It’s been a tough year for University of Florida President Kent Fuchs, one in which he drew lightning from above and below. Wednesday, Fuchs announced his resignation.
Though he’s staying on until 2023, he’s been squeezed in the fight for — and against — academic freedom.
UF’s campus never should have become the political battleground that it did last year, but, under Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration, there is no arena, no sphere of endeavor from which political hay can’t be made, especially by creating and then exploiting division: whether it’s wearing a mask to keep from getting sick or reading a history book to learn something new.
The university backtracked after originally barring three professors from serving as expert witnesses in a lawsuit against the state over a new law that restricts voting access. Two of them, in what is probably not a coincidence, wrote an op-ed in the Tampa Bay Times accusing Republican legislators of shielding from the public data about the state’s redistricting process.
While UF’s Board of Trustees came to its leadership’s defense, the muzzled professors, and others, sued the university, which relented.
UF also fast-tracked DeSantis’ Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo into a professorship, which, as we noted in a previous editorial, “raised questions of how much the university values pleasing a petulant governor over academics.”
And a report to the from a Faculty Senate committee revealed a pervasive fear of making state officials mad. In a state that seems to be looking to erase its Black history, race-related references were edited out of course materials and researchers said that they felt pressure to destroy COVID-19 data.
We’re not sure, however, that Fuchs’ resignation is a clear victory for any particular set of principles. He has helped place UF among the most elite of public universities. He has been a prodigious fundraiser for the school.
The question is: What will the new president be inclined to do under similar circumstances? Will the new leader fold under pressure? Unfortunately, we suspect that’s just what state leaders will want — and will make abundantly clear to the State University System’s Board of Governors.
Fuchs says that he will serve until 2023. The University of Florida has prospered under his leadership. But it has been damaged too. We hope he uses his last year to take strong stand for academic freedom and set the tone for his successor.
———
