Lydecker said.

Lydecker added, “There is something fundamentally unjust about cancel culture, and to cancel Dr. Ono would not only be unjust, it would be a setback for the University of Florida.”

‘Forum to interrogate’

The degree of vetting from governors Tuesday was not typical, and is the first time the Board of Governors has rejected a president, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

“I’ve been on this board for five, six years, and we have never used this as a forum to interrogate. And in this case, it feels to me patently unfair,” Lydecker said after former House Speaker and now-BOG member Paul Renner put documents in front of Ono about his past.

At one point, BOG member Eric Silagy asked if any of the governors had expressed interest in the UF presidency. 

Mori Hosseini, the chair of the UF Board of Trustees, said yes.

He acknowledged Renner reached out to him asking about the job. Renner insisted that he reached out to to Hosseini before he was on the BOG. Renner said he would not take the UF job if offered now that he’s on the BOG.

Renner did not recuse himself, however, and voted against Ono.

Ono told the BOG he had made 12 commitments, which include ideological neutrality, solely merit-based hiring and admissions, keeping the university aligned with state government, and upholding state laws and university regulations. He said he asked for those provisions to be included in his contract.

“Doctor, your recent reversal on an entire architecture of ideology is nothing short of incredible,” BOG member and former House Speaker Jose Oliva said. Oliva also voted against Ono. 

Hosseini stood by Ono’s candidacy, and sat next to him during the “interrogation.”

“The bottom line is that Dr. Ono is globally recognized as one of the most respected leaders in higher education, and we are lucky to have him,” Hosseini said. 

Ono was previously president of the University of British Columbia and the University of Cincinnati.

GOP pushback

The GOP pushback mounted high enough to reject Ono, who had already stepped down as Michigan’s president.

U.S. Rep. and GOP gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds posted to X questions related to DEI that he encouraged BOG members to ask, and Rick Scott did the same, Monday evening releasing a statement and questions concerning Ono’s commitment to protecting Jewish students. 

After the vote, Scott called it “the right decision,” and U.S. Rep. Jimmy Patronis said, “I’m happy to see the system work.”

Donald Trump Jr. posted to X, “WTF! Have the decision makers at @UF lost their minds!???” calling on BOG members to vote against Ono. 

U.S. Rep. Greg Steube sent a letter to BOG members, asking them to reject Ono “and find a suitable replacement who truly represents Florida values.” After the UF trustees’ meeting last week, Steube said, “I’m not sold” on Ono “walking back his woke past.”

The governor’s office appoints six of 13 of the university trustees at each institution and 14 of the 17 BOG members.

“The Board of Governors has a strong history of affirming presidential nominees who received unanimous approval from their university boards; to continue this practice sends a message that the Board of Governors values the opinion of their colleagues with the state university system and does not yield to outsiders who post out of context sound bites on social media,” Hosseini said.