May 29 (UPI) — Dr. Santa J. Ono was selected to be the next president of the University of Florida as a group of Republicans has expressed disdain in regard to his candidacy.
The UF Board of Trustees voted unanimously Tuesday to select Ono as the university’s 14th president, sending the decision to be ratified by the Florida Board of Governors in a vote set for June 3.
The decision drew criticism from Republican lawmakers representing the state who opposed Ono’s perceived political ideology.
Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., posted to social media Tuesday that UF had “made a grave mistake” in its selection of Ono.
“This is a step in the wrong direction. I strongly urge the [State University System of Florida] Board of Governors to reject his selection at next week’s meeting. Florida is watching,” he wrote.
Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., and Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., have also publicly spoken out against Ono’s hiring, due to his past support of diversity, equity and inclusion practices.
“Have the decision makers at UF lost their minds?” Donald Trump Jr., the son of President Donald Trump wrote on X Wednesday. “This woke psycho might be the perfect fit for a Communist school in California, but how is he even being considered for this role in Florida? Every single member of the Florida Board of Governors should vote against him!”
Ono, however, explained his stance on DEI has shifted in an op-ed for Inside Higher Ed.
“Like many, I supported what I believed to be the original intent of DEI — ensuring equal opportunity and fairness for every student. That’s something on which most everyone agrees. But over time, I saw how DEI became something else — more about ideology, division and bureaucracy, not student access. That’s why, as president of the University of Michigan, I made the decision to eliminate centralized DEI offices and redirect resources toward academic support and merit-based achievement. It wasn’t universally popular, but it was necessary. I stood by it — and I’ll bring that same clarity of purpose to UF,” he wrote.
The UF Board of Trustees has expressed its confidence in Ono as the correct choice to lead the GOP opposition.
“Santa Ono is precisely the right person to be president of the University of Florida at this moment in its history,” UF Trustees Board Chair Mori Hossein said Tuesday. “He is a remarkably accomplished scholar and a solidly proven academic leader, and his values align perfectly with ours here in the great state of Florida.”
Ono has also received the backing of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis who said earlier in May that he trusts “the people that were involved” who made Ono the candidate for UF president
“They were trustees that I’ve appointed, that have performed exemplary for the state of Florida in those capacities,” he said.
