Several Florida Republican lawmakers are calling on University of Florida trustees to be more transparent in their pending presidential search and interview several candidates before settling on a top contender.
The demand comes on the heels of the Florida Board of Governors earlier this month voting against confirming Santa Ono as UF’s next president — going against a unanimous decision by UF trustees.
The reason Ono was rejected was due to concerns over his mishandling of rampant antisemitism while leader of the University of Michigan as well as his numerous past statements in support of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
Under Ono’s leadership, DEI efforts ballooned at UMich before he finally shut down its DEI office earlier this year after President’s Trump’s executive order calling the ideology discriminatory.
Moving forward, prominent Florida Republicans Sen. Rick Scott and Congressmen Byron Donalds and Greg Steube want “public consideration and thorough vetting of all candidates,” the Tampa Free Press reported.
“The congressional members specifically called for the UF Board to commit to interviewing multiple candidates and to post all vetting and application materials online for public review before any board meetings,” the Free Press reported.
“They highlighted that the significant compensation packages for state university presidents, some exceeding $1 million (with the recent draft contract for a previous candidate valued at around $3 million), necessitate public involvement in the selection.”
In their letter to UF trustees, the trio of lawmakers state they “firmly believe that if the University of Florida had an open and transparent search and interview process, the concerns we all expressed, along with those that were brought up by the public and the Board of Governors, would have been dealt with long before this month’s vote.”
“It is our hope that the next president of the University of Florida can continue to propel our flagship university to number one while standing for what’s right – especially in the wake of a terrifying rise of antisemitic rhetoric on college campuses across our nation,” the letter added.
MORE: Board rejects Ono as U. Florida president amid conservative outcry
IMAGE CAPTION & CREDIT: A sign at the University of Florida / Katherine Welles, Shutterstock