Florida Connectz-Students and faculty react to UF presidential finalist
On May 4, UF announced Santa J. Ono, the former University of Michigan president, was the sole finalist in the search for its 14th president. The announcement was met with a mix of emotions: optimism, concern and shock.
University of Michigan students weigh in
Nicholas Love, a 22-year-old U-M psychology alumnus who graduated just a few weeks ago, said the announcement was a surprise to him.
“I don’t think a lot of people knew that he was leaving,” Love said. “I thought it was definitely weird that he did it a couple days after graduation to get up outta here.”
Love said he was especially surprised by Ono’s leave because U-M’s Board of Regents had extended his contract until 2032 in October. The contract included a base salary increase to $1.3 million per year.
The announcement also shocked Siddharth Desai, a 20-year-old U-M neuroscience senior, because of how short Ono’s 3-year presidency was. Desai said he liked Ono as a president initially but didn’t think his time at U-M ended strongly.
“I think as more and more of these stressors came in, and he had to make the big decisions, he kind of bent to the will of the university rather than siding with the students,” Desai said.
UF students prepare for Ono
To Theo Jaffee, a 20-year-old UF computer science senior, the announcement came as good news. He said he likes what he has learned about Ono through personal research, and Jaffee thinks he has a well-balanced background of STEM, humanities and academia.
Before his time at U-M, Ono was president of the University of British Columbia and the University of Cincinnati. He was elected to the National Academy of Medicine and serves on the American Council of Education.
UF held a series of public forums in Emerson Hall on May 6 for students, staff and faculty to meet Ono and ask questions on several topics. The forums came two weeks after classes ended and two days after the last day of commencement. About 75 students attended the student forum.
The university may have held the public forums after the semester ended to avoid protesting, Jaffee said, which he said he witnessed during Ben Sasse’s public forum.
Enjoy what you’re reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox
“[Sasse] had a forum just like that, which I went to, and there were protestors everywhere, and a lot of people were very pissed,” he said.
Jaffee wasn’t in town during the forums, but he said he would have attended the student forum. He said he feels that Ono seems like a great choice for president.
Katherine Canev, a 20-year-old UF biochemistry junior, said she felt disappointed by the announcement’s timing. She couldn’t attend the forums because she had already left campus for the summer.
“At the end of the day, we are all a part of this university,” Canev said. “We deserve to participate in this process.”
She was also disappointed in Ono as a candidate because of his past presidencies, she said.
Ono pushed back against a strike by U-M graduate students, instructors and graduate assistants in 2023. The strikers eventually agreed to a new three-year contract with the administration. The Higher Learning Commission, which accredits U.S. universities, announced an investigation into U-M’s conduct during the strike.
Ono faced backlash for his actions toward pro-Palestine protests. 40 protesters were arrested in a protest staged outside his office in November 2023. Ono said policies would be made to govern disruption after another pro-Palestinian protest disrupted an honors convocation at the university.
He also eliminated U-M’s centralized DEI offices.
“It wasn’t universally popular, but it was necessary,” he wrote in an article for Inside Higher Ed. “I stood by it—and I’ll bring that same clarity of purpose to UF.”
Despite this, Canev said she hopes to see more permanence in the next president than she did Sasse. His abrupt resignation left a feeling of instability at UF, she said.
“I’m hoping that, even though [Ono] is not my first choice, if he is selected, then maybe it will kind of calm the waters,” she said.
Lars Noah, a professor at UF’s Levin College of Law, said Ono would be the sixth UF president he has seen in his 31 years teaching at the university.
Noah has concerns about how this presidential search took place, especially as it reminded him of the search that resulted in Sasse’s presidency, he said.
“When it’s a closed process, there’s no opportunity for people to raise objections and air concerns,” Noah said. “The secretive process doesn’t allow the university to play a role in the process, and it is frustrating.”
While he worries the search’s secrecy may weaken Ono’s legitimacy, he said he thinks Ono is a good candidate on paper.
“He is a serious academic, and he has a lot of experience as an administrator who has handled difficult situations,” he said.
Noah has doubts about Ono and his ability to stand up to external pressures, given the nature of politics in Florida, he said.
“It’s going to be a matter of giving him a chance to show us that he’s serious, that he’s committed to protecting what we have,” he said. “We have a good thing here.”
Noah has seen more appeasement than pushback in Ono.
“I wish him all the best,” he said. “But, I’m not sold yet.”
Contact Maria Avlonitis at mavlonitis@alligator.org.
The Independent Florida Alligator has been independent of the university since 1971, your donation today could help #SaveStudentNewsrooms. Please consider giving today.
