The University of Florida’s top trustee Mori Hosseini called the state’s rejection of president-elect Santa Ono “deeply disappointing” at board meeting Thursday.
It’s the first public comment from the school since Ono, selected unanimously by the school’s board of trustees, was blocked by the Florida Board of Governors, which oversees the state university system.
“Our board of trustees stands by the integrity of the search, the strength of the candidates it produced and the principals that guided our work,” Hosseini said.
“We believe Dr. Ono was uniquely qualitied to lead this university at this moment,” he said.
Hosseini said attracting Ono away from the University of Michigan — where he previously served as president — demonstrates that the “Florida model” of higher education is “earning the trust and interest of top-tier leaders from across the country.”
Ono’s candidacy drew immediate pushback from conservative commentators over his prior remarks supporting college diversity and action on climate change. During Tuesday’s Board of Governors hearing, critics also pointed to his delayed response to pro-Palestinian protests at Michigan, calling it evidence of weak leadership.
Hosseini did not say what UF’s next steps will be, nor who will lead the university after interim president Kent Fuchs’ term ends next month.
The grilling Ono received from the state’s highest university board made national headlines and throws the future of UF’s leadership into question.
On Thursday, House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, also criticized the search process, which was conducted in private and shielded from state public records laws.
“All of the deficiencies that Ono had … would have been discovered” had the process taken place in the sunshine, Perez said. “Who is going to want to apply for this position now knowing that the process is flawed?”