The base pay for the University of Florida’s interim president has gone up.
A contract proposed to the state’s Board of Governors would pay Dr. Donald Landry, the University of Florida’s interim president, a $2 million base salary for a one-year interim term. The search for a full-time leader is slated to begin again in 2026.
If Landry is not picked for the permanent job by the end of his term, the contract will award him an additional $2 million in severance. He also stands to earn up to $500,000 in performance incentive pay after the first year.
The university will also assist with Landry’s move, and grant him the Dasburg Presidential House as a place of residence.
The contract lists 17 key duties and responsibilities for Landry, including appointing a permanent provost and filling dean positions with people who are “firmly aligned with and support the principals guiding Florida’s approach to higher education” and committing to working with Florida and federal Department of Government Efficiency offices to “eliminate waste fraud and abuse.”
It also includes prohibiting the use of private or public funds “from being spent of (diversity, equity and inclusion) or political or social activism” and accelerating awareness of UF’s Board of Trustees invitation to Jewish students from other universities who feel threatened or harassed to enroll at UF.
The contract lists six reasons that Landry could be terminated with reason, including “any conduct constituting moral turpitude that would bring public disrespect, contempt or ridicule upon UF” — a term also listed in interim president Kent Fuchs’ contract.
The proposed contract follows a series of tumultuous events at UF after former President Ben Sasse — who earned a base salary of $1 million and will continue to until 2028 — resigned in 2024. Former president Fuchs stepped in as interim, earning a base salary of $1 million.
This spring, UF’s board unanimously selected former University of Michigan president Santa Ono as its preferred candidate, with a proposed base salary of $1.5 million and total contract value of around $3 million.
Ono was rejected by the Board of Governors after some members raised concerns over his previous positions about diversity, equity and inclusion measures.
Landry, who was an endowed professor of medicine at Columbia University, former chairperson of its department of medicine and former physician-in-chief at New York Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, told the UF Board of Trustees last month that he believed diversity initiatives had “gone too far” and was appreciative of government intervention.
Landry also defended free speech and institutional neutrality.
He was praised on social media by the likes of Gov. Ron DeSantis, conservative activist and New College of Florida trustee Chris Rufo and Board of Governors member Alan Levine.
The Board of Governors is set to vote on his contract next week. Landry began this week.
In a message to the university campus on Tuesday, Landry said he was committed to doing his “utmost” to support students, faculty and staff.
“UF is a distinguished university, with schools and colleges spanning nearly all of human knowledge and justifiably boasting a vast and profound impact on this state, the nation and the world,” he wrote. I am in awe of the UF community and inspired by this opportunity to join with you.
“In the months ahead, I plan to spend much of my time listening — to you, and to alumni, donors, lawmakers and other partners — to learn more about the ethos, culture and many endeavors of this most admirable university.”
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