{"id":4759,"date":"2025-06-04T06:52:04","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T06:52:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/?p=4759"},"modified":"2025-06-04T06:52:04","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T06:52:04","slug":"university-of-florida-presidency-slips-away-from-santa-ono-after-right-wing-objections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/university-of-florida-presidency-slips-away-from-santa-ono-after-right-wing-objections\/","title":{"rendered":"University of Florida Presidency Slips Away from Santa Ono After Right-Wing Objections"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The University of Florida\u2019s presidential appointment process was upended on Tuesday when the Florida Board of Governors blocked Santa Ono\u2019s selection, despite unanimous backing from the university\u2019s Board of Trustees.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ono, a veteran academic leader and most recently the president of the University of Michigan, was denied the role by a 10-6 vote \u2014 an unusual move that sends UF back to square one in its leadership search.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ono\u2019s candidacy drew intense scrutiny from conservative political circles. Opponents objected to his past support for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and his handling of other culturally divisive issues at previous institutions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The terms of his proposed contract would have required him to roll back DEI programs, align with Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019 Office of Government Efficiency, and appoint administrators who reflect Florida\u2019s conservative educational agenda.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Related story:<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/harvard-seeks-to-lift-federal-funding-freeze\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Harvard Urges Court to Unblock $2.5 Billion in Research Funds Frozen by Trump Administration<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><b>Conservatives Voice Strong Opposition<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Critics, including several high-profile Republicans, openly challenged Ono\u2019s record. U.S. Sen. Rick Scott wrote on X that Ono \u201cis willing to appease and prioritize far-left activists over ensuring students are protected and receive a quality education.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Donald Trump Jr. and Florida GOP Reps. Byron Donalds, Greg Steube, and Jimmy Patronis also criticized the appointment. Donalds, a gubernatorial candidate, was particularly vocal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In an op-ed for <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Inside Higher Ed<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Ono acknowledged his initial endorsement of DEI, stating it aimed to promote fairness and opportunity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cBut over time, I saw how DEI became something else \u2014 more about ideology, division and bureaucracy, not student success,\u201d he explained. He added that he curtailed DEI efforts at Michigan and affirmed, \u201cI believe in Florida\u2019s vision for higher education.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While Gov. DeSantis didn\u2019t publicly oppose Ono, he did say at a press conference that some of Ono\u2019s past remarks made him \u201ccringe.\u201d The board\u2019s meeting turned tense as Ono was interrogated by members such as Paul Renner and Jose Oliva.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Charles Lydecker, another board member, objected to the tone of questioning, saying, \u201cWe have never used this as a forum to interrogate. This is not a court of law. Candidly, this process does not seem fair to me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Oliva pushed back on Ono\u2019s change in views. \u201cNow we are told to believe you are now abandoning an entire ideological architecture,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><b>Uncertainty Looms Over UF Leadership<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rep. Greg Steube celebrated the board\u2019s rejection, writing on X: \u201cGreat news for my alma mater and the state of Florida! The Board of Governors heard us loud and clear: Santa Ono was the wrong choice for UF.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ono was expected to replace interim president Kent Fuchs, who took over following the resignation of Ben Sasse.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sasse left after his wife\u2019s epilepsy diagnosis, but his tenure had already raised eyebrows over generous salaries for former political aides and over $1.3 million in expenses for exclusive dinners and events.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, with Ono\u2019s candidacy halted, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ufl.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">UF<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> faces continued uncertainty over who will lead the university into its next chapter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Read next: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/judge-blocks-trump-administrations-attempt-to-ban-international-students-at-harvard\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Judge Blocks Trump Administration\u2019s Attempt to Ban International Students at Harvard<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The University of Florida\u2019s presidential appointment process was upended on Tuesday when the Florida Board of Governors blocked Santa Ono\u2019s selection, despite unanimous backing from the university\u2019s Board of Trustees.\u00a0 Ono, a veteran academic leader and most recently the president of the University of Michigan, was denied the role by a 10-6 vote \u2014 an [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":4761,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[330],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.4 (Yoast SEO v25.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>University of Florida Presidency Slips Away from Santa Ono After Right-Wing Objections<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Santa Ono loses bid for University of Florida presidency amid conservative backlash over his past support for DEI programs.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/university-of-florida-presidency-slips-away-from-santa-ono-after-right-wing-objections\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"University of Florida Presidency Slips Away from Santa Ono After Right-Wing Objections\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Santa Ono loses bid for University of Florida presidency amid conservative backlash over his past support for DEI programs.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/university-of-florida-presidency-slips-away-from-santa-ono-after-right-wing-objections\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"prepsaret.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-04T06:52:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/University-of-Florida-Presidency-Slips-Away-from-Santa-Ono-After-Right-Wing-Objections.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Omollo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Omollo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/university-of-florida-presidency-slips-away-from-santa-ono-after-right-wing-objections\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/university-of-florida-presidency-slips-away-from-santa-ono-after-right-wing-objections\/\",\"name\":\"University of Florida Presidency Slips Away from Santa Ono After Right-Wing Objections\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/university-of-florida-presidency-slips-away-from-santa-ono-after-right-wing-objections\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/university-of-florida-presidency-slips-away-from-santa-ono-after-right-wing-objections\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/University-of-Florida-Presidency-Slips-Away-from-Santa-Ono-After-Right-Wing-Objections.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-04T06:52:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2e8e9d49ea73f227dd1ee9a9860a08\"},\"description\":\"Santa Ono loses bid for University of Florida presidency amid conservative backlash over his past support for DEI programs.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/university-of-florida-presidency-slips-away-from-santa-ono-after-right-wing-objections\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/university-of-florida-presidency-slips-away-from-santa-ono-after-right-wing-objections\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/university-of-florida-presidency-slips-away-from-santa-ono-after-right-wing-objections\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/University-of-Florida-Presidency-Slips-Away-from-Santa-Ono-After-Right-Wing-Objections.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/University-of-Florida-Presidency-Slips-Away-from-Santa-Ono-After-Right-Wing-Objections.png\",\"width\":900,\"height\":500,\"caption\":\"Santa Ono and the University of Florida logo\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/university-of-florida-presidency-slips-away-from-santa-ono-after-right-wing-objections\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"University of Florida Presidency Slips Away from Santa Ono After Right-Wing Objections\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/\",\"name\":\"prepsaret.com\",\"description\":\"One Time Pass Guaranteed on your news Test\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2e8e9d49ea73f227dd1ee9a9860a08\",\"name\":\"Philip Omollo\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dbd8e471884b5a5bec4060995a13517ea2937e29b6f4e3be66515fffcf727095?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dbd8e471884b5a5bec4060995a13517ea2937e29b6f4e3be66515fffcf727095?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Philip Omollo\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"University of Florida Presidency Slips Away from Santa Ono After Right-Wing Objections","description":"Santa Ono loses bid for University of Florida presidency amid conservative backlash over his past support for DEI programs.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/university-of-florida-presidency-slips-away-from-santa-ono-after-right-wing-objections\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"University of Florida Presidency Slips Away from Santa Ono After Right-Wing Objections","og_description":"Santa Ono loses bid for University of Florida presidency amid conservative backlash over his past support for DEI programs.","og_url":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/university-of-florida-presidency-slips-away-from-santa-ono-after-right-wing-objections\/","og_site_name":"prepsaret.com","article_published_time":"2025-06-04T06:52:04+00:00","og_image":[{"width":900,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/University-of-Florida-Presidency-Slips-Away-from-Santa-Ono-After-Right-Wing-Objections.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Philip Omollo","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Philip Omollo","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/university-of-florida-presidency-slips-away-from-santa-ono-after-right-wing-objections\/","url":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/university-of-florida-presidency-slips-away-from-santa-ono-after-right-wing-objections\/","name":"University of Florida Presidency Slips Away from Santa Ono After Right-Wing Objections","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/university-of-florida-presidency-slips-away-from-santa-ono-after-right-wing-objections\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/university-of-florida-presidency-slips-away-from-santa-ono-after-right-wing-objections\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/University-of-Florida-Presidency-Slips-Away-from-Santa-Ono-After-Right-Wing-Objections.png","datePublished":"2025-06-04T06:52:04+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2e8e9d49ea73f227dd1ee9a9860a08"},"description":"Santa Ono loses bid for University of Florida presidency amid conservative backlash over his past support for DEI programs.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/university-of-florida-presidency-slips-away-from-santa-ono-after-right-wing-objections\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/university-of-florida-presidency-slips-away-from-santa-ono-after-right-wing-objections\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/university-of-florida-presidency-slips-away-from-santa-ono-after-right-wing-objections\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/University-of-Florida-Presidency-Slips-Away-from-Santa-Ono-After-Right-Wing-Objections.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/University-of-Florida-Presidency-Slips-Away-from-Santa-Ono-After-Right-Wing-Objections.png","width":900,"height":500,"caption":"Santa Ono and the University of Florida logo"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/university-of-florida-presidency-slips-away-from-santa-ono-after-right-wing-objections\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"University of Florida Presidency Slips Away from Santa Ono After Right-Wing Objections"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/","name":"prepsaret.com","description":"One Time Pass Guaranteed on your news Test","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2e8e9d49ea73f227dd1ee9a9860a08","name":"Philip Omollo","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dbd8e471884b5a5bec4060995a13517ea2937e29b6f4e3be66515fffcf727095?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dbd8e471884b5a5bec4060995a13517ea2937e29b6f4e3be66515fffcf727095?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Philip Omollo"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4759"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4762,"href":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4759\/revisions\/4762"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prepsaret.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}