The Florida Board of Governors announced Thursday it will delay the vote on UF presidential finalist Stuart Bell, originally anticipated June 24.
In a May 20 letter to State University System Chancellor Ray Rodrigues, Board of Governors Chair Alan Levine said governance concerns at UF must be reviewed before certain items can proceed through the board’s agenda process.
Levine said he’s concerned UF policies may allow too much authority to be concentrated in one individual, empowering individual trustees or board chairs to make decisions that should belong to the full board. Levine said in the May 20 letter it would be “egregious” if decisions were removed from full-board, public deliberation.
“Directors cannot give their fiduciary duty away and are responsible for the actions of the institution they govern,” he wrote.
Levine’s letter also calls for a system-wide review of university governance documents to determine whether delegations of authority comply with state law and board regulations. Levine further instructed staff to compile policies from all state universities for review by the board’s Governance and Nominations Committee.
In a Thursday letter to Rodrigues, Levine said he won’t advance certain university items to the board’s June 24 agenda if institutions are deemed noncompliant with board regulations — indefinitely halting Bell’s confirmation process.
UF trustees had unanimously approved Bell, a former University of Alabama president, after an earlier presidential nominee, Santa Ono, was rejected by the Board of Governors last year.
According to a message posted on UF’s X account, the decision is “unfair to Dr. Bell and harmful to the University of Florida and the students, faculty, alumni.”
UF’s Board of Trustees will meet Monday to consider naming Bell interim president, according to the post, to allow the university to move forward as the issue is addressed.
Contact Swasthi Maharaj at smaharaj@alligator.org. Follow her on X @s_maharaj1611.
Swasthi Maharaj is a political science and politics, philosophy, economics and law (PPEL) junior at UF. This is Swasthi's fourth semester at The Alligator, and her third semester on the university desk. She's also reported on the enterprise desk. Swasthi loves coffee, reading, going to concerts, baking and taking long walks.
