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The University of Florida is scheduled to vote Wednesday on the sole candidate for president who has been criticized by some conservatives for supporting diversity, equity and inclusion at his previous post.
Former University of Alabama President Stuart Bell is the sole candidate up for the position, and has responded to the criticisms by saying “I am not coming to Florida to bring DEI or any type of ‘woke’ back,” the Gainesville Sun reported.
The embattled candidate even received support from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who posted on X: “Dr. Bell did much to elevate the University of Alabama when he was the president in Tuscaloosa and I have no doubt that he will help UF reach new heights during his tenure in Gainesville. He is a great selection and has my full support!”
Under his tenure leading the University of Alabama, however, critics have pointed out Bell “founded Alabama’s DEI office in 2017 and hired its first chief diversity officer.”
“By 2021, Bell was bragging publicly on a university DEI promotional video that over a third of the Alabama’s courses and 70 student organizations were DEI-focused,” stated John Sailer, director of higher education policy with the conservative Manhattan Institute.
Under President Trump in 2024, Republican state lawmakers in Alabama passed a law to shutter DEI offices and programming on college campuses across the state or risk losing state and federal funds.
While Bell closed UA’s DEI office, he opened a new Division of Opportunities, Connections and Success led by Christine Taylor, who formerly led the university’s DEI division. Some have argued the move simply allowed DEI to operate under different names.
On Monday, Accuracy in Media released an undercover video showing University of Alabama’s Shemaiah Kenon, assistant director of the Intercultural Center, saying she and her colleagues have found ways to still maintain DEI on campus.
“When I read the draft of the bill, people were calling me like, ‘This is blasphemy.’ I said, ‘It’s actually stupid because I found some holes,'” Kenon said in the two-minute video, which has been edited by AIM.
Kenon said work arounds included allowing student organizations that would normally receive federal funding from the DEI office to continue operating through donations.
She added that faculty have also been trained on “how to continue to incorporate the inclusivity piece in their coursework as well as their classroom settings, like creating an inviting classroom setting for all students.”
AIM titled the video: “Stuart Bell’s Alabama Record Disqualifies Him from Leading UF.”
Accuracy in Media President Adam Guillette told The College Fix on Tuesday that he believes Bell’s previous track record is alarming.
“It’s undeniable that they were continuing DEI programming in training their staff on how to circumvent the law,” he said of the University of Alabama. His group is asking its supporters to contact UF board members to urge them to reject Bell.
“What we see consistently at each university in a state with a DEI ban is that they consistently just rename the DEI jobs, rename the DEI programs, and continue doing the exact same work,” he said.
The University of Florida’s media affairs division did not immediately respond to requests Tuesday from The College Fix for comment.
As The College Fix previously reported, Bell’s selection follows fallout last year after the university similarly tried to hire University of Michigan President Santa Ono for the role. However, conservative criticism of Ono’s support for DEI ultimately led to his rejection almost a year ago.
MORE: U. Florida’s presidential finalist boasted about injecting DEI into classes
