After months of uncertainty, who will lead the University of Florida, the board of directors voted unanimously to vote Donald Landry as interim president at a meeting Monday morning.
Landry, honorary chairman of the Department of Medicine at Columbia University, will replace outgoing interim president Kent Fuchs, whose contract ends on September 1. The appointment was on the Florida Commission’s Board of Commissioners that rejected the next leader in Santa Ono, who, despite his past trustees’ approval of the university’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, rejected the next leader in UF.
Landry, currently president of the American Academy of Sciences and Documents, will officially take up his position on September 1, awaiting successful contract negotiations. Details of Landry’s contract have not been released yet, but Ono will make about $3 million a year.
Temporary employment still requires approval from the state council.
The new leader of UF
During a long public interview on Monday, Landry promised that under his leadership, UF would be “neutral”. However, he added a warning.
“A neutral university, paradoxically, will be a conservative university in this country at the moment. Not espousing conservative values, certainly won’t instill in conservatism,” Landry said. “We will be neutral. We won’t choose one side.”
Landry also criticizes Colombia’s faculty and administrators Amid last year’s protests on pro-Palestinian students, the concerns about anti-Semitism were not met. Last month, the university reached a settlement with the federal government, which included massive reforms to academic programs, speech and discipline policies, and $221 million in spending.
“I’ve seen some things in Colombia that are consistent between teachers and students, and I think that encourages students to do more resilient things,” Landry told UF’s board of directors.
On another angle, when asked about Dei, he said: “First of all, it appears a little blur, what does that actually mean,” but “by the time it crystallizes, it’s already obvious [DEI] Go too far. Landry added that he was grateful that “the government has intervened and returned us to a rational autocracy”.
Landry also regarded himself as the one who resisted DEI in Colombia when it was “from the most top-down to the smallest unit, widely implemented on all levels.” In his day, “the Department of Medicine never wavered its commitment to excellence.” Landry vowed to uphold state law to prohibit spending on DEIs in public institutions in Florida.
Landry is a trained physician with Lafayette College, Harvard University and Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. In 2008, President George W. Bush awarded Landry’s work in stem cell research, awarding the President’s Citizen Medal, which uses embryos that cannot survive in vitro fertilization. Bush praised Landry as a man of science and faith, thanks to his method of stem cell research. During the Bush administration, Landry also participated in the Presidential Bioethics Committee.
Landry also brought his scientific training to other political debates. In early 2024, he filed a summary in the Supreme Court case in support of former Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who were sued by a technology trade group that passed legal lawsuits in two states aimed at limiting content review on social media platforms. Landry expressed concern about censorship alternative views and believed that “the danger of censoring scientific dissent is painful from the behavior of social media platforms,” “the behavior of social media platforms,” “reinforced general opinions and suppressed government policies by curbing dissent on many scientific issues.”
Scotus eventually returned the case to the lower court.
Landry also praised the NIH director Jay Bhattacharya, who was also skeptical of his peers’ epidemiologist who doubted the dangers and preventive measures of COVID-19, such as orders at home. Last year, Landry said Batacharia refused to “compromise his scientific discoveries” and therefore risked “his own and professional self-interest, without hesitation to repeatedly assert the public’s right to unrestricted scientific discussion and debate.”
“Great choice”
UF Board Chairman Mori Hosseini highlighted Landry’s scientific background in a press release announcing his employment, noting that the new interim chair “has shown extraordinary leadership in academia and beyond, building programs with innovation, energy and integrity.”
Conservative opposition activist Chris Rufo has praised the opportunity to help Tank Ono in the UF presidency by highlighting his past remarks through the online campaign, which he praised for hiring.
Rufu wrote on social media: “Dr Landry is a principled leader who will reverse ideology to capture and restore truth within the institution.
Alan Levine, a member of the Florida commission who voted against hiring Ono, also praised the choice in an article on X, calling Landry the interim presidency a “perfect choice.”
Landry is expected to serve as interim president, while UF begins nationwide search for its next leader. The university has not had a permanent president since former Nebraska Republican Senator Ben Sasse, and quit the job shortly after.
