UF Can Do Well Without Pro-DEI Successor to Sasse

Floridians, you better watch out, you better pout, and you better cry — Santa is coming to town, bearing the poisonous gift of DEI!

This Santa is not Jolly Old St. Nick, but DEI-loving University of Michigan President Santa Ono.

On May 4, a University of Florida search committee nominated Ono — who was curiously the only finalist to lead the flagship institution of the country's perennially best-rated public higher ed system — to succeed Ben Sasse as president.

Ono must be approved by the Florida state system's board of governors, who are perhaps the last line of defense to protect our free state from a return to woke influence.

Without question, Ono should be thoroughly vetted on his positions, on a variety of topics, which arguably could affect this long-extant Sunshine State institution of higher learning.

Florida's students and parents of Florida, if not the nation, deserve nothing less.

Ono is not merely a passionate advocate of DEI, but a DEI guru.

In his previous position as President of the University of British Columbia, he launched a "President's Task Force on Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence."

This policy, of which Ono claims to be "really proud," is one of the most influential DEI systems across global academic life.

It calls for race-based hiring and admissions — both of which are now illegal in American institutions — and imposes a "zero-tolerance" policy for faculty and staff who resisted mandatory DEI training, which Florida legislation has attempted to outlaw.

At Michigan, as recently as March 2023 Ono went even further with a program called "DEI 2.0," which sought to "fully institutionalize DEI" everywhere on campus to change "who has power, influence, and voice in priorities and decision-making."

The prestigious Manhattan Institute has called Ono's 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.

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 top university in a free state where "woke goes to die," but it only gets worse.

Under Ono's leadership, Michigan received a grade of "F" from the Anti-Defamation League after he tolerated a monthlong antisemitic protest encampment right in the middle of campus, even as the Michigan community was terrorized by vandalism, class invasions and violence.

When Josh Hammer — a distinguished journalist, fellow of the institute over which I preside, and author of the critically-acclaimed new book Israel and Civilization: The Fate of the Jewish Nation and the Destiny of the West — 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 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."

Ono's misguided defenders argue that he scaled back Michigan's DEI infrastructure in recent weeks.

Since President Trump required that measure by executive order on pain of massive financial consequences like those at Harvard and Columbia, we can only wonder if Ono, who we know is not exactly of sound mind, truly means it.

He also stands to get paid as much as a cool $3 million a year to lead UF, more than twice his current salary and enough to make him America's highest paid public university president. With that kind of money, he could well be tempted to say he's suddenly against DEI and the actual Santa Claus, too.

Confirming Ono's appointment will be a major setback to educational reform in Florida and throughout the country.

Florida's Board of Governors should give him a one-way sleigh ride back to Michigan.

Paul du Quenoy is President of the Palm Beach Freedom Institute. Read Paul du Quenoy's Reports — More Here.