UF’s Board of Trustees voted unanimously for Stuart Bell to become the university’s interim president at a meeting Monday afternoon.
The decision comes after the Florida Board of Governors announced last Thursday it will indefinitely delay the vote on UF presidential finalist Stuart Bell.
After receiving unanimous approval from UF’s Board of Trustees June 10, Bell was scheduled to appear before the Florida Board of Governors June 24 for final confirmation.
Alan Levine, the chair of the Board of Governors, wrote in a June 17 letter that the decision came from his concern 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.
UF wrote in an X post the decision was “unfair to Dr. Bell and harmful to the University of Florida and the students, faculty, alumni.”
The move comes amid years of constant leadership turnover at UF.
Former president Ben Sasse resigned in 2024, and former president Kent Fuchs stepped in as interim president for a year.
After the Board of Governors rejected then-University of Michigan president Santa Ono last year, Donald Landry, who served as the chair of Columbia’s Department of Medicine for 16 years, was appointed as interim president.
Landry’s contract is set to end Aug. 31.
In Monday’s meeting, Chair Mori Hosseini proposed choosing a third-party, independent expert and working with the Board of Governors to review the governance documents of the entire state university system in an attempt to resolve the issue.
“I am hoping we can get back to normality,” he said. “I am hoping we can put our personal agendas aside.”
Hosseini also addressed Levine’s concern for too much authority being concentrated in individual persons on the board.
“Mori Hosseini has not done anything wrong,” Hosseini said. “If I made a mistake, we all made a mistake. But as far as I’m concerned, I’ve made no mistake.”
Several trustees said during the meeting the Board of Governors’ agenda item removal is detrimental to students, delaying various goals set by the university — including a student housing project.
Bell will receive an annual base salary of $2 million while serving as interim president, paid biweekly and matching that of Landry.
The agreement also outlines priorities for Bell’s tenure, including filling UF’s permanent provost position and interim dean vacancies with leaders aligned with “the principles guiding Florida’s approach to higher education.”
Until last July, Bell served a decade as the 29th president of the University of Alabama. Before his tenure at UA, he served as provost and dean of the engineering school at Louisiana State University and taught mechanical engineering at the University of Kansas.
According to a UA press release, the university surpassed 40,000 students for the first time and achieved record retention and graduation rates during Bell’s presidency.
Bell’s interim appointment will begin July 1 and run through June 30, 2027. The agreement states trustees “intend and expect” Bell to be confirmed by the Board of Governors, at which point a permanent presidential contract would replace his interim position.
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.
