Florida’s relative offer for $ 3 million a year for the elected President Santa J. Ono includes an unusual clause that can alleviate some of the biggest concerns of his right critics: his work is potentially his pay-he will be bound by how well maintains the educational reforms supported by the Ron Ron Government.
Ono, a three-time president of the University, is soon at Michigan University, is ready to run the leading Florida Public University under a five-year deal worth up to nearly $ 15.4 million plus benefits. If Florida’s Council ratifies the appointment of Ono on Tuesday, it may be possible for him to break his own record for President of the Public University with the highest payment.
But this is not just the money for growing eyebrows – these are the conditions.
Attached to the latest page of the ono contract is an exhibit containing “key indicators” that the UF Board of Trustees – heavily populated with Desantis appointed – will use to evaluate salaries and execution bonuses. Beyond the traditional indicators such as the success of students and research results, Ono will be evaluated by his cooperation with the governor of government efficiency (known as Florida Dog) and how effectively he fights with attempts to spend funds for diversity, justice and involvement.
The indicators also set the ono to appoint a provocateur and deans who “firmly brought and support the principles that direct Florida’s approach to higher education”, as well as to dispose of “low return on investment” from the curriculum.
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The inclusion of specific political directives in the review of the implementation of the University President is “unusual – if not, unprecedented,” said James Finkelstein, a researcher at the University Policy School, George Mason, who, together with research professor, Judith Wilde. “These are promises of loyalty,” he said.
Both were struck by the lack of clear quantitative measures for the indicators and said that their accommodation – tucked away at the end of the treaty – potentially signaling efforts for a quiet attachment of political supervision in the role.
“It’s just a way for them to keep him under control based on what they have seen before,” Wilde said, citing the previous candid support of Ono for Dei programs.
As President of Michigan, Ono insisted on the Dei 2.0 plan and oversees an office for diversity, once considered in the foreground in the Academy’s Dei movement. But against the background of the escalation of public control and the potential threats of financing by the Trump administration, Ono closed the office in March.
The measure shows how Florida’s leading institution formalizes the political expectations of Ono, which conservative critics have given up as a left -wing opportunist who opposes Dei to calm the state’s republican base. The questions about whether Ono sincerely believes that DEI is a well -intentioned movement, governed by political ideology, has turned from May 4, when it has become the only finalist of the UF presidency.
UF spokesman Cynthia Rolddan, reached by email, declined to answer questions why and when the performance indicators explicitly tied to the DEI cost prohibition, and other measures supported by Desantis were added to the on -contract on the ono contract. Such indicators are not included in the contracts of previous UF presidents or recently appointed presidents at other state universities.
Less advantages, more strings
Ono’s contract also guarantees him an appointed faculty position in the UF ophthalmology department, providing him with a post-chairman’s salary equivalent to the highest paid full professor in the department. But the new deal also undresses some of the benefits of fringes observed in the previous treaties of his and his predecessor.
Former UF President Ben Sass’s five -year agreement for $ 10 million includes many extras, including training benefits for his entire extended family, as well as covered travel expenses for his wife and children. In contrast, the indicative UF contract of ONO is remarkably more built -and tougher.
One remarkable requirement: Ono has to stay at the president’s house in Dasburg on campus. This follows the controversy during his term in Michigan when he bought a home 40 miles from the campus, although he was obliged to live in a university home.
Lighter premises have also disappeared. A training concert cellist, he had previously asked the University of Michigan to finance the transport and storage of his three cells. This agreement was not on the UF offer.
Despite the fewer advantages, Ono’s treaty still makes the UF presidency one of the most diligent jobs in public higher education. But the expectations surrounding the role have shifted – and so there is the profile of the person who fills it.
Sasse, a political figure with limited academic administrative experience, was a separation rent that attracted protests from UF teachers and students. In contrast, Ono is a career academic and university president with experience in major research institutions that attract a reaction from Florida’s Republican base.
Wilde said the transition from Sasse to On suggests that the UF can seek a leader with stronger academic powers, but below the more stringed political borders.
As she said, “I suppose the only real similarities I see between the two are the opportunity to receive a world-class salary straight from the front now, a very public test for political loyalty.”