University of Florida tries to douse political firestorm | Political News
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Hello and welcome to Tuesday.
Free fallin’ — Leaders at the University of Florida — the state’s “flagship” university that has been touting its recent rise in national rankings — tried last night to quell the backlash over the school’s decision to block three professors from providing expert testimony to the long line of groups challenging the state’s contentious new voting law.
Don’t do me like that — The conflict spilled out in the open after UF’s decision was revealed in a court filing where the groups challenging the law want to know more about why the university contends it would pose a conflict and be “adverse to UF’s interest” to have the professors testify. Worth noting: The professors were allowed to participate in past lawsuits, including a challenge to the 2019 state law that placed restrictions on voting rights for felons.
Jammin’ me — In a statement to the “campus community” sent out on Monday evening, UF President Kent Fuchs and Provost Joe Glover asserted that they remain committed to academic freedom and free speech rights. They also maintained that “if the professors wish to testify pro bono on their own time without using university resources, they are free to do so.” This caveat was not included in the initial notices that barred the professors from participating.
The Waiting — Lastly, Fuchs and Glover said they were “immediately appointing a task force to review the university’s conflict of interest policy and examine it for consistency and fidelity.” This statement came out a few hours after lawyers for the three UF professors sent a letter to top university officials asking for clarity about what they called the “university’s unlawful attempt to prevent them from providing truthful testimony on a matter of extraordinary public importance.”
Breakdown — This is just the latest brushfire at UF that, as POLITICO’s Matt Dixon and Andrew Atterbury report, is raising questions about whether the university is becoming a political tool for Gov. Ron DeSantis and Republicans. This follows — as cataloged by stories by reporters with the USA Today Network-Florida — UF’s fast-tracking of DeSantis’ pick for surgeon general, Joseph Ladapo. The decision to bar the UF professors from participating in the voting rights trial is being probed by an accreditation panel.
Into the Great Wide Open — The DeSantis administration said it did not tell UF — directly or indirectly — how to enforce its conflict of interest policies. But the governor does appoint six of UF’s trustees. Those six appointments have collectively given him or the Republican Party of Florida he controls nearly $900,000 in political contributions. The chair of the board — Mori Hosseini — is a major contributor and records showed he played a role in helping Ladapo get a job at UF that is providing him a salary on top of his pay as surgeon general.
— WHERE’S RON? — Nothing official announced for Gov. DeSantis.
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