Mac Saturn – Town Ballroom – Buffalo NY 02.09.23

MAGA world melted down Thursday over the University of Florida's newest hire — and one close Trump ally even demanded Gov. Ron DeSantis intervene.

Santa Ono was the sole finalist for the presidency of the university and is poised to be hired for the gig. His official appointment is pending confirmation by the Florida Board of Governors, but the university's Board of Trustees has unanimously recommended him for the position.

But Ono's selection was not without resistance from both sides of the aisle.

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The left has is criticized Ono for shutting down the University of Michigan’s diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and for his handling of pro-Palestinian protests, Florida Politics noted Thursday.

On the right, he's angered prominent MAGA die-hards, including Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) and Charlie Kirk, founder and president of Turning Point USA, both close Trump allies.

“UF needs to go back and figure out somebody else,” Donalds said, according to the outlet, blasting Ono over a speech he made two years ago praising DEI.

"Under no circumstances should this lunatic be allowed to be the President of the University of Florida. Governor DeSantis, who has been great on education, must intervene immediately," Kirk wrote on X on Thursday afternoon.

"Santa Ono, finalist for the University of Florida presidency, promised students that he would 'strive to make sharing [his] pronouns part of regular introductory greetings' and start 'centering the voices' of 'Two-Spirit, transgender, and non-binary people.' Full woke," chided Christopher Rufo, a writer and activist who's self-described mission is to "overthrow the left-wing ideological regime that has dominated American life for a generation."

Libs of TikTok wrote on X, "He says it makes him very happy that students have become political activists to fight systemic racism and campus should be a place for creating cultural change to behaviors and laws to fight racism. He wants to turn students into BLM activists. How is this happening"

Resistance to Ono forced the university to respond on Thursday, with Mori Hosseini, chair of the Board of Trustees, and Trustee Vice Chair Rahul Patel telling the university community in an email that a "handful of external voices have sought to question Dr. Ono’s alignment with Florida’s vision for higher education."

"Dr. Ono is not shifting his views to fit Florida. He has been evolving his perspective over time — before UF ever approached him about this role,” the email said. “He brings a decisive break from the progressive orthodoxy that has gripped too many elite campuses — one that UF has resisted and risen above. He recognized the toll that ideological excess was taking — on campus culture, academic standards, and institutional trust — and made a clear and courageous choice: enough is enough.”

Hosseini and Patel called Ono the "right person to accelerate UF’s upward trajectory and help make it the undisputed leader among America’s public universities."

In response to the email, Rufo called the defense of Ono "absurd—he has a decade of statements in support of BLM, DEI, trans, and climate radicalism."