The University of Florida football stadium in Gainesville. (Photo by Jay Waagmeester/Florida Phoenix)
The University of Florida may get another interim president before it finally gets someone in the role full time — although he’s the same guy they approved last week for the job.
Board of Governors Chair Alan Levine says he won’t agenda any item for a university out of compliance with a BOG regulation covering trustee duties. The contract for University of Florida interim president Donald Landry violates that regulation, as do other UF policies, Levine maintains.
Stuart Bell’s contract is set to start July 1. Last week, UF trustees unanimously approved him. Now, instead of giving the required final approval, the Board of Governors overseeing the State University System will instead hold a “governance discussion” during its next meeting.
“Regulation 1.001 is unambiguous; the powers of chairs and trustees are limited in scope and there is no provision for a chair making personnel decisions that are within the purview of a president,” Levine wrote in an email Wednesday afternoon to State University System Chancellor Ray Rodrigues.
The interim contract with Landry and the university “included provisions granting the trustee chairman sweeping authority to approve the hiring and compensation of university personnel,” Levine wrote.
UF board chair Mori Hosseini, Levine said, agreed to remove the language from future contracts.
UF trustees vice chair Rahul Patel issued a statement through the university Thursday, saying Bell’s “being drawn into a dispute unrelated to his candidacy” is “unfair” and “harmful” to the university. Just as harmful, he said, “is that a decision of this magnitude has been made unilaterally.”
“The University of Florida cannot afford to remain in limbo while these matters are addressed. Accordingly, within the coming week, the Board of Trustees will meet to consider naming Dr. Bell Interim President so that the university can continue moving forward while this issue is addressed,” Patel wrote.
UF trustees have a meeting scheduled for Monday for the purpose of “leadership transition.”
UF has been without a permanent president since the summer of 2024.
Levine, further
Levine made no swipe at Bell.
“To be clear, this action should not be construed by anyone to be a statement about Dr. Bell or his candidacy.”
Levine complained the overstepping of the regulation was not just in the contract, but had been inserted into “financial, contractual and other delegations that I feel are problematic, inconsistent with best practices in governance and which again seem to run afoul of our regulation.”
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Hosseini has been chair of the UF board since 2018 and is a GOP megadonor, particularly to Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Levine said he thinks it would be appropriate to discuss “refining the provisions related to term limits of chairs.”
“The fact the offending language will likely be removed from the president’s contract is rendered meaningless if the university’s governance standards, which are a policy of the board of trustees, remain out of compliance,” Levine wrote.
Levine asked the BOG inspector general to review “any credible allegation” related to real estate and financial transactions at UF, and staff to “conduct a preliminary review of governance at each of our 12 universities” to check compliance with that regulation.
Levine’s commitment to not agenda an item for an out-of-compliance university puts on hold Florida Gulf Coast University President Aysegul Timur’s contract; he did not explain what the school did wrong. Her contract expires at the end of this month, so Levine is allowing a three-month extension, with a full extension “at such time as FGCU’s board addresses the compliance with 1.001.”
Levine said he is willing to call a special meeting when universities address these problems.
The Board of Governors meeting is Wednesday and Thursday.
The Board of Governors is also set to vote on a policy that would prohibit a university trustee from becoming a president of the university they served for two years after leaving the board.
