Across the Sunshine State, students, staff and alumni have witnessed leadership shakeups at major public universities over the past few years.
There are a dozen state universities in Florida — and half of them have or will soon have new presidents. Some of these picks have caused an uproar due to their ties to Gov. Ron DeSantis.
For example, Education Commissioner Manny Díaz Jr., will become the interim president of the University of West Florida in Pensacola.
And then, there's Florida International University's interim president, Jeanette Nuñez, who was lieutenant governor. She's the sole candidate to become the university's permanent president.
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Another political tie is lobbyist Marva Johnson, who has been chosen to lead Florida A&M University. She has served on the board overseeing public education and has ties to DeSantis. Johnson has defended those connections during an interview with FAMU trustees last month.
"I actually believe that I'm better positioned to navigate what FAMU needs, if what I'm being told, if the general public perception is that Gov. DeSantis likes me, then wouldn't it stand to reason that he wants me to be successful," Johnson said.
And although the University of Florida's presidential pick, Santa Ono, does not have any political connection to the DeSantis administration, he has endorsed the governor's efforts to remake higher education in the state.
"I understand and support what Florida's vision for higher education represents," Ono said during his final interview. "A decisive move away from ideological bias and activist-driven culture that has come to define too many colleges and universities in this country and abroad.
But why has there been turnover atop these universities? And what does it show in terms of the direction these institutions are heading?
Potential reasons for turnover
On "The Florida Roundup," journalist Andrew Atterbury with Politico speculated that the turnover could be a mixture of a natural cycle of tenure and something deeper.
"Presidents have resigned sometimes or in some cases, like, they've been pushed out because of certain things that have happened," he told host Tom Hudson.
According to WFSU, former FAMU president Larry Robinson resigned after he failed to vet a later-ceased $237 million donation for the school. Atterbury told Hudson that this was a "public embarrassment" for the university, so that "got him out the door."
Atterbury also said there are situations where schools have new trustees, and once there's a majority, there are enough to try to get a new president.
However, although there are more political situations at play, Candy Olson of Tampa said she believes there's not a single factor for the changes.
"I think the politicization is a piece. I think the issues around funding is a huge piece," Olson said.
A change in the type of higher-education leaders
Atterbury also mentioned how there has been a shift in higher education where the leaders have less of an educational background.
This can create rifts in public sentiment, as Atterbury said, the communities of these universities can tend to want someone who has risen in the ranks of higher education. For example, having been a professor, provost or even a sitting president in the past.
But according to Atterbury, trustees say they want someone who understands Tallahassee, who can negotiate for them and raise funds. They argue that the higher education landscape is changing.
ALSO READ: FAMU presidential selection reflects a trend in Florida higher education
"They think it's time to pivot. Find someone who can really advocate for a university, who may be better at getting things done for us financially and lobbying for us. And then you find someone like a strong provost, something like that, who can take care of the things that they're still learning," he said.
Atterbury said the institutions are hoping the political picks could lead to more funding. He added that the universities get a "huge pot" for special projects in the back of the budget.
"The question I keep having is, when you have more and more presidents that are all kind of tied to the state in various ways, there's still only a limited amount of money to go around," Atterbury said. "So at this point, how do you parse that out?"
The amount each university will get is unknown, as the state budget for the next fiscal year is still in limbo. It needs to be passed by July 1.
A call for transparency
Atterbury also described how some people have been frustrated with the selection process, as they wanted more details on how the search was conducted.
One pick that has gotten contention has been Johnson at FAMU.
Atterbury said that compared to some of the searches, FAMU was more transparent.
The controversy came as people wondered how the university got to four finalists and whether it should have just been three. Also, there were those who were upset with how the search played out.
For FIU, trustees said that the DeSantis administration essentially recommended Nuñez for the job. They still did a search, but people were upset about a lack of transparency.
"But at the same time, some of the trustees at the beginning were like, why even waste the money on a search when it seems like a foregone conclusion," Atterbury said.
WUSF's state government reporter, Douglas Soule, reported the House passed a bill this year that would have peeled back a 2022 law that allowed hiding presidential search information. It also would have limited the governor's sway in the process. It should be noted that the governor appoints the majority of the higher education officials who pick the presidents.
"That just shows you that the House, at least, was really, really taken aback by some of these university movies," Atterbury said about the bill.
The legislation ended up failing in the end. But the bill's sponsor, Republican Rep. Michelle Salzman of Pensacola, said it was about transparency — not an attack on the governor. DeSantis, on the other hand, did not support the bill.
"They bring some communist in to be the president of a university, and I'm just supposed to sit there and twiddle my thumbs? That's not how I roll," DeSantis said.
People like Linda Hughes-Kirchubel of Riverview said there should be more openness to the process so there can be more unity in the community.
"What we need for the whole system of education are people who are coming in with a record of transparency, so that everybody is on the same page with like, who the person is, and we can all get behind that," Hughes-Kirchubel said.
This story was compiled from interviews conducted by Tom Hudson for "The Florida Roundup." Copyright 2025 WUSF 89.7
