The University of West Florida Board of Trustees held committee meetings and a special board meeting on Thursday. Heritage Foundation senior fellow Adam Kissel, who chairs the Academic Affairs Committee, wanted to drop an astronomy course, “Life in the Universe,” from the General Education Course List because he felt it was “speculative.”
Trustee Chris Young, another Gov. Ron DeSantis appointee, persuaded the Heritage Foundation-DeSantis bloc to move the course from the General Education Course List to an elective during the 2026-2027 academic year. All seven members of the bloc—Kissel, Young, Paul Bailey, Matthews, Moya, Ashley Ross and Zack Smith—agreed.
- Unspoken Reason: “Life in the Universe” might challenge the beliefs of some evangelicals, who take the Book of Genesis literally.
Presidential Search
As I reported last month, Trust Chair Rebecca Matthews has hired Funk Associates to conduct UWF’s presidential search and the DeSantis-favored law firm Lawson Huck Gonzales PLLC as outside counsel.
- Former UWF General Counsel Susan Woolf was fired by Interim President Manny Diaz for objecting to Matthews hiring an outside law firm that Woolf felt was unqualified and without board approval.
Background
Chair Matthews requested that outside counsel be retained to advise the presidential search committee. In response, Woolf provided the names of two attorneys from different law firms, both of whom she described as “well-qualified for this work.”
- Both recommended attorneys have extensive experience advising universities and colleges, have previously guided institutions through presidential searches, and are well-versed in Sunshine Law and public records requirements that govern such processes at public universities.
However, Chair Matthews identified a different attorney and firm that she prefers to hire, despite Woolf’s advice against this selection. The General Counsel expressed concerns about this attorney’s qualifications and experience level compared to those of her recommended candidates.
Woolf took the position that:
- “The Board of Trustees, of course, has the authority to disagree with my advice and to retain the outside counsel of its choice.” But she added, “No individual trustee has the authority to make that decision for the Board.”
Lawson Huck Gonzalez
I asked State Rep. Alex Andrade about the Tallahassee law firm that was formed in 2023:
- “There’s only a handful of firms the Governor’s office favors. I’m not surprised it’s a firm like Lawson, Huck, Gonzalez. They’ve recently been getting millions of dollars in contracts from the Governor’s office, and one of their lawyers even tried to say the Hope Florida money laundering scheme was above board.”
Alan Lawson retired from the Florida Supreme Court in 2022.
- In April 2025, Lawson published an article in Florida Politics addressing controversies related to the DeSantis administration’s stance against legalizing recreational marijuana in Florida, while Andrade and his committee were investigating how Medicaid settlement dollars were given to Hope Florida and later funneled to nonprofits that donated them to a political committee run by James Uthmeier (former Chief of Staff and current Attorney General) to fight the pot amendment.
- Lawson defended the administration, particularly the actions of James Uthmeier (former Chief of Staff and then-Attorney General), and argued that the campaign was legal, transparent, and aimed at protecting the state’s constitution and values.
Jason Gonzalez is the former General Counsel to the Governor of Florida.
