Posted on 05/21/2025 9:11:00 AM PDT by MtnClimber
On May 4, a search committee at the University of Florida recommended current University of Michigan President Santa Ono to succeed Ben Sasse as UF’s president. Ono’s appointment is subject to confirmation by UF’s Board of Trustees and the Florida State University System’s Board of Governors. Heretofore, the Board of Governors has wisely confirmed multiple appointments to carry out Governor Ron DeSantis’s praiseworthy vision of a state education system free of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), critical race theory (CRT), radical gender ideology, and other pernicious policies that have marred education across the United States and the English-speaking world.
Yet Ono, who was curiously the only finalist for UF’s presidency, is by all available public accounts a passionate advocate of DEI—an explicitly racist set of theories that espouses anti-white and anti-Asian discrimination—assigns immutable oppressor and victim statuses spuriously based on race, and perniciously seeks to divide Americans by these categories. Ono has stated his DEI-inspired belief that “systemic racism” is “embedded in every corner of any institution” and called for universities to “dismantle the tools of oppression and white supremacy” that he believes “remain entrenched in our everyday systems.”
These do not sound like the words of a man who should be entrusted with the leadership of the flagship public university in a free state where “woke goes to die.” In case there was any doubt, in Ono’s role as President of the University of Michigan, as recently as March 2023 he introduced a program called “DEI 2.0,” which sought to “fully institutionalize DEI” everywhere on Michigan’s campus with the intent to change “who has power, influence, and voice in priorities and decision-making.” The prestigious Manhattan Institute has called his program “the most aggressive diversity initiative in the country.” The New York Times reported that Ono’s administration “doubled down” on DEI even while many other universities, including Florida’s entire system, was actively dismantling it.
In 2021, in Ono’s previous position as president of the University of British Columbia, he launched a “President’s Task Force on Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence”—a model of DEI-infused university policy of which he has claimed to be “really proud.” This policy, which became one of the most influential DEI policies across global academic life, provided for race-based hiring and admissions—both of which are now illegal in American institutions—and imposed a “zero-tolerance” policy for faculty and staff who resisted mandatory DEI training, which Florida legislation has attempted to outlaw across the board.
Under Ono’s leadership, the University of Michigan received a grade of “F” from the Anti-Defamation League after he tolerated a month-long pro-Hamas, anti-Semitic protest encampment in the center of his campus, even as the Michigan community was terrorized by vandalism, class invasions, and violence. Indeed, when Josh Hammer—ajournalist and author of the new book Israel and Civilization: The Fate of the Jewish Nation and the Destiny of the West, and a fellow of the institute over which I preside, was invited to speak on Michigan’s campus in November 2023, Ono’s administration failed to provide him even basic security protections. Hammer was angrily shouted down and physically threatened by pro-Hamas militants, who ultimately prevented him from speaking. Ono, he tells me, “is a disgrace and should not be anywhere near the campus of the University of Florida, let alone serve as its president.” Under its previous president, UF received a grade of “A” from ADL.
Ono’s defenders have misguidedly observed that he scaled back Michigan’s DEI infrastructure in recent weeks. Since that measure was required by federal executive order on pain of massive potential financial consequences—and since Ono could reportedly receive at UF a salary of up to $3 million, more than twice his current salary and enough to make him America’s highest paid public university president—one could be forgiven for wondering whether his recent actions indicate a sincere change of heart.
Florida’s state system already offers the cautionary tale of Haywood Brown, the University of South Florida’s former diversity vice president, who was recently caught on tape boasting about having continued DEI policies under different names, apparently to keep his job intact and ideology entrenched. Earlier this year, the DeSantis administration intervened at UF itself when public scrutiny revealed that all four finalists to be dean of its College of Arts and Sciences were pro-DEI. The search was wisely suspended pending the installation of a new president, but one can only image the woke leaders Ono could be inclined to install in important jobs
Confirming Ono’s appointment will be a major setback to educational reform in Florida. It would entrust the education of tens of thousands of Florida students to a radical DEI thought leader who has openly espoused policies that our state and federal government and national judiciary have outlawed and that a large majority of the people of Florida—and the American people—decisively rejected at the ballot box. The Board of Governors can and must stop his candidacy.
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Just say NO to lunacy.
No Ono...................
And this on the heels of the Ben Sasse failed experiment.
Yes, the University of Florida (UF) does have a large Jewish student population, making it one of the top public universities in the US with a high percentage of Jewish students. Hillel International estimates that around 6,500 undergraduates at UF are Jewish, which is about 19.3% of the undergraduate population. In addition, graduate programs have another 2,900 Jewish students, making up 14.0% of the graduate population.
Going strictly on the facts presented in the article as I lack personal acquaintance with the candidates,
in all of the great state of Florida, Florida can’t find even one non-racist candidate? they have to go to Michigan to get one with what appears to be a bad racist record, instead?
WTH is your problem, Florida? Such a beautiful state with so many nice people. And then THIS!?
Tojo’s Revenge
It’s too bad that Ben Sasse messed up! And Santa Ono is an unworthy successor!
Heads up!
Gators National Championship Basketball team is visiting the White House at 3:55 EDT.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3QyZ1-y-7s
Right Side Broadcasting Network Link.
President Trump hosts the 2025 NCAA Men’s College Basketball Champions: University of Florida Gators.
Join RSBN LIVE at 3:30 pm EDT on May 21, 2025.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7p-ZeVwFxc
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