{"id":781,"date":"2026-05-20T23:01:55","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T23:01:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=781"},"modified":"2026-05-20T23:01:55","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T23:01:55","slug":"rick-scott-blasts-uf-president-search-money-for-uthmeier-and-interim-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=781","title":{"rendered":"Rick Scott blasts UF president search, money for Uthmeier and interim president"},"content":{"rendered":"<article><!-- --><!-- --><!-- WPS-5038 -- removed the script from WPS and added the placeholder for trinity player --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><span>Tallahassee<\/span><!-- --><!-- --><!-- CONTENT --><!--[--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>A heavyweight Republican lawmaker is once again blasting the University of Florida\u2019s presidential search process, accusing the state\u2019s flagship university of operating \u201cin the dark\u201d and naming a sole finalist without public input from students and faculty.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=779\">FIU suspends former campus Republican leaders for 2 years over racist group chat<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>In a searing letter on Tuesday to the Florida university system\u2019s top official, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott questioned the secretive search process that resulted in former University of Alabama President Stuart Bell emerging as the only known candidate for the UF\u2019s top job.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile I don\u2019t know Dr. Bell, it is clear to me that once again, UF has engaged in a search process that lacked any transparency or public input and failed to interview three candidates as mandated under Florida law,\u201d Scott wrote to State University System Chancellor Ray Rodrigues.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Scott noted that he was not endorsing either Landry or Bell, arguing that the lack of public vetting made it impossible to properly evaluate candidates.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrankly, how could I?\u201d Scott wrote. \u201cNo one really knows anything about either of these people, or any other potential candidate, because there was no public search or vetting process.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>A UF spokesperson declined to comment. Rodrigues did not immediately respond to a text message asking whether he had responded to Scott\u2019s letter.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Scott\u2019s letter is notable not only for its broadsides against Florida\u2019s flagship university \u2014 but also for what it doesn\u2019t critique.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Unlike last year\u2019s failed presidential search involving former University of Michigan leader Santa Ono, Scott did not attack Bell over diversity, equity and inclusion policies or ideological concerns.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Instead, Scott\u2019s letter focuses almost entirely on what he described as UF\u2019s lack of transparency, weak oversight and questionable spending practices<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>The former governor vented about a multimillion-dollar provision in Interim President Donald Landry\u2019s contract that will pay him $2 million after he was passed over for the permanent job, writing that he was \u201cnot aware of any public discussion on whether a payout of this size has any merit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=777\">The dream lover who turned out to be a Castro spy after Cuba shoot-down<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>(Landry\u2019s interim contract has been available to the public since September, and was approved by the university system\u2019s Board of Governors that same month.)<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Swiping at a fellow Republican, Scott also scolded UF for awarding Attorney General James Uthmeier a $100,000-a-year adjunct professorship to \u201cteach a few hours a week, while similarly situated professors make $5,000.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know the Attorney General, but that is frankly bizarre and if true, demonstrates a pattern of malfeasance in UF\u2019s hiring and contracting processes,\u201d he wrote. \u201cDoes that mean all Florida law schools need to retain the Attorney General.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrankly, what is occurring at UF sounds like something we would see coming out of states like California and New York, not the free state of Florida,\u201d he later added.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Uthmeier\u2019s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Scott didn\u2019t pin all the responsibility on UF. Instead, he called upon the Legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019 successor to \u201cbring back transparency and stop these contracts that circumvent public review and discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Scott\u2019s list of demands included a request for all public university employment agreements for elected officials or their families, as well as peer compensation figures. He also urged the Legislature to repeal a 2022 state law shielding college president searches from public view, which has resulted in most searches yielding one finalist.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m frankly tired of hearing \u201cthere is only one sole finalist because no one else was willing to do a public interview,\u201d Scott wrote. \u201cThat is BS.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>The Florida House last year approved legislation that would have required universities to disclose all applicants and open presidential searches to greater public review. But the proposal died in the Senate after opposition from university leaders and warnings from DeSantis that he would likely veto the measure.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=776\">DNA ties man accused in other cases to girl\u2019s assault in Miami Beach: cops<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><!--]--><!--]--><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><!-- --><\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sen. Rick Scott accuses the University of Florida of a secretive presidential search, questions payouts to interim president Donald Landry and adjunct hiring practices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":780,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-florida-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Rick Scott blasts UF president search, money for Uthmeier and interim president - Florida Moving Chronicle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/floridamovingchronicle.com\/?p=781\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rick Scott blasts UF president search, money for Uthmeier and interim president - Florida Moving Chronicle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sen. 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