Higher education

It's been a whirlwind week in the search for a new president of the University of Florida.

Bell now advances to the state Board of Governors, which has the final say.

UF held a series of forums last week to introduce Bell to students, faculty and staff.

If confirmed by the UF Board of Trustees and Florida Board of Governors, Bell will be UF's 14th president.

Bell was previously president of the University of Alabama, where he served for 10 years.

Stuart Bell was the former president of the University of Alabama. He also served as the president of the Southeastern Conference from 2023 to 2025.

"DEI is discriminatory by design, antithetical to the purpose of a university, and incompatible with the pursuit of truth," the X post reads.

The Florida Board of Governors voted against the move yesterday.

Florida’s public universities and colleges have just two weeks to turn over six years’ worth of records on staffing, research and grant funding as part of the first formal information request under Gov. Ron DeSantis’ newly mandated Department of Government Efficiency – a sweeping effort to identify “inefficiencies” in higher education.

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