UPDATE: The Associated Press also picked up the story. Read here.
The Pensacola News Journal completely dropped the ball on reporting on the significance of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ appointments to the University of West Florida Board of Trustees. Fortunately, Florida Politics saw what I reported yesterday – the appointments will force the board in a more conservative direction.
Background: The PNJ simply published the press release from the governor’s office. The appointees are Paul Bailey, Gates Garcia, Adam Kissel, Scott Yenor and Chris Young.
I noted that none of them are UWF alums or live in the Pensacola area. One lives in West Virginia; another in Idaho. Two have ties to the Heritage Foundation.
The Boise State professor, Scott Yenor, drew protests on campus for remarks made in a speech: “Every effort made must be made not to recruit women into engineering, but rather to recruit and demand more of men who become engineers. Ditto for med school, and the law, and every trade.”
Florida Politics reported: “The University of West Florida (UWF) may soon lurch rightward, following new appointments by Gov. Ron DeSantis.”
The reporter added, “Two of them, Adam Kissel and Scott Yenor, live outside of Florida and have associations with The Heritage Foundation, whose Project 2025 vision for President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration attracted national headlines and ample consternation among progressives.Yenor now works with the Claremont Institute, a California-based think tank described by The New York Times as ‘a nerve center of the American Right.'” Read more.
Meanwhile, WEAR-TV missed the story entirely.
WHY THIS MATTERS: The UWF Board of Trustees is the 13-member governing body for the institution. The Governor of Florida appoints six of the members, who serve five-year terms and the Board of Governors appoints five of the members who serve five-year terms. All of these must be approved by the Senate. The president of the Faculty Senate holds one of those places. The final member is the president of the Student Government Association.
The UWF website only lists seven trustees:
Suzanne Lewis
Earned her BA in History from the University of West Florida in 1978, completed her 32 year career with National Park Service in 2011. The last 9 years were spent as the Superintendent of Yellowstone National Park
Jill Singer
Vice President, National Security, AT&T Public Sector and Wholesale Solutions
Richard R. “Dick” Baker
Involved with real estate development and banking in the Pensacola area for most of his career. He enjoyed serving with the UWF Foundation, co-chairing its capital campaign, being a Foundation Fellow and serving on many of its committees over the years
Dr. Paul Hsu
Founder and Chairman of HSU Educational Foundation. An Engineer, Entrepreneur, Business Leader, Author and Public Servant, Paul is a first-generation immigrant who came to America in 1976, receiving citizenship in 1980, later successfully achieving his American Dream.
Stephanie White
founding attorney of her firm, Florida Adoptions, Stephanie S. White, PLLC in Pensacola, Florida. Her practice includes private placement adoptions, relative adoptions, interventions, and child related matters within the foster care system. Previously she worked as the Community Affairs Director for the Sandy Sansing Dealerships
Susan James, Faculty Senate President
Maggie Brown, SGA President
