Despite conservative criticism of San Ono’s stance on diversity, equity and inclusion, the University of Florida’s board of directors voted overwhelmingly to hire the former Michigan president as the next leader.
Ono was the sole finalist for Florida’s top position in early May. As a traditional scholar, Ono marks the norm for the University of Florida’s public universities, with the focus of the past few years on hiring former Republican lawmakers and other people with political ties.
But his campaign faces harsh criticism from conservative critics, such as anti-activist Chris Rufo, Legacy Foundation president Kevin Roberts and several Florida lawmakers including Republican U.S. Senator Rick Scott, who called for an investigation into the searches because he published searches on Dei in the past. Some critics claim that Ono is a radical liberal who has broadly put forward his face on Dei due to his professional ambitions.
According to salary range, Ono earns over $1.3 million in Michigan every year, and he didn’t sign a contract until 2032 until he quit his job in Florida, where he earns up to $3 million a year on UF.
Ono’s evolution to Dei
Rufo led Ono’s conservative critics.
Ruf declared in a Conservative view that “wake up threats to return to power.” City Daily He argued that Ono’s past support for DEI policies was disqualified.
(While Rufo argues that ONO’s presidency may remove educational changes in the country driven by Republican Ron DeSantis, the governor has defended the draft pick.)
Before Tuesday’s meeting, Rufo circulated videos of various Ono speeches in support of DEI policies and against systemic racism. Although the videos have attracted attention on social media, the posts have not shaken the UF board, which unanimously voted to hire Ono.
But Ono’s ever-changing stance on DEI did get caught up in most of Tuesday’s meetings, popping up in multiple issues, where Ono discusses his evolution on the issue, noting that he started to shift his perspectives in late 2023 to the University of Michigan’s DEI initiative.
Ono told the UF trustee: “I didn’t bring back Dei; I’ll make sure it never returns.”
Ono believes that while he initially agreed to the goals of the DEI program, the University of Michigan president saw that the move was split and diverted resources from the student’s success, leading to his decision to close the DEI office there earlier this year.
He believes that “large bureaucracy” stifled open dialogue and eroded trust on campus, “through experience rather than theory, I’m very clear that something is wrong.”
Ono tried to distance himself from his previous statement, thinking that what mattered was “not what I said two to six years ago”, as shown in the video, but everything he did over the past 18 months, including ending at the DEI office in Michigan before resigning last month. While the move comes after Michigan’s growing criticism of Dei’s spending, Ono takes it as a move, a conversation he began to question the effectiveness of such initiatives in late 2023.
He also reiterated how his vision aligns with UF and DeSantis’ goals.
“I understand and support Florida’s vision for higher education: a decisive shift from ideological bias and activist-driven culture that has defined too many universities in this country and abroad,” Ono said. “The goal is not to replace one orthodox with another orthodox. It is to restore balance, protect the pursuit of truth and create a college environment where all students can thrive regardless of their perspective. Florida is showing the state that academic excellence can be promoted without ideological indoctrination.”
Despite teacher recruitment and retention rates, post-statement reviews, college track and field athletics, and other aspects of running college were resolved in almost three hours of public interviews, most of the time and board issues focused on DEI and campus protests.
For example, Ono’s concerns about the rising anti-Semitism on campus were asked several times.
He replied that anti-Semitism was a “persistent threat, especially on university campuses,” “often hides behind the language of political criticism” and “normalized in the name of activism.” Ono also highlights the commitment to ensure Jewish students are safe at UF.
Asked about his decision to allow pro-Palestinian camps to stay in Michigan for 30 days, Ono said the university did not want to escalate the situation and create a turbulent atmosphere that was close to the beginning. He added that he spoke with Jewish students who were concerned about how the demolition of the camp might be interrupted. Ono also said Michigan subsequently updated its time, location and approach to prevent future camp protests.
An imminent battle?
Although the UF board approved the Ono employment, it was not a deal because of the final decision of the Florida council.
The board will meet in mid-June or at a special meeting to consider Ono. If the board objected to the choice, this could offer Ono’s conservative critics another opportunity to derail it.
Republican Florida Representative Greg Steube immediately called on the board to stop hiring.
” @UF Board made a serious mistake. Today, Dr. Ono gave him the best ‘university try’ to awaken his past, claiming he is “evolving” now. But I don’t sell this character, which is too important for a convenient conversion.
At least one board member will address concerns about Ono over the weekend.
“The UF Board of Directors reviews the questions raised by relevant stakeholders, whose trustees are obliged to require that they do need to do and that they need to do before making a decision. Before hiring Ono, wrote in a social media post on Sunday.
While the board does have the power to derail Ono’s choice, members can work earlier and behind closed doors if they have concerns. Under the policy established last year, the board must sign the list of presidential finalists determined by the search committee and then before the individual board considers those candidates. So the board could have played this veto to remove Ono before he was appointed the sole finalist.
If confirmed, ONO will succeed interim President Kent Fuchs, who came out after then-President Ben Sasse retired last July, weeks before the spending scandal.
The University of West Florida has hired former Republican lawmaker and current Florida education commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. elsewhere in the state, as the fifth president hired to lead a public university in Florida this year, including public universities serving in a temporary capacity, Ono is the only person not a former Republican lawmaker or has a connection to the governor’s office.
