May 30, 2025 | Press Releases

WASHINGTON — U.S. Representative Greg Steube (R-Fla.) has sent a letter to the Florida Board of Governors urging them to reject Dr. Santa J. Ono as the next president of the University of Florida.

Steube’s letter follows Tuesday’s UF Board of Trustees’ vote to advance Dr. Ono’s selection. Final confirmation now sits with the Florida Board of Governors, who is meeting Tuesday, June 3, at 1:00 p.m. in Orlando, Florida.

“As a Double Gator, I am appalled and disappointed by the decision of the University of Florida’s Board of Trustees to select Dr. Santa J. Ono as its next president,” said Rep. Steube. “His dubious record throughout his career makes it clear that Dr. Ono is unfit to lead our state’s flagship university. Hollow assurances of an ‘evolved mindset’ cannot erase Dr. Ono’s history of preferential treatment for far-left causes, coupled with his cold indifference to student safety. I call on the Florida Board of Governors to reject this choice and find a suitable replacement who reflects the values and interests of the University of Florida.” 

Read the letter here.

Background:

• In May of 2024, after pro-Hamas demonstrators assaulted law enforcement, disrupted classes, and vandalized property on the University of Michigan’s campus, Dr. Santa J. Ono waited nearly three weeks before promising to take action to address the violence.
• As President of the University of Michigan, Dr. Ono urged both faculty and students to embrace DEI, declaring in 2022 that they should “believe in and promote diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
• During his tenure as President of the University of British Columbia, Dr. Ono made “climate justice” a top priority and promised to integrate these principles across the university. He also promoted radical gender ideology, claiming there are “many great reasons for respecting gender identities and gender expressions.”
• Dr. Ono has claimed that “systemic racism is embedded in every corner of any institution” in the United States.