A.G. Gancarski
Florida’s Governor is standing by the Presidential Search Advisory Committee that selected Dr. Santa J. Ono as the next University of Florida President, despite Ono’s past praise for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
“I trust the people that were involved in that process. They were trustees that I’ve appointed, that have performed exemplary for the state of Florida in those capacities,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said in Tampa.
U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, a 2026 candidate for Governor, disagrees. He criticized Ono, the former University of Michigan President.
The Naples Republican urged the “Board of Trustees at UF to go back and do an evaluation of where they think they are on this one” and “to go back and figure out somebody else.”
Ono was the sole finalist announced by the university.
DeSantis delineated his expectations but stood by the process and the product.
“We reject woke indoctrination. We were the first state in the country to eliminate ‘DE and I’ from our public universities. We’ve done more than any state to restore the mission of universities to the classical sense of what a university should be: teach people to think for themselves, pursue truth, prepare our students to be citizens of our republic. And we’re proud of that,” he said.
“Those expectations are clear, and I don’t think that a candidate would have been selected who is not going to abide by those expectations. And I think that you will likely see that that’ll be very clear in this instance, but I’ll let the process play out. But we have put a real serious stake in the ground on this.”
Ono’s inaugural address lauded the school’s DEI initiative, but DeSantis gave him a pass, saying it was the style at the time and that Ono eventually closed the DEI office.
“I disagree with those comments, but I also understand when we were leading against DEI, we were the only state to do so. It was everywhere. It was the price of admission to be involved in these universities at the time.”
DeSantis also suggested Ono’s move was proof of UF’s quality and reputation.
“I don’t know the candidate. But if we were here five years, 10 years ago, and I told you that the President of the University of Michigan was going to leave Michigan to come to Gainesville, most people probably would not think that that would be a move that someone would want to make, right?” DeSantis said.
“Michigan has traditionally been viewed as the best or one of the top 2 or 3 public universities in the entire United States of America.”
13 comments
Michael K
May 7, 2025 at 12:50 pm
When did Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion become illegal?
Would I, therefore, be correct to assume that the Republican party stands only for Homogeneity, Inequity, and Exclusion?
Dallas Barret
May 7, 2025 at 2:39 pm
My friend recommended to me and I’ve gotten 2 checks for a total of $9,200…this is the best decision I made in a long time! This extra cash has changed my life in so many ways, thank you…
Go ON my ProFILE
LexT
May 8, 2025 at 10:14 am
DEI means a lot more than just the words. The words on so many things are just fine. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are good things to have, but should be the icing on the cake. DEI stands for taking less or unqualified people to hold positions to meet quotas. The policies that have come to make up DEI have proven to be silly and create bad outcomes.
I hope that Ono is good. I’d like to accept that we had really good people doing the search, and we found the correct person. But DEI as a policy should scare everyone.
Michael K
May 8, 2025 at 12:07 pm
You mean pople like Pete Hegsworth, who is in way over his pretty little well-coifed head – hired only because of MAGA affirmative action. He’s nothing more a talking head with fealty only to Trump, not the Pentagon, not to the armed forces, and certainly not the Constitution.
MH/Duuuval
May 9, 2025 at 7:48 pm
And there’s the new MAGA test for academics: “intellectual diversity.”
PeterH
May 7, 2025 at 2:23 pm
The incomprehensible red state objection to any and all reference in America to diversity, equity, and inclusion goes against all common sense; and this Republican pursuit is a deliberate distraction from the continuation of the Republican agenda ….. their failed vision of our economy, government, education and national healthcare.
The fault is not DEI initiatives that are designed and meant to dismantle the division and hate perpetrated by right wing demigods….no the fault is attributable to the MAGA uneducated and the 80 million eligible voters who failed to participate in the 2024 election.
KathrynA
May 7, 2025 at 2:32 pm
Your statement appears to be correct–sure glad my grandchildren graduated a few years ago from UF.
Ocean Joe
May 7, 2025 at 2:42 pm
Desantis is an expert at picking UF presidents, the last one spent like a drunken sailor. It’s almost as if Sasse was trying to outdo Corcoran.
MH/Duuuval
May 9, 2025 at 7:51 pm
I assume Corcoran has some kind of leverage over Dee, but now that the Piccolo case has emerged, Dee may be able to free himself from Corcoran’s hold.
Corcoran hired his buddy’s son Piccolo to work PR at New College despite the man’s troubling history of acting out sexually.
It appears that MAGA grooming is okay.
R Russell
May 7, 2025 at 5:26 pm
I’ll vote Demo crap for Governor before voting for the Publicity Hound from Naples – all he’s ever done is show up in the photo shoots in DC. Surely the GOP has much better candidates than taking the DEI route for a minority because they need to show the GOP is welcoming diversity! Let’s get the best not the darkest one. Maybe former Congressman Harold Ford, Jr. would come down and run. He has smarts, though he is a Democrat, he is someone who would definitely not be a DEI hire.
MH/Duuuval
May 9, 2025 at 7:57 pm
All Black politicians are corrupt, right? Trump’s kleptocracy and cronyism is okay Sith you, though? And, then there is Dee caught misappropriating $10 miillion. Who is there to bring him to the bar of justice?
LawLib
May 8, 2025 at 9:35 am
It’s so entertaining seeing the Pubs at each other’s throats over the Prexy candidate at U. of Florida and his on again, off again views of DEI. Moral of this story here and across these United States – politicians keep your power-hungry ideolological mitts off the administration of our colleges & universities. The trustees/boards of these higher education institutions were doing a fine job picking their leaders & educating their students until your fat, dictatorial heads got into the game.
MH/Duuuval
May 9, 2025 at 7:59 pm
Hosseini is behind Ono, which ought to be the handwriting on the wall for critics. Besides, didn’t the learn anything from the Sasse debacle.
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