Florida’s top education official, who helped spearhead the state’s crackdown on diversity programs, is now in charge of a school caught in the middle of that political fight.
University of West Florida appointed Florida Commissioner of Education Manny Díaz Jr. as the school’s interim president Tuesday, raising fears among faculty and alumni that his appointment could lead to a permanent role.
“If you name him interim president you will shut down the candidate pool,” said former alumni president and Pensacola mayor Jerry Maygarden, urging the university’s Board of Trustees to clarify that Díaz won’t be considered for the permanent job. “Let him submit his application like everyone else.”
Others echoed concerns that Díaz, a former Republican lawmaker with no prior ties to UWF, was being installed to carry out a political agenda. Former UWF Foundation vice president C. Ray Jones urged trustees to pick an interim from within the university’s ranks, someone “who possesses an intimate knowledge of the school.”
Trustee Alonzie Scott called Díaz‘s selection “a slap in the face of the process of how we get these things done.”
The appointment comes as part of a broader reshuffling of leadership across Florida’s public colleges and universities, many of them now helmed by political allies of Gov. Ron DeSantis. In the last year, former Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez became interim president of Florida International University, and former state Rep. Adam Hasner was tapped to lead Florida Atlantic University.
Mel Ponder, former state representative and current president of Northwest Florida State College, spoke in support of Díaz, as someone who “knows the hall of the capital very well.”
Díaz, who became commissioner in May 2022, helped lead statewide efforts to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs from public institutions.
While in state legislature, Díaz co-sponsored the controversial Stop WOKE law, which aimed to ban employer-mandated diversity training. Federal courts blocked the law for violating the First Amendment.
During his tenure as commissioner, Díaz played a role in the state’s crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion programs in state schools.
DeSantis also recently appointed five new members to the school’s board of Trustees. In the past year, seven of the school’s 12 trustees are new to the board.
“Under the leadership of Ron DeSantis, Florida made a commitment to refocus the state’s universities on their classical mission: promoting academic excellence and preparing students to be citizens of this republic,” then-spokesperson Jeremy Redfern wrote in an email to the Tampa Bay Times at the time.
The trustees included Scott Yenor, a Boise State University professor who garnered national media attention in 2021 after calling independent women “medicated, meddlesome and quarrelsome” at a conservative conference in Orlando.
In a rare move, state senators last month refused to confirm his seat on the board.
The school was the target of conservative media after DeSantis appointed Yenor, with the right-leaning National Review described the school as “led astray by progressive ideologues.”
However, the state’s 2022 campus climate survey suggests that the majority of students and faculty felt comfortable expressing controversial viewpoints on campus.
Díaz will next need confirmation from the state’s Board of Governors, which oversees the state’s public universities. UWF will commence a search for a permanent president.