Experts fear US institutions will find it ever harder to recruit top academic leaders, especially in red states, after political interference derailed the efforts of Santa Ono to take over at the University of Florida.

Ono, the only finalist for the role vacated by former Republican senator Ben Sasse, had already left his position as?president of the University of Michigan and?been unanimously approved by the Florida Board of Trustees. However, his appointment was overruled by the state¡¯s politically appointed Board of Governors last week.

Conservative activist Chris Rufio described the outcome as ¡°another scalp on the wall¡± after other leaders including Harvard University¡¯s Claudine Gay were ousted from their posts in recent years. Donald Trump Junior had also lobbied the board to reject the candidacy.

Rufio, a board member at the New College of Florida, described Ono as a ¡°captured left-wing ideologue¡± , but the immunologist was also criticised for walking back his support for diversity, equality and inclusion on campus during the furore, while his name was also removed from a letter that was critical of the Trump administration.

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Michael Harris, professor of higher education at Southern Methodist University, said?it was surprising that Ono had thrown his hat into the ring at all, given he was doing so?in a state run by Ron DeSantis, a Republican governor not afraid to meddle in higher education.

DeSantis, who stood against Donald Trump at the last presidential election, has led a crackdown on diversity initiatives and tried to row back tenure protections, while installing his supporters in key positions within institutions.

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¡°You cannot be a successful college president if you¡¯re having to fight with your state all the time and your state legislature is attacking you all the time and that¡¯s the reality in Florida and some other states, in recent years, and that makes those jobs next to impossible to do,¡± said Harris.

Florida was looking for a new president after Sasse?resigned after just over a year?in the role and has since?.

Despite the reported salary of up to $3 million (?2.2 million), Isaac Kamola, director of the Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom at the American Association of University Professors, warned that Ono¡¯s public rejection would warn off top talent from future roles in Florida ¨C and sends the message that the eventual appointee will be ¡°working under the sword of Damocles¡±.

¡°The message is if you want to be a university president in Florida, you have to bend the knee to a governor¡­who¡¯s spreading misinformation and disinformation.¡±

Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, senior associate dean for leadership studies at Yale University, agreed. He said the disastrous incident will make it even harder to find top academic leaders willing to act as ¡°punching bags absorbing the blows of grandstanding interest groups¡±.

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¡°Certainly, no top-tier school leader will now consider moving to the University of Florida with the cultural and political?pollution that has soiled the public governance practices there. It is also a wonder why any leader of objective judgment, accomplishment and credibility would now want to serve on the neutered board of the trustees of the university.¡±

And Alec Thomson, president of the National Council for Higher Education, said the eventual Florida president will find their goals ¡°secondary to the politics of culture warriors¡±.?

¡°Thanks to the Board of Governors, [Florida] will now have a president whose greatest attribute will be that of being an ideologue and not an academic leader.¡±

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Thomson said recent legislative actions in Florida, along with Texas, Utah and Ohio, have strengthened the ideological control that the Republican party holds over public institutions.

Ono¡¯s rejection could cause ripples across the sector, with the University of Texas at Austin soon needing to find a long-term successor to interim president Jim Davis.

¡°Florida has been kind of the leading edge of these partisan attacks, but Texas has never been far behind,¡± added Harris.

¡°This is yet another example, but will not be the last, of where we see these partisan political influences on higher education.¡±

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patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com