Gov. DeSantis reappoints Adam Kissel to UWF board after Senate rejects him

Gov. Ron DeSantis is attempting a second time to get Adam Kissel onto the University of West Florida Board of Trustees after lawmakers rejected his appointment earlier this year.

DeSantis said Friday he is reappointing Kissel again to the Trustee Board in addition to Edward Fleming, an attorney from Pensacola.

Kissel, who doesn’t live in Florida, is a Visiting Fellow on Higher Education Reform for The Heritage Foundation, which is the conservative think tank pushing Project 2025 in President Donald Trump’s administration.

The Senate Ethics and Elections Committee rejected Kissel in a 5-4 vote in late April, so the decision to appoint him to lead the Pensacola school never reached the full Senate floor. Republican Senators Don Gaetz and Jennifer Bradley sided with Democrats to knock down Kissel’s nomination.

Kissel’s stances concerned some Committee members, particularly his support for prioritizing higher education.

“In the 100-year path, I think that’s possible, and I also think it’s desirable,” Kissel elaborated when asked about his views on 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 brought up Kissel’s social media posts.

“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.

DeSantis has been reshaping UWF.

His ally Manny Diaz Jr., who had previously been Education Commissioner, was named the school’s interim president starting July 14, despite two trustees voicing concerns.

In a news release Friday, DeSantis touted Kissel’s credentials.

“He previously served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Higher Education Programs with the United States Department of Education. Active in his community, he currently serves as the Chair of the West Virginia Professional Charter School Board and is a member of the Civics, History, & America’s Future Advisory Council for America250,” the news release said. “Kissel earned his bachelor’s degree in English, American literature, and language from Harvard University and his master’s degree from the University of Chicago.”