University of Michigan President, Santa Ono, Set to Lead University of Florida

U.S.|University President Who Shut Down D.E.I. Efforts Is Recruited to Florida

The University of Florida is poised to name the president of the University of Michigan, Santa Ono, as its next leader, after months of uncertainty and rising concerns about political pressure on top campuses.

Dr. Ono was announced on Sunday as the sole finalist for Florida’s top job and said he would assume the role this summer. He could receive up to $3 million in total cash compensation annually and become the highest-paid public university president in the United States.

Although Michigan and Florida are among the nation’s best-regarded schools, both have faced substantial turmoil in recent years, and Dr. Ono, whose style frustrated many in Ann Arbor, is moving from one lightning rod to another.

In March, the University of Michigan announced that it would shut down its primary diversity, equity and inclusion effort, a program that was the subject of internal dispute but had nevertheless been regarded as a model for the higher education industry. Last week, eight people brought a federal lawsuit that accused the university of retaliation because they participated in pro-Palestinian protests.

Dr. Ono is planning to step into a Florida presidency that Ben Sasse, a Republican who had represented Nebraska in the U.S. Senate, abruptly left last summer.

The boards of both the university and the university system must still ratify Dr. Ono’s hiring, but those steps are seen as formalities. The university, which Dr. Ono plans to visit on Tuesday, did not immediately release any contract terms. A board committee voted in February, though, to offer up to $3 million in what it described as “total cash compensation.”