Gates Garcia’s resignation letter

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Through a public record request, Inweekly received former University of West Florida Trustee Gates Garcia’s resignation letter, dated, Monday, April 14. Garcia resigned because residents and Sen. Gayle Harrell, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Higher Education, “strongly believe its board should be comprised of residents of the Panhandle.

He wrote, “I do not meet this qualification. Therefore, I’m resigning to make a place for someone who does meet this qualification.”

Read UWF Letter of Resignation-GG.

On April 17, this blog broke the news that the Tampa podcaster had resigned from the University of West Florida Board of Trustees. He wass the second resignation among the five Trustees appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Boise State professor and board chair Scott Yenor resigned on April 9.

The resignation happened before Gates would have faced the Senate Committee on Ethics & Elections, which is chaired by Sen. Don Gaetz.

Senate Appropriations Committee on Higher Education Hearing

Gates had won approval of Sen. Harrell’s committee, but under oath, he claimed he voted for Yenor to be the chair based solely on his “track record in education reform.” Four times, Gates testified that he was unaware of Yenor’s controversial comments.

“He has a demonstrated track record there if you read everything he’s written,” Gates said of his research. “I believe that sort of diversity on this board, as far as being competitive in a marketplace that’s undergone education reform for the last 15 to 20 years, would’ve been warranted. And when I spoke on him, the only area I was speaking on, if you look at my quotes, is education reform.”

When Senator Jennifer Bradley (R-Fleming Island) pressed about the appointee’s controversial statements regarding women in higher education, Gates claimed he was unfamiliar with comments suggesting “women should not participate in higher ed” or that lower participation rates for women in engineering programs were acceptable.

The exchange grew particularly heated when Senator Bradley expressed skepticism about Gates’ claimed ignorance of these widely-known controversial positions, noting they appeared “very consistent throughout [the appointee’s] work.”

Gates insisted he “did not come across these specific remarks” disparaging women and emphasized his own “demonstrated track record of believing the exact opposite.” He acknowledged familiarity with the nominee’s writings on diversity, equity, and inclusion, but maintained his focus had been exclusively on the candidate’s education reform credentials.

Senator Bradley concluded the exchange with a pointed “Interesting,” suggesting continued skepticism about Gates’ explanation.

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Gates Garcia’s resignation letter

Senate Appropriations Committee on Higher Education Hearing

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