Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has survived a major embarrassment that could have made his education system, once lauded by other red states like Texas, Utah, and Oklahoma, a model for divergence from identity politics, a laughingstock.
Earlier this month, University of Florida trustees voted to replace former President Ben Sasse, who was instrumental in steering the flagship university from leftist causes that have plagued other institutions of higher learning across the country.
However, on May 27, the board unanimously voted for Santa Ono, who has previously supported extreme left progressive causes, including Diversity, Equity, and Inclusiveness (DEI), and reparations.
The Canadian-born former president of the University of Cincinnati, the University of British Columbia, and the University of Michigan, had promised “Diversity Equity Inclusion (DEI) 2.0.” He had promised reparations “in areas such as admissions, financial aid, and faculty and staff hiring, promotion, and compensation.”
Ono also defended the University of Michigan’s overturned racially discriminatory policies, which aimed to achieve greater diversity in admissions, before the Supreme Court.
Rather unexpectedly, the 17-member trustee board voted 10-6, with member Craig Mateer absent, to reject Ono’s presidency, saving Gov. DeSantis’ face, who had promised to root out DEI from the state’s education system. It was the first time that the trustee board had rejected a selected candidate, making DeSantis’ victory even more historic.
Ono was grilled extensively on race-based discrimination in college admissions, gender-affirming care, climate change, and the COVID-19 response, for which Gov. DeSantis gained a reputation for opposing attempts to close down the Sunshine State.
“… we must address the climate emergency,” Ono had said during his University of Michigan inaugural speech. “Our planet is growing warmer and warmer, our natural environment is deteriorating, and none of us is immune from its devastating impacts. The climate crisis is the existential challenge of our time.”
“… we must address the existential challenge of our time, the climate emergency,” he later said.
His stance on pro-Palestine movements, which have gained notoriety across institutions of higher learning, including the University of Michigan’s campuses, which he headed, also featured prominently during his interview.
The October 7 Hamas attack on Israel also reared its head during his interviews, for which BOG Vice-Chair Alan Levine felt that Ono gave inadequate responses.
However, one of the leftist proxies in the UF Board of Trustees, Mori Hosseini, contested Ono’s questioning, describing it as “heartbreaking.” Hosseini also accused another board member, Paul Renner, who was critical of Ono, of being interested in the position of the UF president.
However, when questioned about DEI, Ono claimed that the radical leftist policy had created more “divisiveness,” possibly in an attempt to sway the board members’ opinion. Ono was also a pronoun-using leftist with his choices splashed across social media.
While Gov. DeSantis played no role in Ono’s rejection, he had picked some of the board members, who extensively grilled the proposed UF president.
Meanwhile, having rejected pronoun-using, pro-DEI, and pro-reparations Ono, the board of trustees will embark on another journey to find another president of Florida’s flagship university.
