University of Florida interim president Donald Landry urged faculty to prioritize accessibility in course materials during a Faculty Senate meeting on Thursday, emphasizing that compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) remains an ongoing institutional responsibility even as faculty raised concerns about implementation, workload and leadership direction.
Landry centered his President’s Report on digital accessibility, encouraging instructors to ensure captions and explanatory descriptions accompany instructional materials and presentations.
He acknowledged that older recordings and archived lectures cannot easily be revised retroactively, but stressed that future course content should meet accessibility standards. Landry also said the university will continue working with ADA leadership and compliance officers to clarify expectations for faculty.
During the discussion period, faculty also raised immigration-related concerns. Interim Provost Joe Glover addressed questions about H-1B visas, saying the university does not expect to issue new H-1B visas for the next year, pending a Board of Governors vote next week that would shut down H-1B visas until 2027.
Glover said UF has been able to transfer some visas but acknowledged uncertainty surrounding recruitment and hiring.
Civil and Coastal Engineering Professor Eric Du, who stated he was serving on several search committees, said he was concerned about whether he could ask candidates whether they would need H-1B visas in the future. Glover deferred the question to the dean of Du’s college and said that, if the motion were approved by the Board of Governors, the college would not be able to hire a person who needed an H-1B visa.
Glover said he believes the Board of Governors will likely vote in favor of halting the issuance of H-1B visas next week, a decision that would have major consequences for UF, which had 253 H-1B visas approved in 2025.
According to Inside Higher Ed, the University of Florida had 910 H-1B visas approved between 2022 and the third quarter of 2025, more than the school with the second-highest number of H-1B visas approved, Florida State University, which had 298 in that same three-year span.
However, accessibility dominated much of the meeting’s discussion, with faculty members questioning whether all courses must meet full accessibility standards if no accommodations have been requested and raising concerns about the feasibility of implementing changes across third-party publishing platforms.
Don Monk, a professor in the Fisher School of Accounting, pointed to challenges working with companies such as Wiley and Cambridge when it came to altering their material to fit ADA requirements.
Landry referenced the two-year window, beginning in April 2024, for faculty to bring instructional materials into compliance and indicated that accessibility would remain a priority moving forward, though he did not outline any additional universitywide initiatives during his report.
Some faculty said they were left wanting clearer answers and broader guidance from the administration.
“He didn’t really answer my questions,” said Emily Hinds, a professor of Spanish and Portuguese studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “I look forward to his learning process.”
Others said they expected Landry’s report to address the university’s broader mission and long-term direction.
“I was looking forward to hearing his report, and I don’t think I got too much of that,” said Pasha Agoes, a professor in the Dial Center for Speech and Communication Studies. “I heard the discussion largely centered on ADA. It would help if he focused on the mission and vision.”
Hannah Vander Zanden, a professor in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, felt that Landry had the right idea.
“I think he’s trying to help faculty sort out or reduce the burden to fix the materials that aren’t ADA compliant.”
The meeting included additional action items unrelated to the President’s Report, including a proposal to close the Computer Science master’s program in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and a plan to create a new weekend track for the Master of Health Administration program. Both passed by a wide majority.