DeSantis installs allies at state universities in purge of ‘ideological concepts’

Jeanette Nuñez, until recently lieutenant governor, is becoming interim, and likely permanent, president of Florida International University. (Photo via FIU)

Florida governors have long held sway over the selection of state university presidents, but Gov. Ron DeSantis has taken extra care to install political allies with limited higher education experience in these well-paid jobs, including his former Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez.

Now, a bill filed for the 2025 regular session of the Florida Legislature would limit the governor’s authority, giving universities more autonomy in selecting their leaders. Sen. Alexis Calatayud of Miami and Rep. Michelle Salzman of Escambia County introduced the measure.

HB 1321 in the House and SB 1726 in the Senate would strip the State University System’s Board of Governors (BOG) and State Board of Education of their power to approve university and college presidents, leaving it up to the institutions’ trustees and search committees. The bill would prohibit Board of Governors members from sitting on search committees.

Since 2023, five of Florida’s 12 public universities have hired new presidents — the University of Florida, New College of Florida, Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida Polytechnic University, and Florida Atlantic University. Four — Florida International University, the University of Florida, the University of South Florida, and Florida A&M University — are in the process of finding new presidents.

UF hired former U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse as president in February 2023, but he stepped down in July 2024 and reports of profligate spending followed, requiring a fresh search.

FAU chose Adam Hasner as its president this month. The former state House majority leader faced pushback from College Democrats because of his partisan background, although he pledged during forums that he would stay away from politics as president. 

Nuñez stepped away from the DeSantis administration to become interim president at her alma mater, FIU, this month, two years before her term in office was set to end. 

Trustees from both institutions applauded their new presidents for their connections in Tallahassee and perceived political influence over appropriations.

Jose Oliva, a member of the Board of Governors, said moments before that panel approved Nuñez that when he was speaker of the Florida House and Nuñez was lieutenant governor, “it was very standard to see her during budget time in the speaker’s office advocating for FIU and making sure that FIU received not just the proper support from the Legislature, but also the proper recognition for its many successes.” 

People who protested Hasner, Nuñez, Sasse, and former House speaker Richard Corcoran at New College largely focus on fears they would politicize the institutions. DeSantis has been plain that he wants to convert the formerly progressive New College into the Hillsdale of the South, referring to the conservative Christian college in Michigan.

DeSantis has hinted that similar transformations may be coming at the University of West Florida, which just underwent a big shake-up of its board of trustees, and elsewhere within the system. 

The governor’s office and BOG have made no secret of their motives, making clear they want to “prune” “ideological study stuff,” want no more “indoctrinating concepts,” are putting certain degrees under the microscope for their return on investment, now that colleges and universities must undergo “DOGE Florida” audits.

“I want to say that we are fully aligned with the Board of Governors’ vision and mission because ultimately we recognize that FIU’s success is also the BOG’s success,” Nuñez said Feb. 20 in front of governors about to vote for her confirmation. 

The governor reached out to FIU to advocate for Nuñez. Earlier, DeSantis reportedly positioned now-state Sen. Randy Fine for FAU’s post (although that fell through), and his office guided Sasse to Gainesville, Politico reported.

The newly proposed legislation would reverse heightened secrecy that the Legislature and DeSantis imposed for presidential searches in 2022, reopening records about presidential searches under Florida’s public records laws.

Among the other requirements, Calatayud and Salzman’s bill would impose term limits on State Board of Education members (two four-year terms), college trustees (eight consecutive years), university trustees (10 consecutive years), and Board of Governors members (one seven-year term) and require them to disclose their financial records. Members of the Board of Governors would have to be residents of the state.

Calatayud declined to comment about the legislation, nor did Rep. Demi Busatta, chair of the House higher education appropriations commitee, respond to requests for comment.

The bill has support from the two Democrats on the Senate Higher Education Appropriations committee, Sens. Carlos Guillermo Smith and Tracie Davis.

“I’ve been concerned for many years that the governor has used his power to influence decisions on provosts and university presidents really to reward his most loyal soldiers, and it’s not getting us great leaders at our higher education institutions. In fact, it’s resulted in a lot of grift and a lot of corruption,” Smith told the Phoenix. 

Davis called the Calatayud’s bill “refreshing,” saying DeSantis “has basically weaponized the appointments of presidents here in the state of Florida.”

“Being an educator myself, many of them don’t have the qualifications to be presidents of universities,” Davis told the Phoenix.

House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell, too, supports a move toward independence for universities.

“That legislation, I think, is going to be in tension with the governor,” Driskell told reporters on the opening day for the legislative session last week. She added: “I really appreciate that to the extent that we can get away from the governor having such a heavy hand on these appointments, I think that would be better for the people of Florida, too.”

‘Long history’ of nontraditional candidates

Critics see DeSantis’ exertion of control as worrisome for the universities and academic freedom but BOG vice chair Alan Levine counsels calm. He is a former deputy chief of staff to former Gov. Jeb Bush.

“It really isn’t new. I know people want to hang this on Gov. DeSantis, I just don’t think that’s fair,” Levine told the Phoenix in an interview before Salzman and Calatayud filed their identical bills. 

“Gov. DeSantis is not the first governor to be interested in who university presidents are,” Levine said, adding that he believes some of the best presidents in Florida were not academicians.

Hasner, selected unanimously over two career-academic finalists, and Nuñez have no experience in higher education administration, while Corcoran previously served as Florida education commissioner and Sasse was president of Midland University, a small, private institution in Nebraska. 

When he served under Bush, Levine said, “a new president didn’t get hired unless we were aware of who it was and we were comfortable with who that person was.” The Board of Regents — now replaced by the Board of Governors — would keep the governor’s office informed about presidential searches he added. 

“There’s a long history of people that are nontraditional candidates” who proved “exceptional presidents,” Levine said, listing former House Speaker John Thrasher (FSU 2014-2021); former House Speaker T.K. Wetherell (FSU 2003-2010); former Jacksonville Mayor John Delaney (UNF 2003-2018, Flagler College 2021-present); and former Lt. Gov. Frank Brogan (FAU 2003-2009).

He also listed attorney Marshall Criser, who served on the Board of Regents and as president of University of Florida for five years starting in 1984. 

How does Florida stack up with the rest of the nation?

Politics in higher education is happening “most in red states,” Judith Wilde, a presidential search researcher at George Mason University, told the Phoenix, listing as examples Virginia, Texas, and Georgia.

“It’s those sorts of southern red states where we see politics come in most. The most egregious by far is in Florida,” Wilde said. “DeSantis makes it clear what he wants, and his people make sure that’s what happens. There’s not much more to say about that.”

“It was exacerbated in a way by Sasse himself, when you look at the reasons that he was forced out of the position,” Wilde said. “When he took on the role, he said he would not bring politics into the position and yet he hired people who had been on his staff when he was a senator to do things. He hired some firms that he knew from his days in Washington. … So, he brought politics right back into it.”

UF responded to Sasse’s administrative practices by implementing new HR policies for the office of the president.

DeSantis himself claims the universities are heading in the “direction quite frankly that Florida voters have been very favorable towards in the last many elections.”

“We believe in the mission, but we also have a responsibility to make sure [presidents are] operating in ways that are consistent with the state’s best principles and best ideals,” DeSantis said during a news conference last month.

“So, when you have somebody that has already proven that they have a dedication to classical mission of the universities, that they have opposed efforts to use universities for ideological indoctrination, I just think it gives people a little more confidence that they’re going to do that as they go in.”

Wilde argued that presidents selected through nonpolitical processes can produce conservative leadership, but that relying on politicians may not always lead to the desired result.

“I think it’s sort of naive to say that having a politician, you know what they’re going to do and that they will remain conservative,” she said. “I don’t feel that that’s necessarily a rule, and if they really want somebody conservative, then they should be able to get that with a regular search. Most politicians don’t seem to really have a clue about what a university does, and so how can they really lead it?” 

Fear of political payback could prevent search committees from advocating for candidates other than the one preferred by the governor, Wilde said.

“It’s going to take a lot of thinking and cogitating on the part of the members of the search committee to go against the governor, because they know that if they go against him and choose somebody else without having a really good reason, or being able to convince that this other person would be better, that they may lose their positions in whatever it is they do.” Wilde said. 

More presidents than in the past across the country are stepping down before their terms end, one reason being the increased frequency of secret searches and another lack of support from the university community, she said. 

“When the search is done in secret, it means that the people at the university don’t know who’s coming and, at the end, kind of like the Wizard of Oz — suddenly a curtain has pulled aside and with a roll of drums, here’s your new president,” Wilde said. 

At UF, Sasse was the sole finalist named — notwithstanding a state law requiring a “shortlist” of finalists to be made public.

Wilde’s research into the 2015-16 academic year found that 92% of searches nationwide involved an outside search firm, the vast majority of which suggested secret searches. During 1975-76, only 2% of searches were done in secret; the rest were done locally and involved alumni, faculty, students, and local stakeholders.

According to a 2022 nationwide survey of college presidents by the American Council on Education, since 2006, presidents’s tenure has decreased by 2.6 years. Presidents surveyed had been in their position an average of 5.9 years.

“I’m not aware of any specific effort for this to happen, it’s just sort of a natural evolution,” Levine said. 

What’s it take?

According to Artis Hampshire-Cowan, a search consultant hired by FAMU, university presidents must be “business executives” to be successful — tenacious, with an understanding of the complexity of university finances and the scramble for resources.

About 80% of presidents will serve in that capacity at only one school in their career; 17% will serve in a second presidency, Wilde said. 

“[Search firms] claim you need to have someone who’s been president, and yet there aren’t very many of those who choose to be president again,” she added. 

Sen. Gayle Harrell, chair of the Senate Higher Education Appropriations Committee, said she believes political experience can help a president but isn’t everything.

“They have to be the complete package.” Political experience “may give you a leg up, but it’s only one aspect of all the credentials that you have to present,” Harrell told the Phoenix.

“There are insights gained from having legislative experience or administrative experience in Tallahassee that perhaps someone coming from out of state or from another university system might not understand,” Harrell said.