Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
In his first visit to the University of Florida as the sole finalist for its presidency, Stuart Bell again distanced himself from his past support of DEI, and said his focus as president would be predicated on “merit.”
The third question of the day asked Bell to confront the topic head-on. “Let me start by being crystal clear: I have not come to Florida to bring DEI or any form of woke back. Period,” Bell said to a room of a couple dozen students, taking a dramatic pause to look back from the podium toward Rahul Patel, the vice chair of the Board of Trustees and chair of the presidential search committee.
In his first visit to the University of Florida as the sole finalist for its presidency, Stuart Bell again distanced himself from his past support of DEI, and said his focus as president would be predicated on “merit.”
The third question of the day asked Bell to confront the topic head-on. “Let me start by being crystal clear: I have not come to Florida to bring DEI or any form of woke back. Period,” Bell said to a room of a couple dozen students, taking a dramatic pause to look back from the podium toward Rahul Patel, the vice chair of the Board of Trustees and chair of the presidential search committee.
