UF Interim President's $2M Severance Raises Legal Questions in Gainesville

A one-year stint as interim president of the University of Florida could net Donald Landry up to $4.5 million, including a $2 million severance payment that legal experts say is unprecedented for an interim university leader and potentially violates Florida state law limiting severance to 20 weeks of compensation.

Landry, who served as UF's interim president from 2025 to 2026 while earning a $2 million annual salary, has an employment contract granting him an additional $2 million if he is not selected as the university's permanent president. The University of Florida Board of Trustees recently chose former University of Alabama president Stuart Bell for the permanent role, triggering Landry's severance clause. The Florida Board of Governors, which oversees the state's 12 public universities, must still approve Bell's appointment in a vote scheduled for next week.

What's in the contract

Landry's employment agreement includes a base salary of $2 million, eligibility for up to $500,000 in performance bonuses, and the contested $2 million severance provision. According to the contract terms, the severance is payable specifically because Landry was not selected as UF's permanent president. The contract was negotiated privately between Landry and UF Board of Trustees chair Mori Hosseini, a Republican megadonor and close ally of Governor Ron DeSantis, without a vote by the full board.

The contract includes a provision stating that "all severance payments shall be paid with non-public funds," language that legal experts say suggests awareness of potential conflicts with state law. Florida statute limits severance pay for public employees to no more than 20 weeks of compensation. For Landry, that cap would allow severance of up to $769,230—still substantial but far below the potential $2 million payout.

UF's previous interim president, Kent Fuchs, who served from 2024 to 2025, did not have a severance clause in his contract. A UF spokeswoman did not respond to questions about whether the university has already paid Landry's severance or how the payment would be funded. Landry, a former chair of the department of medicine at Columbia University, did not respond to a request for comment relayed through university officials.

Legal and precedent concerns

James Finkelstein, a professor emeritus of public policy at George Mason University in Virginia and a nationally recognized expert in university presidential contracts, said the arrangement breaks with standard practice. "It's unprecedented that an interim would get any sort of payout at the completion of their term," Finkelstein said, calling Landry's contract "essentially a gift to him." Interim university presidents, who typically serve brief terms bridging permanent appointments, never receive severance pay, according to Finkelstein.

Raul Gastesi, a South Florida attorney who serves as city attorney for Doral and town attorney for Miami Lakes, said the contract's "non-public funds" provision appears designed to circumvent state law. "They're trying to get around the prohibition," Gastesi said, noting that the restriction exists "because they realized this is more than 20 weeks of compensation, and the statute prohibits it." He added that if UF has already paid Landry, recovering the money would be difficult. "It would be difficult for him to enforce this contract in court," Gastesi said of the severance clause.

Florida universities have faced scrutiny over excessive severance payments before. In the past, multiple institutions including UF, the University of South Florida, and the University of Central Florida have been cited by state auditors for paying severance packages exceeding what state law permits. In 2020, UF agreed to discontinue payments to faculty that state auditors had flagged as excessive severance.

Governance battle over contract approval

The contract has become a flashpoint in a broader dispute over governance at Florida's flagship public university. Alan Levine, chair of the Florida Board of Governors, raised concerns to the system chancellor about Landry's compensation in a May 20 email, saying he was troubled that the contract was not voted on by the full UF board but instead negotiated privately by Hosseini. "It would be highly imprudent for a board to delegate authority for negotiating a contract, and then permitting the chair to execute the contract without first reviewing it in public," Levine wrote to Chancellor Ray Rodrigues.

Levine initially postponed a Board of Governors vote on hiring Bell as UF's new president, citing red flags he had identified at UF. That decision prompted attacks on social media from DeSantis allies. Jeremy Redfern, deputy chief of staff for Attorney General James Uthmeier, mocked Levine on X as "Drag Queen Levine," referencing a hospital chain Levine leads that allegedly participated in an LGBT-themed event in Tennessee. Levine, himself a DeSantis appointee, responded that the claim was "provably false" and that "lawyers will be in touch."

At an emergency meeting of the UF Board of Trustees in Gainesville on Monday, trustees defended Hosseini and bristled at suggestions of unethical conduct. "I find it completely offensive that they would think the trustees have not done their job," said UF trustee Richard Cole. Trustee Marsha Powers said of Hosseini, "There is no one who has more integrity, and is harder-working, than you are." In Florida political circles, Hosseini is often referred to as the unofficial "president" of UF due to his influence.

Two days later, at a Board of Governors meeting in Boca Raton, Hosseini confronted Levine, noting that the state board had been provided Landry's contract last year and raised no objections then. "One question: did you have Dr. Landry's contract or not?" Hosseini demanded. When Levine acknowledged the board had received it, Hosseini said, "You should have read the contract." Levine responded that while he had questions about the contract last year, the Board of Governors does not specifically vote on presidential contracts—it only approves presidential hires—so he had no opportunity to debate the terms at that time.

The two sides reached a resolution: Levine agreed to allow Bell's hire to move forward to a vote by the full state board, scheduled for next week, in exchange for a top-to-bottom review of governance policies for all 12 state universities, to be conducted by an independent outside expert. Hosseini declined to comment when approached by a reporter at the Board of Governors meeting.

Political context of the hire

Landry was brought in as interim president last year after UF's unanimous choice for permanent president, former University of Michigan president Santa Ono, was rejected by the Board of Governors. Ono's prior support of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives proved fatal to his candidacy in Florida's current political climate. Governor DeSantis has campaigned aggressively against DEI programs, and his political allies have assumed presidencies at universities across the state as the governor has pushed Florida colleges to embrace conservative ideology.

Ono's rejection by state officials, despite unanimous support from UF's board, demonstrated how politicized Florida's higher education system has become. Landry, with credentials including serving as physician-in-chief at Columbia University, brought a measure of credibility and temporarily quieted the controversy. UF's trustees delegated final approval of his interim contract to Hosseini, who completed the negotiations.

Republican critics question the payout

The severance arrangement has drawn criticism even from some Republicans. Former Republican state Senator Jeff Brandes, who represented the Tampa Bay area, called the payment "inappropriate" and said UF's board has a compensation committee that should have been involved. He added that hiring the president is "frankly the board's primary job … and apparently they aren't doing that job."

U.S. Senator Rick Scott sent a letter last month to the state university system chancellor calling for "an investigation of Dr. Landry's contract." Scott wrote: "It's only fair to the thousands of UF students and families who pay tuition and are hoping for a good paying job that there is a clear explanation as to why Dr. Landry is about to walk away with millions of dollars for not getting a job. Who is paying for this?"

What happens next

The Florida Board of Governors is scheduled to vote next week on approving Stuart Bell as UF's permanent president. Approval by that state-level board is required before Bell can officially assume the role. Meanwhile, the promised independent review of governance policies across all 12 state universities will examine how presidential contracts are negotiated and approved, potentially leading to new oversight procedures.

Whether UF has already paid Landry's $2 million severance and the source of those funds remain unclear, as university officials have not responded to questions on those points. If the payment has been made with non-public funds as the contract specifies, it may be difficult to challenge or recover, legal experts say. State auditors have not publicly announced any review of the arrangement, though Florida universities have faced audits over excessive severance payments in the past.

The Landry contract dispute reflects the broader tensions reshaping Florida's public universities as political considerations increasingly influence governance decisions. For UF, the state's flagship institution in Gainesville, the controversy underscores the challenge of balancing board autonomy with state-level oversight—a dynamic that will be tested as the independent governance review moves forward and as the university seeks to move past a tumultuous two-year presidential search process that has drawn national attention to Alachua County and Northeast Florida's role in the state's evolving higher education landscape.