Former University of Michigan President Fails to Win Vote to Helm Florida’s Flagship School

Santa Ono championed a DEI agenda at the University of Michigan before complying with a Trump order and publicly declaring a change of heart.

Then University of Michigan President Santa Ono speaks at the ADL Never is Now event at Javits Center in New York on March 3, 2025. Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Anti-Defamation League

Former University of Michigan President Santa Ono is not coming to Gainesville, the Sunshine State’s university system Board of Governors decided Tuesday in a 6–10 vote.

The board also denied the candidate a contract that would have paid a $2 million base salary for leadership roles at both the University of Florida and its UF Health entity, plus 3 percent cost-of-living increases and performance bonuses of up to 20 percent annually, according to the board-approved resolution.

Ono, the sole candidate, was criticized for a DEI 2.0 plan at Michigan that mandated diversity training and affinity groups by race and gender, and incorporated DEI concepts into most of the school’s programs.

He also advocated for preferential treatment by race in hiring and student admissions and pushed curriculum changes to foster equitable outcomes by race, according to an Epoch Times review of the DEI 2.0 plan before its removal from the university website.

The University of Florida ended its DEI programs last year, months before President Donald Trump issued an executive order to end federal funding of colleges and universities that continue such programs, which officials say violate the 1964 Civil Rights Act and are also illegal under Florida state laws.

Ono told the University of Florida’s Board of Trustees and the Board of Governors that he had a change of heart about DEI programs in 2023 and worked to remove them after realizing they were divisive and did not provide a return on investment.

Ono vowed to act in accordance with university regulations and Florida law.

“Science will lead,” he said, “not ideology.”

Several board members questioned Ono’s sincerity, citing past statements he allegedly made at the University of Michigan and the University of British Columbia related to racism and colonialism.

“We are now to believe you fully abandoned an ideological architecture?” board member Jose Oliva asked.

Board member Alan Levine said Ono did not acknowledge the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel when he made a speech at a DEI conference in Michigan two days later, and that a pro-Palestinian student group received a campus Civil Rights award and was later suspended for showing up at the home at a Michigan Board of Regents member.

Five members of the public also urged the board not to hire Ono.

The University of Florida Board of Trustees unanimously endorsed Ono last week. Members told the Board of Governors on Tuesday that they believe Ono is “100 percent in line with their ideology” and has a proven record leading one of the nation’s top universities.

“Learning is about reflecting on our values, growing on our experiences, and refining our perspectives over time,” said Board of Trustees Chairman Mori Hossseini.