Scott Yenor, chair of the Board of Trustees on the College of West Florida, resigned Wednesday forward of a looming struggle with lawmakers, The Pensacola Information Journal reported.
Yenor, a political science professor at Boise State College, made nationwide headlines in 2021 when he made misogynistic remarks on the Nationwide Conservatism Convention, taking intention at feminism and arguing that girls mustn’t pursue sure profession fields, comparable to engineering.
He additionally described “impartial ladies” as “medicated, meddlesome and quarrelsome.”
Yenor and different conservative trustees appointed at UWF in January confronted protests from the neighborhood. Nevertheless it was finally stress from state lawmakers over different remarks that appeared to push Yenor out. In a sequence of social media posts in February, Yenor appeared to suggest that solely straight white males needs to be in political management posts. Some critics, together with Randy High-quality, a Republican state senator on the time of the put up, learn his remarks as exclusionary of Jewish males. (High-quality not too long ago received a particular election to characterize Florida’s sixth Congressional District.)
High-quality, who’s Jewish, subsequently known as Yenor a “bigot” and “misogynist.”
Beneath Florida regulation, a trustee appointed by the governor can start serving instantly, earlier than affirmation by the State Legislature. With the affirmation course of underway, Yenor stepped apart amid hypothesis that lawmakers might refuse to log off on his appointment.
“Gov. Ron DeSantis’ larger training reforms are fashions for the nation,” Yenor wrote in a resignation e mail obtained by The Pensacola Information Journal. “I used to be wanting ahead to bringing the Governor’s optimistic imaginative and prescient for larger training to the College of West Florida (UWF) as a member of the Board of Trustees. Opposition to my nomination amongst a gaggle inside Florida’s senate, nevertheless, leads me to resign from UWF’s Board of Trustees successfully instantly.”
The potential rejection would mark a uncommon break between DeSantis and Florida’s Republican-dominated Legislature, which has largely supported the governor’s agenda throughout his time in workplace. Earlier this 12 months, the Senate Appropriations Committee didn’t affirm Adam Kissel, one other UWF board appointee, although there’s nonetheless a path for him to be confirmed anyway. In 2023, the Florida Senate rejected one other DeSantis decide and bumped Eddie Speir from the New Faculty of Florida board just by not taking motion on the affirmation relatively than rejecting it.
