GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) – Officials with the University of Florida are publicly bashing DEI policies on social media after members of the Trump administration weighed in on the university’s presidential search process. The statement comes nearly a year after state leaders rejected UF’s choice for president partially because he wasn’t hard enough on DEI.
In a post from UF’s official account on X, the university called DEI “discriminatory by design”. The post was in response to the U.S. Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, who sided with U.S. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) who shared concerns with the university’s presidential search process.
The post from UF’s official X account calling DEI “discriminatory by design”(WCJB)
“Florida has led the fight to get discriminatory DEI out of our schools and universities,” McMahon wrote on X Friday. “UF deserves a president who will continue to drive those reforms.”
Last year, the Florida Board of Governors rejected UF’s sole finalist for president, Dr. Santa J. Ono, in part because of his stance on DEI.
McMahon was responding to Rick Scott, who highlighted his concerns with the lack of transparency in the university’s presidential search process Wednesday.
University of Florida officials responded to Scott on the same day they responded to McMahon, saying they fully complied with Florida law and regulations as they selected Dr. Stuart Bell as their sole finalist for president.
“Reasonable people may hold differing views regarding any candidate,” university officials stated. “But it is wrong to suggest that UF circumvented the law or operated outside the bounds of transparency established by the State of Florida.”
Scott described the state law as “flawed” because it prevents public transparency during all stages of the process and results in only one finalist emerging from the search.
A state law which keeps presidential searches in the dark passed in 2022. Florida law now dictates that meetings and information about presidential applicants must remain confidential.
Names of applicants and candidates for president were previously open to public records requests. Dr. Ben Sasse was named the sole finalist of UF’s search months after the law passed in March 2022.
Dr. Bell is scheduled to speak with students and faculty during a visit to campus on June 3. An open forum is set to begin at 1 p.m. at Emerson Hall.
The UF Board of Trustees plans to interview Bell on June 10. They will then consider his nomination the next day. After that, Bell would need to be confirmed by the Florida Board of Governors before he can become the university’s next leader.
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