Education
University of Michigan President, Santa Ono, Set to Lead University of 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.”
In October, Dr. Ono agreed to a contract extension at Michigan that would have kept him in Ann Arbor until 2032 and raised his base salary to $1.3 million. Now Dr. Ono is set to leave the university after less than three years in its presidency, the shortest tenure of any permanent Michigan leader.
James H. Finkelstein, a professor emeritus of public policy at George Mason University who has studied the contracts of university leaders, said Dr. Ono was positioned to have the highest pay of any public school president in the country, perhaps earning as much within a year or two at Florida as he would have in the early 2030s at Michigan.
Over the last year, Michigan has faced a number of issues that have divided its campus. It fired a diversity programs administrator after she was accused of making antisemitic comments. Last spring, the university allowed an encampment related to the war in Gaza to stand for weeks before the authorities dismantled it.
And conflict over the war extended into the student government after pro-Palestinian activists won elections and stopped funding for campus groups unless the university divested from certain companies. The university refused, and the student government leaders were ultimately impeached and removed. Earlier in Dr. Ono’s presidency, Michigan faced a five-month strike by graduate student instructors.
Florida has also been involved in fights that resonated beyond its campus. The administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis said recently it had intervened in the University of Florida’s search for a new College of Liberal Arts and Sciences dean after a social media account accused the four finalists of being “radical DEI progressives.”
The university soon suspended its search, and Florida’s interim president, Kent Fuchs, said it was “inadvisable to appoint a new dean without the full participation of the next president.”
But one of Governor DeSantis’s aides promoted a social media post that had castigated the candidates. The aide, Bryan Griffin, added that the administration had “worked with” the university and that the search had been “halted.”
“UF leadership was cooperative & has committed to holding off,” Mr. Griffin, Mr. DeSantis’s communications director, wrote on social media.
Dr. Ono will fill a role that Mr. Sasse left less than 18 months into a five-year, $10 million contract. After Mr. Sasse quit, he came under fire for the university’s spending and hiring during his tenure. Florida’s board had also been concerned about the university’s decline — from No. 5 to No. 6 — in the U.S. News & World Report rankings of public universities. The university later fell to No. 7.
Florida would be Dr. Ono’s fourth presidency. In addition to Michigan, he also led the University of British Columbia and the University of Cincinnati.
“Ono is one of the few presidents today who is a professional president,” said Dr. Finkelstein.
Judith A. Wilde, a research professor at George Mason who collaborates with Dr. Finkelstein, noted that roughly 80 percent of college leaders hold just one top job in their careers. About 18 percent, she said, go on to a second presidency.
In a statement released by Florida, Dr. Ono expressed enthusiasm for his latest role.
“No other public university combines U.F.’s momentum, its role as the flagship of one of the nation’s most important states, the extraordinary support from state leaders and a shared vision across its entire community,” he said.
In our national memory, George Washington is a mythic figure, cast in metal, carved in stone. His leadership, first as general, then as president, is so intertwined with the roots of this country that it is sometimes hard to separate the man from the idea of America. How does one imagine the living presence of such an icon, much less embody him?
There is a small fraternity of men bold enough to try. At historical parks and commemorations from Virginia to Seattle, these interpreters (their preferred term) transform themselves into Washington. Each has his own approach, but what all their representations seek to capture is a legacy that has endured from his time to ours. If America, at least in part, is an idea, then our national project becomes, like theirs, an act of interpretation, an imperfect attempt to translate some idealized vision into the messy reality of our own time.
— Ezekiel Kweku
“By some strange quirk
of genetics, I have
Washington’s exact
dimensions. Where my
sleeves fall on my wrist,
the size of my chest, the
size of my thighs, where
the breeches fall to my
knees, are all identical.”
John Koopman, 67, often performs
while riding his horse, Bear. He
has portrayed Washington for 20 years.
James Fryer, 70, wears a replica of a general’s uniform that Washington designed himself. He recently completed training to portray Washington for the nonprofit Historic Philadelphia.
“Some people portray George as a marble statue. I don’t do a marble George. I am interested in talking to everyone, even those who yell at me because George was a slave owner. I want to respect them, try to educate them, or maybe even inspire them.”
Vern Frykholm, 77, was moved to bring his interpretation of Washington to Washington State, where he lives, after seeing a 2011 performance in Pennsylvania.
Dean Malissa, 73, signs his personal
correspondence, including emails,
as Washington did: “Your Most Humble
and Obedient Servant.” He became
the Official George Washington
at Mount Vernon in 2004, and held
that role for nearly 20 years.
“I describe him sometimes as just a dude. I look at him and think, I could see myself in the same world, making similar bad decisions or similar good decisions.”
Daniel Cross, 39, portrayed a young Washington at Virginia’s Colonial Williamsburg until last year. He now works with organizations around the country.
Curt Radabaugh, 62, has 13,000 history books in his personal library, including several hundred about Washington. He is a veteran of the U.S. Marines and a retired police officer.
“He’s a mentor, a father
figure, and not only in the
sense that he’s a patriarch
of the country. Because
I grew up without a
father, he kind of became
my surrogate father.”
Brian Hilton, 58, says he researches
Washington’s era every morning before
his children get up and at night after
they go to bed. He is a high school history
teacher near Richmond, Va.
Daniel Shippey, 57, partners on interpretations with his wife, Kelly, who portrays Martha Washington. Kelly researched 18th-century hair techniques to create her husband’s costume hairstyle. They live in Virginia.
“You’re playing the myth of George Washington as well as the historical figure. I make his voice a little firmer and deeper than it probably was in real life. I play him a little funnier than he probably was. In reality, if you came to see him, he probably wouldn’t talk to you as much as I do.”
Doug Thomas, 53, is Washington’s second cousin nine times removed.
John Godzieba, 67, has reenacted
the crossing of the Delaware as
Washington every Christmas for the
past 16 years at Pennsylvania’s
Washington Crossing Historic Park.
“In many ways I don’t look like him. My eye color is wrong. My nose is wrong. My hair color is wrong. I wouldn’t have cast myself in this role.”
Ron Carnegie, 64, has portrayed Washington at Colonial Williamsburg for 20 years.
Ryan Williams, 37, is a veteran who specializes in playing a young Washington during the French and Indian War. He lives in Virginia.
“Some people portray
Washington almost
like a superhero.
I like to bring out that
he has faults. He’s a
person like you or me.”
Michael Grillo, 64, is a historical
tailor who hand-sews his own clothes
for reenactments. He also makes
period props, including two American
battle flags and pewter mugs
engraved with Washington’s crest.
Martin Schoeller is a photographer and director known for his close-up portraits of everyone from world leaders and celebrities to female bodybuilders. For this project, he used a large format camera to photograph 13 historical interpreters of George Washington — many of whom arrived in full uniform — over three days in Virginia and New York City.
Additional reporting by Tenzin D. Tsagong. Interviews have been edited and condensed for length and clarity. Top quotes from Brian Hilton, Daniel Shippey and Daniel Cross.
Produced by Sara Barrett, Danny DeBelius and Sam Whitney. Additional production by Olivia James.
One task the robots can take from us? Cleaning. Especially hard-to-access windows. So when writers Caroline Mullen and Evan Dent found this little guy — whose government name is “EcoVacs Winbot Mini” — they were intrigued. Could he clean the uncleanable? Caroline and Evan put their robot friend to the test at both the Wirecutter office and a high-rise apartment. Is a robo-window cleaner more effective than scrubbing yourself?
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