The Florida Board of Governors on Sept. 11 unanimously and “enthusiastically” gave its approval of Dr. Donald Landry as the interim president of the University of Florida.
The decision comes nearly three weeks after UF’s Board of Trustees introduced and approved of the former Columbia professor to take the reins from interim President Kent Fuchs, who had served in the position since August 2024.
As interim president, Landry, who started Sept. 1, will receive an annual base salary of $2 million, plus a $500,000 bonus if he meets performance goals. If Landry is not selected as UF’s permanent president next year, his contract also stipulates that he receive severance pay in the amount of $2 million through Aug. 31, 2027.
Landry in his opening remarks to the BOG discussed UF’s handling of a pro-Palestinian protest on campus in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, academic expression, civility, and the need to find permanent leaders for several UF colleges.
UF currently has interim deans at its Levin College of Law, College of Medicine, College of the Arts, Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
“This will be a major focus until it’s accomplished,” he said of filling the roles.
Gov. Paul Renner opened up the questioning of Landry, but began by congratulating Landry and UF’s board.
“I won’t bury the lead; I’m enthusiastically supporting your nomination today,” Renner said.
Renner then asked Landry about his approach to academic freedom of expression and civility.
Landry said that if someone’s speech is “so loud and intrusive” that learning and teaching cannot take place, than you no longer have a university. He said reasonable restrictions must be “as significant as necessary but as small as possible.”
Gov. Alan Levine also spoke glowingly about Landry and his selection by UF’s board.
“As a three-time graduate of the University of Florida, I couldn’t be more excited right now,” Levine said.
Levine then lauded Landry’s decision as physician-in-chief at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center to acquire more kidney dialysis machines for patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, and for suggesting that medical schools graduate seniors early to help deal with the patient load, as they were only taking electives.
“That’s kind of out-of-the-box thinking that could have produced 20,000 more physicians at a time of critical need,” Levine said. “That’s the type of action that a leader shows when there’s an important decision to be made.”
When Landry was asked by Gov. Carson Dale, Florida State University’s student body president, how he would interact with students, Landry shared a story about his time as faculty adviser to The John Jay Society, Columbia’s debate club.
Landry said during Columbia’s COVID-19 shutdown he gave the keys to his apartment to 40 students so they could practice and hold classic debates.
“We managed not to get caught, and I am still married,” he said with a smile.
The questioning and confirmation of Landry took about 40 minutes, far less than the nearly three hours Dr. Santa Ono — UF’s more recent candidate for full-time president — was grilled by governors in June.
Both Levine and Renner questioned Ono, the former president of the University of Michigan, at length about antisemitism and his past support of diversity, equity and inclusion programs. He was questioned by others about his views on holistic versus merit-based admissions, gender-affirming care, climate change and his response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Landry said during his confirmation hearing that the science behind climate change was not yet settled.
At the end of Ono’s hearing, the BOG’s vote to confirm Ono failed 6-10, the first time the board voted down a university trustee board’s leadership selection.
As a result, Fuchs, UF’s interim president at the time, who also served as the full-time president from 2015-2023, extended his contract through August.
The university is expected to begin its search for another permanent president — its first since Ben Sasse stepped down abruptly in July 2024 — in early 2026.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Florida Board of Governors swiftly approves of Dr. Donald Landry as UF’s interim president
Reporting by Alan Festo, Gainesville Sun / The Gainesville Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
