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Santa Ono named new president at University of Florida

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Updated  May 27, 2025 4:17pm EDT
Florida
FOX 13 News
New UF president selected by Board of Trustees

New UF president selected by Board of Trustees

Evan Axelbank reports.

The Brief

    • The UF board of trustees unanimously approved Santa Ono as the university's next president.
    • Ono is a trained immunologist and was the only finalist.
    • The selection of Santa Ono still requires the state university board of governors to give final approval.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The University of Florida is one step closer to having a new president.

What we know:

Santa Ono just wrapped up more than three years as president of the University of Michigan, and comes to Florida amidst a shakeup of its university system.

Ono is trained as an immunologist and was the only finalist that the UF Board of Trustees considered.            

But he also brings a history of fighting for diversity programs, which gave some politicians pause because of the state's effort to end DEI programs at state universities.

Still, he was approved unanimously today by the board of trustees.

What they're saying:

At Michigan, Ono applauded the school's efforts to defend Affirmative Action in the US Supreme Court.

And he endorsed a Diversity 2.0 program, which he said would amplify previous UM programs.

Gov. Ron DeSantis says the state has already installed guardrails that will stymie any effort to rebuild DEI programs, and Ono said today he understood the parameters the state has set.

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"We were the first state in the country to eliminate DEI from our public universities," DeSantis said during a news conference in Tampa on May 7. "We've done more than any state to restore the mission of universities to the classical sense of what a university should be. Teach people to think for themselves, pursue truth, prepare our students to be citizens. Of our republic, and we're proud of that. And so those expectations are clear, and I don't think that a candidate would have been selected who is not going to abide by those expectations."

Ono said today he’s inspired by the school’s research in artificial intelligence, agriculture, space and cardiovascular science, and that he shares Florida's vision for higher education, with a move away from "ideological bias" and an "activist-driven culture."

"I don’t believe our role is to divide students by ancestry or historical grievance, but rather to prepare them to succeed in the real world, to contribute to this nation and strengthen our democracy," Ono told the board today.

Dig deeper:

The selection of Ono comes during an upheaval of state university presidents, in which DeSantis has played a big role.

Former Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez is the new president of Florida International University.

At the University of West Florida, education commissioner Manny Diaz has been selected as the interim president after their president resigned.

She came under attack by a trustee who was recently appointed by the governor.

The trustee asked a number of questions about a student drag show and appearances by authors of anti-racism books that had been held on campus.

The governor has also remade the board of the New College of Florida in Sarasota.

The selection of Santa Ono at UF still requires the state university board of governors to give final approval.

The Source: FOX 13's Evan Axelbank gathered the information for this story.

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