Gov. Ron DeSantis commended UF’s accomplishments and Florida’s success in higher education, earning praise from university and state officials alike, at a Monday morning news conference on campus.
The governor gave no clear reason for his visit other than to celebrate statewide achievements in higher education. It’s unclear how long the appearance had been planned. Over 100 people gathered to hear DeSantis and his supporters give wide-ranging talks on on pro-Palestinian protests, student debt, school rankings and Charlie Kirk.
UF Interim President Donald Landry credited the governor with the university system’s accomplishments.
He thanked DeSantis for being helpful to “this institution and to me personally,” Landry said.
Landry said while the country has faced disturbances, Florida has navigated with a “compass of perspective.”
Landry praised UF’s Hamilton School for the high quality faculty it retained in less than three years. It’s a glimpse in the magnitude of investment by the state to “do something exceptional, something that will be a beacon to the nation,” he said.
The center will succeed thanks to backing from the governor and Legislature, Landry said.
“Our universities are not in this fight alone,” he said.
DeSantis praised UF’s ranking as the No. 7 public school in the country, as reported last week by U.S. News & World Report, and said he believes Florida university rankings would only keep increasing. The state is focused on making its education as attainable as possible, he added.
“I think we’ve done that better than anybody else in the country,” he said.
DeSantis cited Florida’s Bright Futures Scholarship program as an example of the state’s dedication to attainable education, saying students can afford higher education with no risk of future debt. About 71% of Florida undergraduate students are loan-free, according to the Education Data Initiative.
DeSantis said the past few years have been “rocky” for higher education, citing nationwide campus protests in response to the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. At Columbia University, he said, students did more than “speaking their minds,” and rules were not followed.
In Florida, no one “got away” with campus disturbances, DeSantis said. UF shut down campus protests, and a handful of students were arrested in April 2024 while peacefully occupying the Plaza of the Americas. University spokespeople defended the move by saying the university was not a “daycare.”
New College of Florida President Richard Corcoran spoke at the meeting on Monday, saying DeSantis is the reason for Florida’s success in higher education. In the past eight years under DeSantis, Corcoran said, Florida has done more for higher education than ever before.
“[DeSantis] has changed the ideology of higher education,” Corcoran said, “We’re teaching you how to think and not what to think.”
DeSantis has commended Corcoran’s leadership at New College since his appointment as president in 2023. In one press release, DeSantis praised the liberal arts school under Corcoran for abolishing its gender studies program, eliminating “far-left faculty” and succeeding in its “mission to eliminate indoctrination.”
DeSantis said he intends to hire more people who share the ideologies which Florida institutions aim to promote.
DeSantis said there has been a recent focus on “intellectual fads” and ideology in public education, and said Florida is instead focusing on “the things that really matter.”
The Florida Board of Governors, which oversees state public universities, made what DeSantis called the “sensible” decision to eliminate sociology courses from general education. He then complimented the Board’s decision, made the same year, to add U.S. History Since 1877 as an option to satisfy a civic literacy requirement.
He also noted UF’s Hamilton School, which is dedicated to teaching Western civilization and civics, is a good example of an institution that promotes civic education, emphasizing that they’ve hired top professionals in the field from around the world.
“I want to prepare our students to be citizens of this republic,” DeSantis said.
Ray Rodrigues, chancellor of the State University System of Florida, also spoke at the meeting about the importance of open discourse. Charlie Kirk’s killing at a Utah university campus, he said, was an example of why promoting civil conversations in Florida schools is necessary.
“Our students need to learn that words are not violence, and you don't need a trigger warning to hear something we don't like,” he said.
In reference to comments about Kirk’s death, DeSantis said, “There’s going to be consequences for all of this.”
On Sept. 19, UF revoked a retired law professor’s emeritus status over comments he made on social media about Kirk’s death. Three professors at Florida Atlantic University were also placed on leave because of their online comments.
DeSantis said Kirk relished going to college campuses and bringing ideas to campuses that may not always have been treated fairly.
“You need to graduate from universities where your assumptions have been challenged,” he said.
Contact Swasthi Maharaj at smaharaj@alligator.org. Follow her on X at @s_maharaj1611. Contact Maria Arruda at marruda@alligator.org. Follow her on X at @mariazalfarruda.
Swasthi is the Fall 2025 university administration reporter. She's previously worked as general assignment reporter with The Alligator, and you can also find her work in Rowdy Magazine or The Florida Finibus. When she's not staring at her laptop screen or a textbook, she's probably taking a long walk or at a yoga class.
Maria is the Fall 2025 student government reporter for the Alligator. She's a sophomore journalism and political science major at UF and hopes to work as a political correspondent one day! Maria loves to read, hang out with her friends, see her family and go to the gym in her spare time.
