The texts – released in response to a request under Florida's public records law – provide a rare, behind-the-scenes glimpse into how senior university officials reacted under the pressure of discussions about how the school would work to keep students and others safe on campus during the pandemic. Hosseini responded: "Please send me a copy so I can forward." Courts subsequently upheld the order as lawful.įuchs said he was emailing students the following day: "No course will move even temporarily to online," Fuchs wrote. 13, 2021, shows the chairman of the University of Florida board of trustees, Morteza "Mori" Hosseini, communicating with the university's president, Kent Fuchs, about reports surfacing that at least some colleges on the main campus were preparing to move all their classes online for the first three weeks of the fall semester.ĭays before the text exchange, DeSantis had issued an executive order banning mask mandates in primary and secondary schools. The state's flagship university moving classes online even temporarily would have been inconsistent. He attached an excerpt of an internal UF message raising the possibility of classes moving online for some colleges, including those for liberal arts, agriculture, engineering and business.ĭeSantis, who has made resistance to online classes and mask and vaccine mandates part of his political ideology, was pushing hard at the time to keep public schools and businesses in Florida open. "Governor's office have this," wrote Hosseini, a wealthy developer who has been an adviser to DeSantis and a Republican loyalist. "Could you let me know if you have any changes," Fuchs asked. They were discussing reports surfacing that at least some colleges on the main campus were preparing to move all their classes online for the first three weeks of the fall semester, which ends this week.įuchs, who has said previously in interviews that he does not have the authority to challenge decisions from the DeSantis administration, sent Hosseini a draft email he was preparing for faculty announcing there would be no move to online classes. 13 - as the delta variant was sweeping the U.S. The newly disclosed texts showed the chairman communicating with the university's president, Kent Fuchs, the evening of Aug. Morteza "Mori" Hosseini, who was elected chairman in 2018, is already under scrutiny over questions about his role in politically tinged decisions affecting the school. Ron DeSantis when administrators were considering temporarily moving some college classes online due to the pandemic, according to text messages. The chairman of the University of Florida board of trustees served as a liaison with the office of Gov.
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