**Board of Governors Rejects Dr. Santa Ono for UF President Position**

In a significant decision during its June 3 meeting in Orlando, the Florida Board of Governors voted against confirming Dr. Santa Ono as the new president of the University of Florida. This followed a unanimous approval from UF's Board of Trustees on May 27. The 17-member board, which oversees the state’s 12 public universities, scrutinized Ono chiefly for his previous support of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs during his presidency at the University of Michigan, as well as his handling of a month-long pro-Palestinian protest on campus.

Throughout nearly three hours of intense questioning, Ono defended his stance on numerous topics including antisemitism and holistic versus merit-based admissions. Despite current Governor Ron DeSantis' decision to leave the final ruling to the Board of Governors, opposition to Ono's confirmation had already been vocal among several high-profile Republican lawmakers. These included U.S. Representatives Greg Steube, Byron Donalds, and Jimmy Patronis, all of whom expressed severe reservations about Ono's candidacy.

Expressing his concerns publicly, Patronis took to X on June 2 to criticize Ono’s nomination, stating that the University of Florida needed a leader, not someone he referred to as a "DEI acolyte." Former Florida Governor and current U.S. Senator Rick Scott also voiced his doubts in a press release on the same day, while Donald Trump Jr. questioned the mental state of the decision-makers at UF on social media.

Governor Ron DeSantis, who had signed a bill in 2023 that banned DEI initiatives in public colleges, commented that some of Ono's earlier statements had made him "cringe." However, he left the final decision to the Board of Governors, most of whom were his appointees.

In response to the backlash, Dr. Ono repeatedly emphasized his evolving viewpoint on DEI initiatives. He noted that although he had previously supported such programs, he now believed they caused more harm than good. Demonstrating this shift, Ono permanently closed Michigan’s DEI offices in March and assured that DEI initiatives would not return to UF if he were to become president.

"The fact is some of my past remarks about DEI do not reflect what I believe," Ono explained, "and that evolution did not take place overnight and it was shaped over a year and a half of thinking, discussions, listening to faculty, staff and students and their thoughts on the DEI program."