Florida Board of Governors Chair Alan Levine has postponed the confirmation vote for Stuart Bell to become the next president of the University of Florida, citing governance violations by the UF Board of Trustees.
UF’s board struck back, with its board chair saying the flagship school would instead “consider naming” Bell interim president “so that the university can continue moving forward.”
Levine’s decision is “unfair to Dr. Bell and harmful to the University of Florida and the students, faculty, alumni, and supporters we are entrusted to serve,” said Rahul Patel, chair of the Presidential Search Advisory Committee and Vice Chair of UF’s Board of Trustees.
In a June 17 letter to State University System Chancellor Ray Rodrigues, Levine accused UF trustees Chair Mori Hosseini of exceeding the authority granted to him under a Board of Governors regulation that limits the powers of individual trustees and requires boards to act collectively rather than through a single member.
“I will not approve placing any item on the agenda for a university while that university’s board is out of compliance with Regulation 1.001,” Levine wrote.
“I realize this may create some controversy, but that is not the intent. Dr. Bell deserves the opportunity to have his nomination considered on the merits, based upon his established track record and his presentation before the BOG.”
Stuart Bell was announced as the sole finalist for University of Florida president in May. But his confirmation by Florida’s Board of Governors is temporarily on hold after the chair of the BOG accused UF’s trustees of governance violations.
The vote was scheduled for the BOG’s June 24-25 meeting.
Bell, the former president of the University of Alabama, was announced as the sole finalist in UF’s presidential search in May, and his nomination was unanimously approved by the UF Board of Trustees earlier this month.
In his letter to Rodrigues, Levine wrote that while reviewing Bell’s nomination, he noticed a departure from BOG regulation in the contract language for interim President Donald Landry that granted Hosseini “sweeping authority” to approve hiring and compensation for university personnel — authority, Levine argued, that falls within a president’s purview and outside the scope of a board chair’s role.
Special Olympians leave for USA Games in Minnesota.
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The team’s emotional support dog Feder keeps an eye on the ceremony as Alachua County Special Olympians, unified partners, and coaches leave for Minnesota to compete at the 2026 Special Olympics USA Games at Gainesville Women’s Club in Gainesville, FL on Thursday, June 18, 2026. Eight athletes, their coaches, partners and parents gather in Orlando with athletes from around the state today and will fly to Minneapolis for the games Friday. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun]
(Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun)
Hosseini agreed to remove the language from future presidential contracts, Levine wrote, but he proceeded to request BOG staff conduct a preliminary review of governance at each of the state’s 12 public universities to ensure compliance with BOG regulation 1.001.
The review found that several universities were out of compliance with the regulation, though most were not. It also found that at UF, Hosseini had been granted authority over financial, contractual and other matters, which Levine called “problematic” and “inconsistent with best practices in governance.”
University of Florida Board of Trustees Chair Mori Hosseini addresses trustees before an interview with presidential finalist Stuart Bell on June 10, 2026, at Emerson Alumni Hall in Gainesville.
“The fact the offending language will likely be removed from the president’s contract is rendered meaningless if the university’s governance standards, which are a policy of the board of trustees, remain out of compliance,” Levine said.
“This issue is important, as each board member must exercise their fiduciary duty, and cannot abdicate these responsibilities by giving them away to anyone…when a single board member has improperly been granted such authority to act outside of our regulation, this increases the likelihood that questions may arise about the propriety of decisions that are made.”
Levine said he plans to share the results of the preliminary review at the BOG’s upcoming meeting.
The delay is the latest setback in what has been a turbulent search for a permanent president at UF. This is UF’s fourth presidential search in five years. In 2025, after UF’s Board of Trustees unanimously approved Santa Ono, the former president of the University of Michigan, to serve as its 14th president, the BOG blocked his selection.
Ono was rejected in part for his past support for diversity, equity and inclusion programs — which Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis worked to remove from state colleges and universities — climate change and his response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Levine’s action also delays the reappointment of President Aysegul Timur at Florida Gulf Coast University and at least one UF facilities committee request.
UF’s response
Board of Trustees Vice Chair Rahul Patel responds to postponement of Dr. Stuart Bell’s confirmation vote.
Board of Trustees Vice Chair Rahul Patel responded to Levine’s letter on June 18 on X, accusing Levine of acting unilaterally and announcing a BOT meeting next week to vote on whether to name Bell interim president.
“The University of Florida cannot afford to remain in limbo while these matters are addressed,” Patel wrote.
“Equally concerning is that a decision of this magnitude has been made unilaterally rather than by the full Board of Governors. Delaying consideration of the unanimously approved president designate of Florida’s flagship university is a consequential action that should be decided by the Board of Governors as a body, not by a single individual acting alone,” he added.
Levine suggested the BOG call a special meeting to vote on Bell’s nomination once the governance issues he raised are resolved.
(This story was updated to add new information.)
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Vote for new University of Florida president stalls