Manny Díaz Jr. tapped as University of West Florida interim president
Amid Gov. Ron DeSantis' efforts to reshape the state's higher-education system, the University of West Florida Board of Trustees on Tuesday selected state Education Commissioner Manny Díaz Jr. to serve as the school's interim president.
Díaz, a close ally of DeSantis, will succeed outgoing President Martha Saunders, who announced on May 14 that she would step down.
The selection of Díaz, a Hialeah Republican who served in the House and Senate before being appointed commissioner in 2022, drew harsh criticism from community leaders, students and faculty members in the runup to Tuesday's 8-2 vote by the trustees.
Jerry Maygarden, a former state representative who has been involved with the university for more than five decades, was among the people who urged the board to consider other options for a successor to Saunders.
Maygarden noted that rumors of Diaz's potential selection circulated 'for more than a year' and predicted that the appointment of the politically connected commissioner on an interim basis would have a negative impact on a search for a new president if Diaz decides to seek the job on a permanent basis.
'If you name him the interim president, you will shut down the applicant pool,' Maygarden warned.
'Top-drawer candidates will not want to sacrifice their current positions for a political process that appears to be, as one Tallahassee insider said, a done deal,' he added.
Tallahassee State College President Jim Murdaugh and Northwest Florida State College President Mel Ponder, a former state representative, supported Díaz.
Díaz, who served as education chairman in the Senate, 'had legislative successes in policy and appropriations' and 'knows the halls of the Capitol extremely well, which I think would really serve the university well, from that regard,' Ponder said.
Murdaugh called Díaz a 'thought leader' who has established himself as a 'highly effective' leader in education.
Díaz has a bachelor's degree from St. Thomas University, a master's degree from Nova Southeastern University and has completed a Harvard Graduate School of Education program for principals, according to a news release issued by UWF after the trustees met.
Díaz began his career as a social-studies teacher and coached baseball in Miami-Dade County public schools. He also served as an assistant principal from 2007 to 2013, when he went to work as chief operating officer of Doral College, which is affiliated with charter-school operator Academica.
Speaking to the board after Tuesday's vote, Díaz addressed concerns that he lacked the qualifications to serve as president of the university, which has roughly 14,000 students.
'While I have a vast experience in the K-12 world, obviously, I also have been involved in higher ed, not just as a policymaker in the Legislature and as a member of the (state university system's) Board of Governors, but as an administrator in my, quote unquote, day job,' Díaz said, adding that he's 'had a lot of conversations' with people in the region.
Díaz also said he's 'enjoyed very good relationships' with members of the Northwest Florida legislative delegation.
'I understand that this institution has a very unique place in this community. It has an identity of this community, not only as an economic engine, but also as a guardian of the historic trust,' he said. 'But it is a robust military community, and I think that is going to continue to be important.'
Controversy has swirled around the University of West Florida for months. DeSantis and the university system's Board of Governors appointed a slate of trustees — including Boise State University political science professor Scott Yenor — to the school in December and January. Yenor was quickly elected chairman of the board but drew opposition, in part, because of issues such as a 2021 comment calling working women 'more medicated, meddlesome and quarrelsome than women need to be.' Yenor stepped down from the board in April.
Alonzie Scott, a trustee who was appointed to the board in 2018 and reappointed by DeSantis in 2019, on Tuesday questioned not only Díaz's qualifications but also the process resulting in his nomination.
As speculation swelled about Díaz, the university did not identify him as a potential interim president until the agenda for Tuesday's meeting was posted on Monday.
'I don't know of any place in any job that I've ever had in my entire career where you select one person and you … give them to a board and make that be the only choice,' said Scott, who opposed Díaz's selection.
Scott also said the board appeared to have 'circumvented' procedures 'to create a facade of a meeting' so Díaz could be tapped as interim president.
'I can't prove that any of us have violated the Sunshine (Law) guidelines, but I can tell you … it appears that those decisions were made before this board even had a chance to discuss,' Scott said. 'That is a travesty in terms of how we operate. It's a slap in the face of what we consider a process of getting things done and it's certainly a disservice to the community of Northwest Florida, Escambia County and all the other counties that the school draws students from.'
Scott repeatedly pressed board Chairwoman Rebecca Matthews, who also chairs the Florida Education Foundation, to reveal who she spoke to about Díaz's appointment before Tuesday. Matthews' nonprofit is a direct-support organization for the state Department of Education, which Díaz oversees.
Matthews said she spoke with state university system Chancellor Ray Rodrigues and 'many folks.'
'Folks in the administration. Folks in the community,' Matthews said, bristling at Scott's questions. 'I don't know that I have to run through that list with you today.'
Before the vote on Díaz, Matthews praised his record.
'Commissioner Díaz is high energy. He's a tireless leader, an advocate with endless ideas to brainstorm. His vision, his foresight, his strong ability to implement has been proven time and time again,' she said.
Trustees Ashley Ross, who was appointed to the board by DeSantis in January, and Rachel Moya, who was appointed by the Board of Governors in December, also strongly recommended Díaz.
But questions remained about the impact of Diaz's selection on a presidential search.
Dick Baker, a trustee who also has been affiliated with UWF for more than five decades, suggested Díaz would not be willing to leave his position as education commissioner — with the support of the governor — for a temporary job as president.
'I don't think a (presidential) search when the interim president is also a candidate will attract any great candidates … so I hope we don't spend much money or do a relatively meaningless search,' Baker, who endorsed Díaz as interim president, said.
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The GOP's latest megabill casualties
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Politico
15 minutes ago
- Politico
Kweisi Mfume is pitching an old-school approach to one of House Democrats' highest-profile jobs
Frustrated by Democrats' seniority system, Kweisi Mfume fled the House three decades ago, saying he could do more to advance civil rights from the outside. Now he's back and trying to reap the benefits of seniority at a moment when many in his party are starting to openly question it. The Baltimore native last month surprised many House colleagues by entering the wide-open race to lead Democrats on the high-profile Oversight Committee, seeking to fill the spot vacated by the sudden death of Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly. Into the void jumped a pair of young, ambitious members — Jasmine Crockett of Texas and Robert Garcia of California — as well as a close Connolly ally, Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts. And then there's Mfume, who at 76 is making no bones about this being the capstone of a long career that included stints leading the Congressional Black Caucus and the NAACP — jobs he took back in the 1990s. 'I started a long time ago when dinosaurs roamed the earth,' Mfume joked in an interview, before describing his old-school approach to legislative relations: 'The first thing you learn is how to count votes, which has never failed me yet,' he said, adding that he would be careful not to alienate colleagues 'by doing something that causes problems for them in their district.' Rather than detail a point-by-point agenda for taking on President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans, Mfume said if elected he'd convene the committee's Democrats to decide a course of action. The party, he said, can only move forward with a 'consensus.' That style stands in sharp contrast to a Democratic base that's itching for more aggressive leadership and a more visible fight with Trump — something the other candidates are clearly heeding: Garcia has tangled with the Justice Department over his criticism of Elon Musk; Crockett has broached the prospect of a Trump impeachment inquiry; and Lynch, as the panel's interim top Democrat, attempted last week to subpoena Musk during a panel hearing. The race also threatens to become a proxy fight for broader questions about age and seniority inside the Democratic Party. House Democrats ousted several aging committee leaders at the end of last Congress as they girded for a fight with the Trump administration — and many in the base were disappointed when Connolly triumphed over Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. The winner is poised to lead efforts to investigate and thwart the Trump administration if Democrats can retake the House majority next year — and ride herd on a chaotic panel that in recent months has featured intense personal attacks between lawmakers and the display of nude photos. 'It's a street fight every day,' said Rep. Lateefah Simon of California when asked about the panel and what it takes to lead it. 'It's every single day being able to expose the hypocrisy of this administration and to tell the truth.' There was a time when Mfume would have been a natural choice for such a moment. First elected to Baltimore's City Council at the age of 30, he quickly butted heads with legendary Mayor William Donald Schaefer. After longtime Rep. Parren Mitchell retired, Mfume easily won the seat in 1986 and within a few years become a national figure due to his chairmanship of the CBC. Ascending to that role just as Bill Clinton was elected to the presidency, he became an important power broker, forcing key concessions in Clinton's 1993 budget and pushing the White House to restore ousted Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power. He also clashed with Clinton at times, including over his decision to pull the nomination of prominent Black legal scholar Lani Guinier to a top Justice Department post. But after Democrats lost their House majority in 1994 — and Mfume lost a quixotic bid to enter the party leadership — he decided two years later to forgo a long climb up the seniority ladder. He instead took the helm at the Baltimore-based NAACP, a job thought to better harness his skills at organizing and oratory. Former Maryland state Sen. Jill Carter said Mfume has long had the 'it factor' and 'charisma' that matters in politics. When Carter ran against Mfume in his 2020 House comeback bid, she got a reminder of how well her rival was known in the district and beyond: 'When some of my people did exit polling, they got the response, 'Oh, we love Jill but, come on, this is Kweisi.'' What's less clear is whether Mfume's reputation in Baltimore, burnished over 45 years in the public eye, makes him the man for the moment as far as his contemporary House colleagues are concerned. He's not known as a partisan brawler, and he said in the interview he doesn't intend to become one. 'There are always going to be fights and disagreements,' he said. 'It's kind of escalated in the last few years to a level that we haven't seen before. I think the main thing is to moderate and to manage the disagreements, because you're not going to cause any of them to go away. How you manage them and how they are perceived by the overall public is what makes a difference.' Mfume is leaning heavily, in fact, on the style and reputation of the man who filled the 7th District seat for the 24 years in between his House stints — the late Rep. Elijah Cummings, who served as top Democrat and then chair of Oversight during Trump's first term and is still spoken of in reverent terms inside the caucus. Mfume concedes that Cummings might have been the better communicator — he 'had a little more preacher in him than I do' — but said they share a similar lofty approach to politics. Like Cummings, he suggested prescription drug prices might be a committee priority. What Mfume is unlikely to have is the official support of the Congressional Black Caucus, a powerful force in intracaucus politics. With two members in the race — Crockett also belongs — Mfume said he does not expect a formal CBC endorsement after an interview process Wednesday. But he still expected to draw support from the bloc — especially its more senior members. Other factors complicate Mfume's candidacy. One is age: He is a year older than Connolly was when he was elected to lead Oversight Democrats last year. For those who prize seniority, Lynch has actually spent more time on the panel. And his 2004 departure from the NAACP was marred by controversy: The Baltimore Sun reported the executive committee of the group voted not to extend his contract under threat of a sexual harassment lawsuit; the NAACP later paid the woman who complained a $100,000 settlement. Mfume strenuously denied any wrongdoing, but while the episode has not emerged as a major issue in the Oversight race, some Democrats have privately expressed reservations about elevating a leader with personal baggage to potentially lead investigations of Trump. 'There's never been one person to corroborate that one allegation — not one,' Mfume said. About the payment, he said, 'I found out about it, quite frankly, after it happened.' Much of the Democratic Caucus remains undecided ahead of the June 24 secret-ballot vote. Candidates will first go before Democrats' Steering and Policy Committee, which will make a recommendation to the full caucus. 'I think that you have a situation where Mfume and Steve Lynch are getting support from folks who put seniority at top, and maybe the other two candidates would probably lean toward members who are newer, and then you got a whole host of folks that's in the middle. And I think that's where the battle is to see where they fall,' said Rep. Greg Meeks (D-N.Y.). One younger member said he was swayed by Mfume's experience. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who is 48 and had weighed his own bid, said that while other candidates were compelling, the Baltimorean had a 'leg up.' 'Kweisi shows me pictures of him with Nelson Mandela,' he said. 'I was like, I'm not going to run against Nelson Mandela's best friend.'
New York Times
15 minutes ago
- New York Times
Texas Governor Will Deploy National Guard to Immigration Protests
Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas said late Tuesday that he would deploy National Guard troops across the state, making him the first governor to do so as protests against the Trump administration's immigration crackdown spread across the United States. Mr. Abbott, a Republican and a vocal supporter of President Trump's immigration agenda, said on social media that he would not tolerate violence as protests are planned in San Antonio on Wednesday. The protests that began in Los Angeles last Friday against federal immigration raids have spread to more than a dozen U.S. cities, including Dallas, Austin, Houston and San Antonio. While many of the protests have been peaceful, police have clashed with demonstrators at some of them. Mr. Trump has threatened to override governors who don't want to send National Guard troops to stop protests, like the president did in California, where he sent nearly 5,000 National Guard troops and Marines over the strong objections of state leaders. That has made California ground zero for Mr. Trump's immigration agenda, which includes ramping up deportations of undocumented immigrants with the help of local law enforcement agencies and, in a rare action, active-duty military forces. Mr. Abbott's announcement said that the Texas National Guard will 'use every tool & strategy to help law enforcement maintain order.' 'Peaceful protest is legal,' he added. 'Harming a person or property is illegal & will lead to arrest.' The announcement did not specify where and when the troops will be deployed. Mr. Abbott's office, the San Antonio Police Department, the Texas National Guard and U.S. Northern Command did not immediately respond to requests for comment. On Monday night, more than a dozen protesters were arrested in Austin during a demonstration at the Texas Capitol in Austin, Mr. Abbott had said. Law enforcement officials used tear gas and pepper ball projectiles, the Texas Department of Public Safety said.
