Santa J. Ono recently received an opportunity to serve as president of the University of Florida. It was a position for which the university’s board of trustees had previously supported him unanimously. However, he was shellshocked when, in a 10–6 vote, the board of governors of the State University System of Florida rejected his bid. This is the first time in Florida’s public university history such an outcome has occurred.

Critics from across the political spectrum celebrated Ono’s failure. Multiple academics on BlueSky also seemed to take satisfaction in the news, with some indicating they thought Ono had done an about-face on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), only for the move to backfire. “This is a massive win for conservatives - and an act of courage by the board,” Rufo posted. Florida’s elected officials also weighed in. “This is the right decision for @UF. UF’s students, faculty, and staff deserve a president who will stand for Florida values and against antisemitism,” Republican senator Rick Scott posted on X. (Scott had called for an investigation into the search that yielded Ono.)

On the left, there was satisfaction as well. “I don’t know how many times this needs to be said: there is no winning with these people. If you’re willing to sell your soul to try and appease them, then I’m sorry but you deserve whatever they do to you,” Neil Lewis Jr., a communication professor at Cornell University, wrote online. “This should teach a lesson to academics across the country: MAGA’s goal is the complete transformation of our education system,” the College Democrats, an organization on the Florida campus, said in a statement after the vote, noting, “They cannot be appeased.”

Ono was an individual who made a sharp U-turn on virtually every position he had once espoused, from climate change to transgender rights. He talked about shuttering the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion during his tenure at the University of Michigan but failed to mention that the majority of the institution’s DEI program was able to weather the brutal attacks it endured. He disingenuously dismissed the option of addressing the topic of race, resorting to the default position that people are better off if they refrain from discussing the topic.

He proudly announced that he had declined to sign an op-ed promising that he was committed to endorsing and implementing President Trump’s wanton and outlaw approach to higher education despite being a formerly staunch critic of the administration’s education policies. Earlier this year, he quietly disbanded Michigan’s DEI office. Once the political weathervane shifted - when the right began its sinister and well-planned assault on equity - he didn’t anchor down. He drifted. This brazen and shamelessly opportunistic move resulted in him launching to the top of the list of candidates to lead the University of Florida.

The fact that someone would be eager to depart from one of the most prestigious academic jobs in the nation, only to eventually lose it, is simultaneously incredulous and fascinating. To me, it is incomprehensible that such a seemingly intelligent and capable person would have so little self-regard. Indeed, it is baffling that someone is willing to become a part of a university system currently represented by far right-wing cultural ideologies that are increasingly and unapologetically demonstrating their disdain, distaste, and disregard for any form of inclusive higher education.

The truth is that Santa Ono’s failure had nothing to do with his credentials and everything to do with perceived loyalty. The far right despises anyone who dares to demonstrate any level of moral integrity. For all its disparagement of DEI and race and gender-based programs, the conservative right values only blind, unwavering loyalty - not merit, qualifications, and principles and certainly not honesty, integrity, fairness, and truth.

It is unfortunate that such a distinguished and accomplished person was so keen to sacrifice his soul to curry favor with people doing everything in their power to debase, demolish, revive, reform, and redefine higher education as an autocratic, predominantly White, male, theocratic, dystopian entity. These types of people dislike individuals such as Santa Ono and me. They are attacking higher education with a viciousness not seen since the McCarthy era. Higher education is in the eye of a ferocious storm and facing unrelenting scrutiny from politicians, students, the public, religious organizations, billionaires from across the political spectrum, and so on.

At the moment, for varied reasons, we are viewed with a largely bipartisan, jaundiced eye. This is why it is incumbent on us to continually go on the offense, to refuse to compromise human decency, and to never practice anticipatory obedience like Dr. Santa Ono and a growing number of members of academia. Such antics are the epitome of pusillanimity.