Civic literacy, freedom of speech and the Western canon. Those are some of Charles Canady’s priorities as he settles into his new role as director of UF’s Hamilton School for Classical and Civic Education.
On Nov. 17, 2025, Canady was named the school’s new director, following his time as one of Florida’s Supreme Court justices. He steps in as the Hamilton School, established by the state legislature in 2022, has rapidly grown to over 1,300 students and 53 faculty members as of July 2025.
From 2024 to 2025, the school more than doubled in full-time employees and total employee salaries, seeing a higher percent increase in both metrics than any other UF college or area over the same time period.
In his first interview with The Alligator, Canady spoke on his political experience, words from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on his hiring and the future of the Hamilton School after officially beginning his role Jan. 1.
The search for Canady
Interim UF President Dr. Donald Landry initiated a national search for a permanent director for the school Oct. 10, 2025. The search was announced to “Hamiltonians” in an internal email from then-interim director Robert Ingram obtained by The Alligator.
The search was not publicized until the new director was already chosen.
The UF Board of Trustees tapped Robert P. George, a Princeton University professor and conservative legal scholar, to head the search.
Although not a UF employee, George has a history of influence within the Hamilton School. Emails dating as far back as Summer 2024, obtained by The Alligator, show George offering former Hamilton School director William Inboden and former UF President Ben Sasse recommendations on a bioethics professor the school should hire.
In response to George, then-director Inboden wrote “your endorsement is exceedingly valuable.”
George was even offered the UF presidential role by DeSantis following the rejection of sole finalist Santa J. Ono last summer, as reported by The Chronicle of Higher Education. After declining the job, George pointed DeSantis to Landry.
During the director search, Landry paused all Hamilton School interviews for at least four candidates applying to be professors, according to another email Ingram sent to Cheryl Irvin, a conference event manager for the school.
A little over a month later, Canady was announced as director.
Meanwhile, former interim director Ingram moved to the University of Texas at Austin — where Inboden, the Hamilton School’s first director, is serving as provost.
Three other Hamilton School faculty have also joined the Civitas Institute, UT Austin’s civic center. None are employed by contract, according to UT Austin communications. Rather, they are all at-will employees, meaning they do not have a specific rate of pay written on paper and can resign or be dismissed without advanced notice.
Canady’s experience and vision
Canady, an alumnus of Haverford College and Yale Law School, served in the Florida and then U.S. House of Representatives before becoming a Florida Supreme Court Justice for 17 years.
His wife, Florida Rep. Jennifer Canady, is the state’s soon-to-be speaker of the House.
Upon Canady’s appointment as director, DeSantis called him a “home-run choice.”
“He felt that my credentials as a public servant and as a lawyer were a good fit for the mission of the school,” Canady later said of the governor’s compliment. “A very kind thing to say that, and I appreciate it — I think that’s what he meant.”
One skill in particular from his political experience stands out in translation to higher education, Canady said: listening.
Canady, who will receive an annual $500,000 salary, spent the past few months learning the ropes and responsibilities of his new role, he said, and looks forward to getting to the office every day. Western civilization education is important, Canady said, because there’s a “crisis of civic literacy.”
“We have to understand Western civilization to understand where we are today,” Canady said. “We’ve overcome major defects in our society, and of course, the biggest thing was overcoming and destroying slavery in the Civil War.”
People need to understand that history to be a responsible citizen and effective leader, part of the mission of the Hamilton School, he said.
The Hamilton School is working to extend civic education to K-12 curriculum, Canady said, and it received a grant from the Department of Education toward the cause. The $2.9 million federal grant was announced Oct. 6, 2025, with around $1.2 million directed to the Hamilton School.
The Hamilton School follows a trend of several U.S. universities shifting focus to civic education. Thirteen new centers have been announced since 2023. Of the 22 centers founded from 2022-2025, 59% were created via state legislation.
But Canady said UF has a “head start.”
“They would probably more be looking to us as a model than vice versa,” he said.
Canady acknowledged the school had discussed attracting as many as 70 faculty members by 2028 or 2029, but he’s personally not focused on a numeric goal. Rather, he’s prioritizing faculty that meet the school’s high standards, he said.
Canady also doesn’t have a specific target for the numbers of majors or students taking classes at the school, but he’s focused on “get[ting] the word out,” he said.
The Hamilton School course catalog for the Spring 2026 semester features about 50 courses. Sixteen are Quest courses, required classes for most undergraduate students, which allows the school to attract students from outside the school’s majors.
Twenty of the school’s courses received general education certification for the 2025-26 academic year after a law passed last year required the addition of the Western canon to all general education humanities courses.
Canady also spoke to the school’s historically tense relationship with the press.
During the Hamilton School director search, a reporter from The Alligator emailed multiple Hamilton School professors requesting an interview. An assistant professor at the school forwarded the email to Hamilton leadership, according to emails The Alligator obtained via public records requests.
“I assume this went out to everyone; following the usual policy of forwarding and not responding,” the professor wrote in his forwarded email to Ingram, the interim director at the time, and Jeffrey Collins, the interim associate director at the time.
Collins responded to the message: “I don’t think everyone. Who knows how they fasten on a person.”
Canady said Hamilton faculty don’t have any specific procedures to follow when interacting with the media since he has joined the college. Moving forward, he said, he’s emphasizing openness and transparency.
“I deeply believe in the importance of a free press,” he said. “Without a free press, we can’t have people who know the things they need to know to make the decisions that citizens need to make.”
Ongoing political tensions
The Hamilton School was conceived with the direct support of DeSantis and Florida’s Republican-led legislature, which prompted many to question the school’s independence from the state.
“The Legislature established Hamilton,” Canady said. “I’m very grateful to the Legislature and the governor for supporting the work that’s going on in Hamilton.”
Canady also emphasized his distinction from his wife, Rep. Jennifer Canady, who serves in the Florida House. He said she is supportive of the Hamilton School, “but anyone who thinks that that’s a blank check is misinformed.”
“My wife has her own responsibilities,” Canady said. “She’s an independent person with an independent responsibility.”
Although Canady emphasized the school is a “nonpartisan enterprise,” some faculty disagree.
In a June 2023 UF Faculty Senate special report, some faculty in the Levin College of Law expressed concerns over the law leadership’s role in the creation of the Hamilton School, regarding them as “agents of the state.”
The report noted responding faculty also expressed concerns about “nepotistic appointment and hiring practices in the Hamilton Center.”
Andrew Rosenberg, an associate professor of political science at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, said having a civic institution provides more resources and opportunities for students studying political theory and philosophy.
“UF is certainly on the leading edge of that development,” Rosenberg said.
The rise of civic institutions wasn’t something he expected when he was a graduate student, he said, because job opportunities for doctoral students studying political theory were relatively narrow at the time compared to other fields.
Free speech and debate are important for all liberal arts students, he added.
“There is scholarship that argues ‘yes,’ and there’s a scholarship that argues ‘no,’” Rosenberg said. “The point of scholarly inquiry … is all about debate.”
Student thoughts
Kristina Kianovski, a 21-year-old student assistant and alumna of the Hamilton Society of Fellows, is aware of these early criticisms, but she doesn’t think the school is pushing a political agenda.
“I don’t feel like their personal emotions or beliefs get in the way of their teaching,” she said about the Hamilton professors. “There are people there who I don’t agree with politically, who just have such great credentials that it’s impossible not to respect them.”
She said the Hamilton School’s strengths lie in its ability to merge different concepts, including philosophy, politics and economics — something she appreciates as a junior double majoring in criminology and political science.
Qualified faculty were part of the reason 20-year-old Michael O’Malley, an economics and philosophy, politics, economics and law sophomore, transferred to the school from the Warrington College of Business.
“It’s really slept on, but we have some world-class professors there,” he said. “The professors are unmatched.”
O’Malley said the teachers have pushed him to think deeper about his beliefs and how to have respectful debates about them with others. He also enjoys the school’s small class sizes.
Before O’Malley transitioned into the Hamilton School, he had heard the fears it would push conservative political beliefs onto its students, but those fears were immediately mitigated, he said.
He said he completely understands why someone would be cautious coming into the school, but taking one class within Hamilton would put those fears at bay.
“Not once have I ever been pressed politically, nor have I ever heard a professor really express their own political beliefs,” O’Malley said. “I think it is a very neutral academic setting.”
Contact Alexa Ryan at aryan@alligator.org and Leona Masangkay at lmasangkay@alligator.org.
Leona is a second-year journalism student and the Spring 2025 University Administration reporter. They previously worked as the Santa Fe reporter. In their free time, Leona enjoys going to the gym, watching Marvel movies and traveling the country for music festivals.
Alexa is a second-year journalism and international studies student and The Alligator's Spring 2026 Enterprise Politics Reporter. She previously served as the Fall 2025 Criminal Justice Reporter. In her free time, she enjoys running, traveling and going on random side quests.
