The Florida Board of Governors rejected Santa Ono as the University of Florida’s next president at its meeting June 3, sending the university’s board of trustees back into search mode.
The Independent Florida Alligator, UF’s student newspaper, reported that the meeting ended with a 10-6 vote after members questioned Ono for more than three hours about his statements and actions in support of race-based hiring, holistic admissions, DEI and climate activism.
Ono, the immediate past president of the University of Michigan and immediate past chair of the University of Michigan Health Board, was unanimously selected by the trustees May 26 to be UF’s 15th president.
The Presidential Search Advisory Committee will have to select a new candidate to be approved by the trustees.
The length of the new process is unclear, though the committee has already interviewed other viable candidates during the search that ultimately produced Ono as the sole finalist, the Independent Florida Alligator said.