A lengthy list of groups designated by the state as “domestic terrorist organizations” is on hold until state law enforcement establishes regulations to implement the changes from a new state law.

The state on Monday requested additional time to respond to the Council on American-Islamic Relations federal lawsuit as the Florida Department of Law Enforcement intends to first issue regulations to implement the law (HB 1471) and a related public records exemption (HB 1473) from the 2026 regular session.

“No designation will be made before the regulations are finalized,” the filing in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida in Tallahassee stated.

Representatives for the state did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Scott McCoy, deputy legal director for the Southern Poverty Law Center, which represents CAIR, said the state’s action shows the law is less about public safety than politics.

“The fact that Florida officials announced their intent to designate CAIR at their July 1 press conference, before regulations they now plan to issue have come into effect, shows their calculated and cruel plan to designate CAIR is not because it is in any way a threat to public safety, but because doing so suits their political agenda,” McCoy stated in a release.

The law took effect July 1 and Gov. Ron DeSantis that day declared he would seek the “terrorism” designation for CAIR, the Muslim Brotherhood, various foreign cartels, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran and the anti-fascism movement antifa.

The designations still needed to be backed by the members of the Florida Cabinet. A special meeting with DeSantis and the Cabinet members has yet to be announced.

CAIR quickly took the pending designations to court, arguing DeSantis is violating its First Amendment rights and the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The lawsuit states CAIR and CAIR-Florida would face “irreparable harm” in their nonprofit advocacy in the state if the pending “terrorist” designation took effect. An accompanying statement denied CAIR engages in terrorist activity.

The legislation, signed by DeSantis on April 6, was crafted to back up an executive order he issued in December that placed the terrorism label on the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Muslim Brotherhood.

In March, U.S. District Judge Mark Walker issued a preliminary injunction against the executive order, writing that it violated CAIR’s rights by targeting and threatening those providing the organization with material support.

More than 1.4 million ballots have been sent out for the August primary, according to the state Division of Elections.

And more ballots are scheduled for delivery ahead of the Aug. 18 primary.

Registered Democratic voters accounted for 623,548 ballots, compared to 493,469 for Republicans and 270,642 for individuals without a party affiliation. Another 31,184 ballots went to individuals registered with a minor party.

“Ron DeSantis has said that Florida is the gold standard when it comes to vote by mail, and so we are going to continue pushing this access to the ballot box,” Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Nikki Fried said Monday in a conference call with reporters.

The state has seen the use of mail ballots decline from the COVID peak of 2.34 million used in the 2020 election cycle.

In 2022, the use dropped to 1.75 million. In 2024, 1.4 million votes were cast through the mail.

Republicans have criticized the voting method, echoing complaints of President Donald Trump, who without evidence has called the process “mail-in cheating.”

In April, Trump issued an executive order seeking to direct the U.S. Postal Service to determine who may vote by mail, blocking those not on federal mail voter lists. A federal judge blocked the order in June.

In 2021, the Republican-controlled Legislature approved election changes that included requiring requests for mail ballots to be made every election cycle. Prior to that law change, the request for a mail ballot was good for four years.

A little more than 3,000 mail ballots have already been cast this year: 1,397 by Democrats, 1,141 by Republicans, 525 from independents and 49 from third-party voters.

Many of the initial batches of mail ballots went to overseas voters.

Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Office announced on Monday that more than 127,000 mail ballots would be delivered to the post office on Thursday.

In-person early voting at limited polling locations will run from Aug. 8 to Aug. 15 in most counties.

The deadline to register to vote in the primary or to change one’s party affiliation is Monday.

 Professors across the state are breathing a small sigh of relief after a federal appeals court upheld a preliminary injunction against part of the “Stop WOKE Act.”

“It’s quite welcome,” said Zachary Leverson, an associate professor of global and sociocultural studies at Florida International University. “But also, it’s perfectly in line with what I would expect. State government, in particular partisan state government, should not meddle or dictate the content of classroom materials.”

In a 2-1 ruling issued Tuesday, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked Florida from enforcing part of the “Stop Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees (WOKE) Act,” passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2022.

DeSantis pushed for the law to prevent “indoctrination” in university classrooms, as it bars professors from endorsing precepts of critical race theory. It also bans instruction causing students to “feel guilt, anguish or other forms of psychological distress because of actions, in which the person played no part, committed in the past by other members of the same race, color, national origin or sex.”

But professors like Leverson say the law instead made Florida’s university students look like “they’re incapable of original thought.”

“They think these people are passive material who are forced into our classrooms and then professors sort of project ideas into their heads. That’s not what instruction is at all. None of us are telling students what to think or even really how to think,” Leverson said.

In a post on social media, DeSantis disagreed with the appeals court’s decision and said he’s seen “so many institutions get corrupted by ideology,” calling critical race theory and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts “discriminatory.”

“State universities are funded by taxpayers and directed by elected officials and their appointees.  The state has both a right and a responsibility to ensure instruction at these universities is consistent with the underlying mission and to exclude indoctrination and ideological agenda,” he wrote on X.

The ruling, written by Judge Britt Grant, an appointee of President Donald Trump, was critical of the state’s argument, calling it “a breathtaking assertion of power.”

“Hearing an idea you disagree with is not discrimination; it is an opportunity to come up with a better idea, or maybe even change your mind,” Grant wrote.

Robert Cassanello, president of the United Faculty of Florida (UFF) and a history professor at the University of Central Florida, believes the ruling does more than just block the “Stop WOKE Act.”

“What the 11th appellate court has done has confirmed that we as instructors in the classrooms are the content experts, and not the lawmakers, and certainly not the governor of Florida,” Cassanello said.

Florida State University professor and UFF-FSU union president Robin Goodman said “Stop Woke” has had a chilling effect in the classroom for the past four years.

“It’s the fear factor,” she told the News Service of Florida. “When you’re in the classroom, you’re trying to do the best you can for your students and for your discipline, and now you have to worry if someone in your class takes something differently than the way you meant it and you could be fired.”

The ruling, however, brought “cautious optimism” to Florida’s faculty community, and she’s received several emails from professors who are “really happy” about the outcome, even though there are still other avenues the state could take to enforce restrictions on instruction in other ways.

“People aren’t used to good news anymore,” she said.

 Florida citrus growers expressed optimism as the recent growing season topped the forecasts and ended slightly ahead of the production from the prior season.

While still close to historic lows for an industry that once dominated the citrus juice market, on Friday the U.S. Department of Agriculture increased the orange production by nearly 6 percent from an April forecast, putting it a little more than 5 percent above the 2024-2025 growing season.

Grapefruit production was moved up 8 percent from April and almost 4 percent from the prior season. Meanwhile, specialty crops, primarily tangerines and tangelos, ended 2 percent higher than the April outlook and 15 percent more than the 2024-2025 crop.

“By and large, we really feel like we’re shaping up to continue that momentum we were seeing last season, and how these therapies and newer varieties and other things are translating into the resurgence and rebuilding of this industry,” said Florida Citrus Mutual Executive Vice President and CEO Matt Joyner.

A big part of the optimism comes as state legislators have invested more than $320 million in the past two fiscal years into the industry, which has faced a variety of pressures: hurricanes, winter freezes, encroaching development, changing drinking habits and the ravages of a deadly bacterial disease called huanglongbing. Better known as citrus greening, the disease starves the roots, results in bitter, misshapen fruit, and eventually kills the tree.

Joyner also credited growers who have stuck it out for more than two decades amid the statewide reduction in land used for citrus and as the state lost its industry dominance over Texas and California.

“We’ve never stopped being the economic engine for rural communities throughout this state, where frankly, there’s not a whole lot else going on, even development,” Joyner said. “This is a critical industry. I don’t think you can go do this anywhere else in the country as well as you can do it in Florida.”

The budget for the current fiscal year recently signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis included $160 million for citrus research and field trials, $20 million for citrus nursery and packing equipment grants and $15 million for marketing efforts by the Department of Citrus.

When the Legislature approved the budget on May 29, Senate President Ben Albritton, a citrus grower from Wauchula, declared “Florida citrus is not going down on my watch.”

“Florida citrus is making a comeback, one tree at a time,” Albritton stated. “This heritage industry is not only vital to our state’s economy, but it is truly a part of our DNA.”

A release from the governor’s office when the budget was signed on June 29 also highlighted $425 million in the spending plan for conservation easements, which allow farmers and ranchers to continue operations in exchange for blocking development on their land.

Reeling from a series of hurricanes that made landfall on Florida’s west coast in 2023 and 2024, overall production in 2024-2025 was the lowest in more than a century.

The numbers out Friday from the USDA show the industry producing enough oranges to fill 12.92 million industry-standard 90-pound boxes. Grapefruit came in this season at 1.35 million boxes and the specialty crops landed at 460,000 boxes.

Five seasons earlier, the industry grew enough oranges to fill 41.2 million boxes. In the 1995-1996 season, production was at 203 million boxes.

Five seasons ago, grapefruit was at 3.33 million boxes, and three decades ago the number was 52.35 million boxes. Thirty years ago tangerines and tangelos were at 9.725 million boxes. The number fell to 750,000 in the 2021-2022 season.

The USDA report also put lemon production in Florida at 900,000 boxes, the same as in the April forecast. The number is also up from 670,000 boxes in the 2024-2025 growing season, the first year lemons were given their own listing.

Ballots are being cast for the 2026 primary election.

As of early Thursday morning, 248 mail ballots were returned in 35 county elections offices, according to numbers posted by the Florida Division of Elections.

More than 800,000 mail ballots have been sent out after an initial batch went to people overseas and in the military.

Of the ballots returned so far for the Aug. 18 primaries, registered Republicans had submitted 58, while Democrats had submitted 170. Voters without party affiliation had returned 17, while three have come from people registered with minor parties.

Of the mail ballots requested but not yet returned, nearly 350,000 went to Democrats, nearly 281,300 to Republicans, about 153,300 to unaffiliated voters and nearly 17,400 to people registered with third parties.

The deadline for registering to vote in the primary or for changing party affiliation is July 20.

In-person early voting at limited polling locations will run from Aug. 8 to Aug. 15 in most counties.

First-time unemployment claims in Florida slowed heading into the Independence Day holiday weekend.

The U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday estimated 4,337 initial unemployment applications were filed in the state last week, down from 5,733 the week ending June 27.

The latest figure marks the fourth consecutive week the numbers have declined, but this also comes as state offices were closed Thursday and Friday for the holiday.

This current trend follows the state’s first monthly jobs report since last summer in which the unemployment rate didn’t increase. The rate for May was 4.8 percent.

Over the past four weeks, the state has averaged 5,788 claims a week. Since the start of the year, the weekly average is 5,938.

Storm forecasters have further downgraded predictions a little more than a month into the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season, which has so far produced a single named tropical system.

For a season initially anticipated to be “somewhat below-normal,” Colorado State University researchers on Wednesday reduced their projections for the number of named systems and the duration of activity, stating they “now anticipate a well below-normal season.”

A day earlier, the private meteorological firm AccuWeather slightly reduced the range of named storms it predicted to develop in the Atlantic basin.

In both cases the forecast is tied to moderate El Niño conditions likely to intensify into a “strong” El Niño by the mid-September peak of the six-month hurricane season that began June 1.

The term El Niño refers to a warming of the ocean surface waters in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean and resulting low-level surface winds that can disrupt normal weather patterns across the U.S. and globally.

“Sea surface temperatures across the Caribbean and tropical Atlantic are near their long-term averages,” Colorado State University posted on Wednesday. “We anticipate the powerful El Niño being the dominant factor for the upcoming hurricane season, driving high levels of tropical Atlantic vertical wind shear.”

Vertical wind shear usually helps weaken or disrupt storms.

“El Niño conditions have always been the driver for why we’re expecting numbers near or below the historical average this year,” said Alex DaSilva, AccuWeather lead hurricane expert. “The stronger the El Niño gets, the fewer named storms we’re likely to get. Back in 2015, we had a strong El Niño and got 11 named storms. I think that is the sweet spot again this year.”

An average storm season has 14 to 15 named storms, with seven reaching hurricane strength.

AccuWeather, which initially forecast between 11 and 16 named storms, now predicts the formation of eight to 14 named storms for the season. Unchanged is the forecast of four to seven hurricanes, with two to four becoming major systems. AccuWeather also forecasts three to five having a direct impact on the U.S.

“The northern and eastern Gulf Coast, the Carolinas, and the northeastern Caribbean remain higher-than-average risk areas, where storms can develop rapidly,” a release from AccuWeather stated.

With a caveat added, the Colorado State University release noted there is a “below-average probability” for a major hurricane to make landfall on the U.S. coastline before adding that “coastal residents are reminded that it only takes one hurricane making landfall to make it an active season.”

The school’s forecast now sits at 9 named storms, down from 13 when the initial projections were released in April and 11 when updated in June.

Also, the July forecast has four storms reaching hurricane strength, with winds at or above 74 mph, instead of six as in the pre-season outlook and five when the numbers were revised in June.

The ocean and gulf waters are expected to be active with named storms for a total of 35 days, down from 45 days in the June forecast. A typical year has 69.4 days of storm activity.

Meanwhile, the number of storms reaching major strength — Category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale with sustained winds of 111-mph or greater — was put at one, down from two in the prior forecasts.

As of Wednesday, the only named storm to arise was Tropical Storm Arthur, which brought flash flooding and tornadoes as it made landfall June 18 near Galveston, Texas.

In 2025, the Atlantic produced 13 named storms and five hurricanes, with four reaching Category 3 — winds of 111 mph to 130 mph, and storm surge of 9 feet to 12 feet above normal tide.

None of the 2025 storms, though, made a direct landfall in Florida or the U.S. 

From 2022 to 2024, Florida took direct hits from six hurricanes, including four that were Category 3 or stronger.

A federal appeals court Tuesday kept in place a district court’s preliminary injunction on Florida’s law banning “woke” instruction at public universities.

A 2-1 ruling from the three-judge panel on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found Florida’s assertion it could control the speech of its employees, including college professors, to be “a breathtaking assertion of power to ban unpopular ideas from public discourse in the very places the state’s own statutes recognize as centers of inquiry.”

Judge Britt Grant, an appointee of President Donald Trump, wrote the opinion and was joined by Judge Charles Wilson, an appointee of President Bill Clinton.

“Florida seeks to strip public university professors—and by extension their students—of the ability to fully engage with ideas that are, for better or for worse, very popular in some academic circles,” Grant wrote. “The State asks us to consider its rules a means of targeting discrimination. But hearing an idea you disagree with is not discrimination; it is an opportunity to come up with a better idea, or maybe even change your mind.”

The case was brought by a set of university professors and backed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida.

“We are thrilled the court has stopped the erasure of topics that have real implications for our students, allowing them to learn, discuss, and develop tools for combatting the complex issue of racism in our country without being gagged by those who would dictate that only state-approved thought may be promoted,” LeRoy Pernell, a Florida A&M University College of Law professor, and one of the instructors who brought the lawsuit, said in a released statement.

The ruling prevents Florida from enforcing part of the “Stop Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees (WOKE) Act” passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2022.

DeSantis pushed for the law as a bulwark against “indoctrination” in university classrooms. It bars professors from endorsing precepts of critical race theory, including eight specific tenets.

For example, the law bans instruction that causes students to “feel guilt, anguish or other forms of psychological distress because of actions, in which the person played no part, committed in the past by other members of the same race, color, national origin or sex.”

Supporters of the law said they sought to halt teachings that supported racial discrimination, while opponents in the Legislature, mostly Democrats contended it was really an attempt to quash candid teaching about historic racial horrors in the U.S., including slavery and the Jim Crow era.

Other parts of the law sought to ban workplace training at companies regarding racial, gender and sexual orientation issues, but those provisions have been struck down by federal courts.

Judge Barbara Lagoa, also a Trump appointee, wrote a dissent arguing the state had the right to restrict the speech of professors in the classroom.

“To be clear, the First Amendment protects all viewpoints in the public square, whether they are conventional or controversial. But it does not compel all viewpoints to be worthy of state-sponsored endorsement,” Lagoa wrote. “We need not agree or disagree with Florida that the viewpoints at issue here constitute racial discrimination; we need only acknowledge that the State is allowed to decide what is endorsed by its professors in its own classrooms.”

Before Lagoa was appointed to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals she sat on the Florida Supreme Court as an appointee of DeSantis.

In her decision Grant stated she agreed the courts shouldn’t choose the content of university classrooms, but argued they must intervene when the government unduly restricts speech.

“We share the dissent’s view that the federal courts do not police curriculum. But we do police the First Amendment,” Grant wrote. “And if the history of that Amendment tells us anything, it is that the government cannot forbid what it perceives as heresy.”

A Florida hospitality organization is asking the federal government for leeway for Haitian and Syrian workers in the industry after a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling effectively ended their legal status to remain in the country.

Following the ruling that allowed the federal government’s decision to end Temporary Protected Status for Haitian and Syrian immigrants, the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, along with 11 other state hospitality advocacy groups, signed onto a letter June 29 asking United States Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin for guidance and an “orderly runway” for employers.

“Many affected employees are long-serving, legally authorized workers who are central to restaurant operations — particularly in states with significant Haitian TPS populations, where their departure could remove a substantial share of the local hospitality workforce overnight,” the letter states.

On June 25, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Trump administration could end TPS for both Haitian and Syrian nationals. The TPS program allowed immigrants to remain in the U.S. if the federal government determined it wasn’t safe to return to their home country.

The ruling affects 93,000 workers in Florida, according to the FRLA, many of whom work in the hospitality industry.

In a statement, FRLA president and CEO Carol Dover said TPS holders in Florida contribute an estimated $2.6 billion annually to Florida’s economy.

“As employers work to understand the implications of this decision while continuing to serve millions of visitors during one of the busiest times of the year, our priority is ensuring they have the clarity, guidance, and reasonable transition time they need to comply with federal requirements while minimizing disruption for employees, business operations, and the communities they serve,” Dover said.

The National Restaurant Association and 12 states, including Florida, are requesting: A 90-to-120-day transition period before ending work authorizations for TPS workers; clear guidance and timelines for reverification and E-Verify requirements; and good faith protection for employers while awaiting updated instructions.

On CBS News’ Face the Nation on Sunday, U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Miami, said ending TPS for Haitians would be a “huge mistake.”

Gimenez, who represents all of Monroe County and parts of Miami-Dade, said TPS is meant to safeguard those fleeing countries in a failed state, like Haiti and Venezuela.

“When there’s good cause for it, it needs to be granted, and I think there’s a good argument for the people of Venezuela and the people of Haiti,” Gimenez said.

State Rep. Dotie Joseph, a Democrat from North Miami who is running for the party’s gubernatorial nomination, also questioned the effect of the federal government’s approach to TPS holders.

“Doing anything we do to vilify this, this labor force at a time where employers are facing 73 percent worker shortages is insane,” Joseph said during an appearance on WPLG’s “This Week in South Florida.”

“All of our key industries, tourism, agriculture, health care, rely on these workers, and it’s not just the workers, like these are people who are our neighbors,” she added.

TPS was enacted by Congress in 1990 and allows the federal government to determine if citizens of another country fleeing due to a natural disaster, war or other “temporary” condition can remain in the U.S.

The TPS designations for Haiti and Syria were both made under President Barack Obama’s administration. For Haiti, it came after a 2010 earthquake killed more than 300,000 people in the Caribbean island nation. For Syria, it came in 2012, a year after the outbreak of a devastating civil war in the Middle Eastern country.

Florida headed into the Independence Day holiday weekend with three consecutive weeks of declining unemployment claims.

The U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday estimated 5,600 first-time jobless applications were filed in the state the week ending June 27, down from 6,120 the prior week.

The numbers had jumped to 7,671 the week after the Memorial Day holiday, before falling to 6,943 the week ending June 13.

The current trend follows the state releasing its first monthly jobs report since last summer in which the unemployment rate didn’t increase. The rate now at 4.8 percent reflects mid-May conditions.

The latest weekly number is near the pace of claims the state has seen this past year, with the average of new claims now at 5,863 a week since the start of July 2025.

Gov. Ron DeSantis wasted little time declaring two Islamic groups, various foreign cartels, and an anti-fascism movement as terrorist organizations on the first day a new law allows the state to impose such designations.

With the anti-terrorism law (HB 1471) from the 2026 regular session effective Wednesday, DeSantis stated his intention to put the label on the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Muslim Brotherhood and antifa.

The designations announced Wednesday still need to be backed by the members of the Florida Cabinet: Attorney General James Uthmeier, Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson. All three Republicans are up for election in November.  

CAIR intends to take the designation to court.

The law also outlines rules for expelling students at state universities who “promote” support for these groups.

“We’ve got to draw a very strong line in the sand here,” DeSantis said at the Attorney General’s Tampa Office of Statewide Prosecution. “We’ve seen this creep throughout the country over many, many years.”

The new law was crafted to back up an executive order DeSantis issued in December placing the “terrorist organization” label on the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Muslim Brotherhood.

In March, U.S. District Court Judge Mark Walker issued a preliminary injunction against the executive order, ruling it violated CAIR’s rights by targeting and threatening those providing the organization with material support.

CAIR also plans to challenge the law, which in a statement claims it “dramatically expands Florida’s authority to both label and punish groups.”

“Gov. DeSantis is seeking to unilaterally silence a leading American civil rights nonprofit and punish those who support it,” Scott McCoy, deputy legal director of Southern Poverty Law Center on behalf of CAIR, said in a statement.

A release from the governor’s office stated the law is intended to identify and “combat terrorist organizations operating in Florida.”

The release doesn’t define antifa, which DeSantis said, “practically lives in Portland.”

DeSantis’ recommendation also includes more than 90 foreign organizations already designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the U.S. government, including the Venezuelan crime syndicate Tren de Aragua, the Sinaloa, Mexico-based drug trafficking Cartel de Sinaloa, the Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico-based Cartel del Golfo, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a branch of Iran’s military.

DeSantis, who expects an “emergency call” to be quickly set up with the Cabinet members, said the designations were based upon conduct.

“Even though I don’t like antifa’s ideas, I mean, they’re militant leftists,” DeSantis said. “It’s their actions and what they’re involved with that’s very destructive. And the same with Tren de Aragua, same with (the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps), obviously they’re a revolutionary military Islamic organization, but they’re also the leading fermenter of terrorism worldwide.”

The law allows the state’s Chief of Domestic Security — currently Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Mark Glass — to designate a domestic or foreign terrorist organization.

It also bars a court from enforcing any provision of a religious or foreign law, with an emphasis against the Islamic code known as Sharia law, and requires a student in the Florida College System who “promotes” terrorist organizations to be expelled.

The law defines “promotion” as when a student’s actions can be “reasonably interpreted” as an actual threat of violence; disrupt the learning environment; infringe upon the rights of others; or offer “material support for or the recruitment of members for such an organization.”

Other parts of the bill bar schools affiliated with designated terrorist organizations from receiving state K-12 scholarship program money. Also, public universities and colleges are prohibited from spending state or federal funds to support programs or campus activities that promote a designated terrorist organization. 

The bill was approved in the Republican-controlled Legislature by votes of 80-25 in the House and 25-11 in the Senate.

While the legislation was debated, Democrats raised concerns the bill and a related public records exemption (HB 1473) blocking documents showing how a “terrorist” designation is reached, would deprive any group hit with the label of due process.

Opponents of the bill also expressed concerns over whether people, especially students on college campuses, could inadvertently be accused of being a member of a designated domestic terrorist organization and suffer consequences without a conviction.

The Board of Governors approved Stuart Bell as the 14th president of the University of Florida.

After tumultuous weeks of controversy about his appointment and years of leadership instability at Florida’s flagship university, Bell was confirmed by the BOG at a special meeting at the University of South Florida on Wednesday morning.

“I will serve with integrity, I will serve with humility, I will serve with accountability to this group and to the board of trustees,” Bell said in his opening remarks.

All members present voted to confirm except for Aubrey Edge, who questioned Bell on his history of diversity, equity and inclusion at the University of Alabama.

During the confirmation hearing, Edge wasn’t the only BOG member who asked Bell about DEI, critical race theory and free speech on campus. After Bell’s confirmation, Good said several members had “hesitation” about Bell but changed their position after speaking with him.

“He has my and all of our full support in his success,” Good said.

It’s the end of a long two years for UF, which has gone through three different presidents in three years.

In 2025, UF’s sole finalist to become president, Santa Ono, was approved by the school’s board of trustees but ran into opposition from conservative activists on the BOG who criticized his support for DEI programs while he was president of the University of Michigan.

Bell, who was previously the president of the University of Alabama, has been scrutinized for the same thing by conservative online activists. However, Bell assured BOG members he was “not coming to Florida to bring DEI or ‘woke’ back.”

Bell was supposed to have been confirmed last week, but the meeting was delayed after BOG chair Alan Levine questioned “governance issues” at UF and said he would not place any university business on the agenda if they were “out of compliance.”

In a letter to State University System Chancellor Ray Rodrigues, Levine alleged UF Board of Trustees Chair Mori Hosseini has been granted “financial, contractual and other delegations that I feel are problematic, inconsistent with best practices in governance,” and run afoul of state regulations.

The move led to an explosive BOG meeting that devolved into an argument between Levine and Hosseini, with other members expressing sadness and disappointment about the controversy.

On Wednesday, Vice Chair Timothy Cerio called the situation “a little rocky journey,” and BOG member Nick Sinatra thanked Bell for his “grace” during the hiring process.

“I thought some of the accusations floating out around you, against you, were very much unfair,” Sinatra said.

Bell’s tenure lasts through June 30, 2031, and he will be paid an annual base salary of $2 million, according to his employment contract, with the potential for a 3% merit increase each year.