Updated
10:46 a.m. April 10
Scott Yenor, the chairman of the University of West Florida Board of Trustees, resigned via email Wednesday afternoon. His resignation is effective immediately.
In an email to UWF President Martha Saunders, Yenor said he was looking forward to “bringing the Governor’s positive vision for higher education to the University of West Florida.”
“Opposition to my nomination among a group within Florida’s senate, however, leads me to resign from UWF Board of Trustees effective immediately.”
Yenor, a political science professor affiliated with the conservative Claremont Institute, was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis late last year, along with seven others. Yenor, in particular, had drawn attention for his comments about feminism and higher education. He was voted chairman of the UWF Board of Trustees at the January 23 meeting by the newly appointed members while existing trustees put their support behind Trustee Richard Baker.
UWF students held a rally on campus protesting the appointments, and last month, hundreds gathered for a town hall hosted by the Save UWF committee.
Speaking at the National Conservatism Conference three years ago, Yenor called for a "sexual counterrevolution" and described career-oriented women as, quote, “medicated, meddlesome, and quarrelsome.”
"We need to de-emphasize our colleges and universities," he told the audience. "Almost everything in these indoctrination camps complicates the male-female dance." He concluded the talk by suggesting that "the effort to erase the old standard of public men and private woman has been a mistake."
In February, the Jewish Caucus of the Florida Legislature joined the critique of Yenor’s appointment for his comments posted on X.
In his email to President Saunders, Yenor said that “patriotic reformers need to imagine a different future.”
“We know that the higher education status quo is bad for the country,” he continued. “Eliminating pernicious practices from our universities is a start, and Florida has led the way. Building great universities is now a priority for Pres. Trump, Gov. DeSantis, and others. I will continue to work to make America’s universities great. UWF too has great potential to celebrate Western civilization while staying connected to dynamic economic changes. I wish UWF the best.”
State Senator Don Gaetz, who is also chairman of Senate Ethics and Elections Chairman, told the News Service of Florida that Yenor did the "gentlemanly thing" by resigning.
"...Because gentlemen don’t go where no one wants them, and his timely resignation takes much of the steam out of what otherwise might have been an unnecessary blowup between Gov. DeSantis and many of his Northwest Florida friends and supporters," Gaetz continued.
"We live in a time when our words and our actions follow us everywhere. And Mr. Yenor’s background, including his most recent background, did not lend itself well to even the highly conservative population of Northwest Florida."
