STURGE: My home state wisely rejected Ono and his pro-DEI record
While a student at the University of Florida, I watched my university lead the fight against toxic DEI ideology and spark a nation-wide trend when it eliminated its DEI office and fired DEI staff.
Following my recent graduation, I feared that Ono’s appointment would threaten to undo years of progress in repairing the damage caused by DEI policies at Florida’s flagship institution.
On Tuesday, Florida’s Board of Governors rejected hiring Santa J. Ono as the school’s president. This 10-6 vote against the former University of Michigan president was the right choice.
While a student at the University of Florida, I watched my university lead the fight against toxic DEI ideology and spark a nation-wide trend when it eliminated its DEI office and fired DEI staff. Following my recent graduation, I feared that Ono’s appointment would threaten to undo years of progress in repairing the damage caused by DEI policies at Florida’s flagship institution.
I applaud the 10 governors who voted against Ono: Ashley Bell Barnett, Timothy Cerio, Manny Diaz Jr., Aubrey Edge, Patricia Frost, Carson Good, Ken Jones, Alan Levine, Jose Oliva and Paul Renner.
Ono led Michigan’s $250 million Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, a complete boondoggle that enabled the campus to become a hotbed of anti-Semitism, segregation, and resentment. The University of Michigan only dropped its DEI strategic plan after Donald Trump became president again and signed an executive order banning DEI at public universities.
In stark contrast, the University of Florida took a firm stance against DEI on its own accord and upheld the rule of law to shut down violent and disruptive anti-Semitic protesters on campus, prioritizing student safety over leftist political agendas.
Florida’s students deserve a leader with strength and dignity, not one who flip-flopped on major issues and contributed to a fractured campus environment. Florida’s taxpayers also deserve better than footing the bill for a DEI activist’s $3 million yearly salary, totaling nearly $15 million over five years.
Hiring the university president who oversaw the largest DEI bureaucracy in the nation at the University of Michigan is a massive leap backward.
While the University of Florida worked to rid its campus of DEI-driven division, Michigan employed the largest DEI staff at any university in the country with more than 1,100 DEI employees.
Campus Reform reported that Michigan spent nearly $100,000 last year on its annual “DEI summit” and nearly $500,000 on anti-racism research projects like “Anti-Racism in Kenyan Conservation” and “Storytelling as Diversity Training Mechanisms.”
The university incentivized DEI at the graduate level with “awards up to $8,000 to faculty members” and “up to $5,000” to students who assist with DEI research. Michigan also funds an LGBTQ+ center, which offers “Pronouns 101” training to K-12 schools.
As expected, evidence suggests that Michigan’s lavish DEI spending was counterproductive, with staff and students reporting a decline in campus cohesion and morale. It’s not rocket science that implementing programs that teach racial division diminishes students’ “sense of belonging.”
The University of Florida community deserves leadership committed to unity, academic excellence, and serving students — not someone whose leftist propaganda contributed to division and shattered campus unity.
Additionally, Michigan allowed anti-Semitic chaos to run rampant on campus. Ono allowed a pro-Hamas encampment of more than 60 tents and outside agitators to remain on campus for one month, in sharp contrast to UF eliminating the threats of disruptive pro-Hamas protesters in mere days.
Campus Reform reported that pro-Hamas protesters at Michigan handed out “Death to America” pamphlets, called for “Death to Israel” in social media posts and violently attacked a Jewish student; more than 200 students took over a campus building.
The University of Florida stood up to terrorist sympathizers right out of the gate while Michigan tolerated them for far too long.
After leading Michigan’s costly and controversial DEI boondoggle for three years, Ono announced on March 27 that he would suspend all DEI programming.
In a Mar. 27 campus-wide letter, Ono stated that the university would discontinue its DEI 2.0 Strategic Plan, including related DEI “programming, progress reporting, training and funding,” and diversity statements in admissions and hiring.
Why the sudden change of tone?
Ono’s 180-degree flip follows President Trump’s warning to eliminate DEI initiatives or risk losing federal funding.
“With recent federal executive orders, guidance and funding cuts bringing urgency to the issue, we are moving forward with changes that will impact our community at the University of Michigan,” Ono stated in the letter.
In the 2024 fiscal year, Michigan received $1.17 billion in federal funding. The decision to scale back DEI efforts seems primarily motivated by the threat to this funding, which should raise serious red flags.
Changes were made only when dollars were at stake. The wellbeing of students was seemingly secondary.
Two months after the letter was sent, Ono resigned from his position with the expectation of being the University of Florida’s next president.
The University of Florida community deserves a leader motivated to serve students, campus safety, and the pursuit of truth and knowledge, not one motivated by money.
In an opinion piece for Inside Higher Ed, Ono defended his DEI track record.
“Like many, I supported what I believed to be the original intent of DEI — ensuring equal opportunity and fairness for every student… But over time, I saw how DEI became something else—more about ideology, division and bureaucracy, not student success,” Ono wrote.
The University of Florida community should be skeptical of any candidate who failed to uphold merit-based practices and instead favored ‘equity’ policies like DEI statements in admissions and employment to further a leftist political agenda, and accordingly, Ono’s candidacy drew mixed reactions from the state’s conservative leaders.
Governor Ron DeSantis is backing the candidate, stating that he believes the “expectations are clear” against leftist indoctrination and it will be best to “let the process play out,” Florida Politics reports. He also characterized Ono’s DEI efforts as relics of a previous era.
“I also understand when we were leading against DEI, we were the only state to do so. It was everywhere. It was the price of admission to be involved in these universities at the time,” DeSantis said.
Florida Congressman Byron Donalds strongly opposed the pick, writing on X:
Florida cannot afford to inject wokeness into our flagship university.
This selection must be blocked and the search committee must start over. pic.twitter.com/xmT0qR032k— Byron Donalds (@ByronDonalds) May 6, 2025
During his 2023 inaugural address at Michigan, Ono emphasized addressing the climate emergency, calling it “the existential challenge of our time,” and described racism as “one of America’s original sins.”
Ono used his university presidency as a soapbox to advance leftist initiatives, creating division among the campus community. His focus appeared to be more on promoting leftist rhetoric than preparing students for the real world.
The conclusion in unavoidable: Ono’s actions confirm he is a committed leftist ideologue, and his record speaks volumes about his priorities.
The Board of Governors voted with their conscience and rightly decided to uphold merit and sanity at the University of Florida.
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Editorials and op-eds reflect the opinion of the authors and not necessarily that of Campus Reform or the Leadership Institute.
