UF Board Hires Bell as Interim President

It’s official: Stuart Bell is the University of Florida’s new president—at least in an interim capacity.

Bell is now the third person in the last two years to lead the state’s flagship on an interim basis since former president Ben Sasse stepped down.

The UF Board of Trustees voted unanimously Monday to hire the former University of Alabama president as the university’s next leader despite a torrent of criticism from conservatives who have accused him of pushing a diversity, equity and inclusion agenda at his last stop. The unusual appointment—elevating the sole finalist while the hiring process is still ongoing—is both a rebuke of the Florida Board of Governors and an end run around an effort to halt the hire.

Last week, Florida Board of Governors Chair Alan Levine signaled that he planned to stall the process by blocking confirmation of Bell from appearing on the agenda for a meeting this week, despite UF trustees unanimously approving the hire earlier this month. Levine has suggested that powerful UF Board Chair Mosi Hosseini has accumulated too much power in his role and the board may be out of compliance with state regulations. However, the Florida attorney general’s office has disputed that claim.

The Board of Governors’ agenda ultimately didn’t include a confirmation vote for Bell, which prompted UF trustees to take matters into their own hands. Several hours after the UF meeting, Levine said in a statement that both bodies have had “productive discussions” and the UF board agreed to a third-party governance expert reviewing the governance documents of all universities in the system.

Levine also said that the Board of Governors will hold a special meeting “as soon as legally possible” to consider Bell’s nomination.

Hosseini, who defended his reputation during the meeting, had suggested working with a third party to sort out compliance concerns. He added that it’s time to “put all of our personal agendas aside.” Hosseini also noted UF hired outside counsel to offer a legal opinion on compliance concerns.

That law firm—GrayRobinson—has already issued an opinion, which found UF’s board to be in compliance with governance standards despite recent concerns, General Counsel Ryan Fuller said. That opinion, trustees noted, echoed the statement issued by the state attorney general. (Fuller also said there is no credibility to allegations that Hosseini, a major real estate developer, used his power as a board member to enrich himself and it did not warrant an investigation, which Levine has called for based on an anonymous letter circulated widely on social media.)

While Hosseini sought to dial down the tensions between the two boards, he also sniped at critics on social media who have driven much of the anti-DEI furor around Bell’s candidacy.

“They either get paid or that’s their own opinion [and] they don’t really know the facts,” he said.

Hosseini returned to that topic later in the meeting, taking another shot at social media critics while he praised university faculty broadly and individually for their lifesaving research amid a presentation from Provost Joe Glover that touted UF’s performance across various metrics.

“All those people on Twitter in a basement, your tweets are not going to change people’s lives,” Hosseini said.

Another trustee, Richard Cole, went to bat for Hosseini and pushed back on criticism from Levine. Cole argued that the notion that UF trustees had failed in their oversight duties was “insulting” and argued that the presence of a permanent president was vital for fundraising. Several others also supported Hosseini in comments at the meeting and warned that the Board of Governors’ refusal to consider UF agenda items amid compliance concerns will ultimately harm the university, including by driving up costs on building projects awaiting approval.

As the showdown looms, the UF board is looking to avoid a repeat of last year’s failed search. Florida was on the cusp of hiring former University of Michigan President Santa Ono as its next leader last summer, but the Board of Governors rejected him over concerns about his past commitment to DEI. Like Bell, Ono sought to distance himself from DEI, but was unsuccessful.

Bell will formally step into his role as interim president on July 1. His contract will run through June 30, 2027, or until he is named permanent president and signs a new deal with the university.

Bell, who did not appear to be present in Monday’s virtual meeting, will replace current UF Interim President Donald Landry, who is poised to make $2 million for not getting the permanent job, due to a highly unusual provision in his one-year contract that’s set to expire at the end of August.