Jacob Ogles
Three of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ appointments to the University of West Florida Board of Trustees failed to win Senate support. Whether because of resignations or rejection at committee level, all became consumed by controversy.
Both Boise State University professor Scott Yenor and Pinehill Capital Partners CEO Gates Garcia resigned their Board seats ahead of difficult confirmation hearings. Meanwhile, Heritage Foundation visiting fellow Adam Kissel was rejected by the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee.
That made the Pensacola university Board the source of largest cache of casualties to The Process among DeSantis nominees, and it marked an inauspicious upending of DeSantis’ appointments to the UWF Board in January. New Trustees immediately elevated Yenor to Board Chair, and many wondered if other changes would immediately follow.
When DeSantis made his UWF appointments, the slate was compared to Trustees who orchestrated a conservative takeover of New College two years ago. But the UWF appointees this time met controversy not from liberals at a small and insular liberal arts college, but from business and education leaders in the conservative community concerned about a threat to the region’s largest institution of higher education.
Judith Bense, a former UWF President, ended up speaking at multiple hearings raising concerns about the appointees.
“Why was UWF a target? Why did we get eight Trustees all of a sudden? Why did they elect Mr. Yenor the Chair all of a sudden with no discussion?” she asked. “That worries us. That says something to us about all of them. But in particular, we are concerned about the lack of ties to the University of West Florida and to the region.”
Yenor resigned ahead of consideration by the Senate Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee amid reporting on controversial statements about whether women belong in academia. Almost immediately, other Yenor comments about the LGBTQ community and Jews attracted bipartisan concern in the Senate, even as DeSantis stood by his appointment.
Gates Garcia, Pinehill Capital Partners CEO, made it through the Higher Education hearing, but had to answer for why he voted for Yenor to chair the Board. Gates ultimately resigned his Board seat before a hearing before the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee meeting, one notably chaired by Panhandle Sen. Don Gaetz, a Crestview Republican.
Kissel did stick out that hearing, but the Ethics and Elections panel voted against his nomination on a 5-4 vote. That means Gaetz will not forward Kissel’s nomination to the Senate floor, though Kissel will remain eligible for reappointment by DeSantis. If that happens, Kissel could serve another year on the Board before coming back up for confirmation in the 2026 Legislative Session.
Gaetz at the hearing this week took issue with Kissel’s libertarian writing on a desire to completely privatize higher education. That ran counter to the best interest of a public university sitting in Gaetz’s district, the Senator suggested.
“Do you still believe that the best path forward for public education and for higher education is to stop funding public universities?” Gaetz asked. Kissel said he did not.
“You wrote it,” Gaetz said. “Were you telling the truth?”
Kissel maintained that his prior writing was aspirational and forward-looking.
“In the 100-year path, I think that’s possible, and I also think it’s desirable,” Kissel said of privatization. “There’s no reason that a private university is worse than a public university just because it’s not public.”
Sen. Tina Scott Polsky, a Boca Raton Democrat, also took issue with recent posts on social media that Kissel had made about the need to reduce university personnel.
“You wrote in a tweet just a few weeks ago, on March 17, that a lot of school and college administrators could be replaced with AI, and the work would be faster and more accurate,” she said.
Kissel said that, during a period where government at all levels was seeking to be more efficient, administrators should be prepared to prove their value to institutions.
Kissel, a Countryside High School graduate and valedictorian, saw more political observers rally to his defense.
And he garnered some support at the committee. Sen. Erin Grall, a Vero Beach Republican, supported Kissel’s confirmation.
“It’s more concerning to me when we don’t know where somebody stands or has opinions on any number of things,” Grall said. “The fact that Mr. Kissel has been open about his opinions and writes about them openly, I think, gives the ability to challenge those opinions as another Board member.”
But ultimately, the committee killed Kissel’s path forward. Two Republican Senators, Gaetz and Jennifer Bradley, joined with all Democrats on the committee in voting down on the nomination.
It’s been a rougher Session than normal for many of DeSantis appointments. While dozens of less controversial nominees sailed through the process, Gaetz on Monday said his committee would not take up confirmation of Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Shevaun Harris or Department of Children and Families Secretary Taylor Hatch. Both officials have been tied to controversy about spending by the Hope Florida Foundation.
Meanwhile, former Republican Rep. Joel Rudman withdrew from consideration as a Trustee for Pensacola State College before the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee could consider him and a week after another committee recommended against advancing his nomination.
On top of that, the Senate declined to consider two of DeSantis’ appointments to the Florida Commission on Ethics: Moms for Liberty founder Tina Descovich and Figgers Communications CEO Freddie Figgers. After the Senate declined to take up those nominees two years in a row, neither is eligible for reappointment.
