UF Interim President to Receive $2M Exit Package

University of Florida interim president Donald Landry is set to receive a $2 million payout as part of an unusual contract provision entitling him to severance pay if he didn’t get the permanent job.

On Monday UF announced that it is moving forward with Stuart Bell as the sole finalist for its presidency. Bell, who previously served as the University of Alabama’s president from 2015 through 2025, must still be confirmed by both UF’s Board of Trustees and the Florida Board of Governors.

Landry, a former chair of Columbia University’s Department of Medicine, stepped into the interim role last September after the Florida Board of Governors rejected Santa Ono over concerns about his past support of diversity, equity and inclusion programs, which he unsuccessfully sought to distance himself from. (Conservative critics have already raised similar concerns about Bell, noting that he opened a DEI office at Alabama in 2017; however, Republican governor Ron DeSantis has thrown his support behind him publicly.)

Landry’s one-year contract as interim president included a base salary of $2 million and the potential to earn up to $500,000 in bonuses. Altogether, if bonuses are paid out, Landry will earn $4.5 million from the state flagship when his contract formally concludes at the end of August.

If selected for the job, Bell will also be paid handsomely, with an annual salary of up to $3 million. That would put him near the top of the pay range for public university presidents.

Florida law caps the amount of presidential salaries funded by the state at $200,000, meaning universities have to turn elsewhere, such as private donors, to cover the rest of the funds. Landry’s contract also stipulates that his severance cannot be paid with public funds.

On Wednesday, Florida U.S. senator Rick Scott, a Republican, raised concerns about both the presidential search and Landry’s contract in a letter to State University System of Florida chancellor Ray Rodrigues. Scott argued that the search lacked transparency and urged an investigation into Landry’s contract, which he suggested was not in the best interest of the university.

“Frankly, what is occurring at UF sounds like something we would see coming out of states like California and New York, not the free state of Florida,” he wrote. “Any dollar UF has should go toward helping its students get good paying jobs. Finally, this concept in higher education that there is a difference between a donation dollar, a tax dollar, or a dollar received from tuition is insane. Every single dollar under UF controls [sic] should benefit UF students to help them get high paying jobs upon graduation, full stop.”