DeSantis is again appointing two political donors to the UF Board of Trustees as part of the presidential search

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday reappointed attorneys Rahul Patel and Richard Cole, also major political donors, to the UF Board of Trustees.

The appointments take effect Jan. 7 and are subject to confirmation by the Florida Senate.

Patel, an Atlanta-based corporate lawyer, has served as executive vice president since 2023 and is currently leading the search for UF’s next president. He was first appointed to the board in 2015 by former Gov. Rick Scott.

Cole was first appointed to the board by DeSantis in 2020 and is president of Cole, Scott and Kissane, a family medicine practice based in Miami. Both trustees are UF Law graduates and major donors to DeSantis’ political efforts.

Patel donated $70,000 to Desantis’ gubernatorial campaigns and $175,000 to Empower Parents PAC, which supported DeSantis. Cole donated $132,500 to DeSantis’ gubernatorial campaigns, $130,000 to the Empower Parents PAC and $100,000 to Never Back Down, a super PAC supporting DeSantis’ 2024 presidential bid.

The reappointments come as part of the search for UF’s 14th president, which officially began last month. The 15-member search committee, appointed by longtime UF board chairman and prominent DeSantis ally Mori Hosseini, will name finalists for the role, but the final selection rests with the board of trustees.

Six of the 13 seats on the UF Board of Trustees, including Patel’s and Cole’s, are gubernatorial positions. The remaining seats include five appointed by the state university system’s Board of Governors and two reserved for the UF student body president and the head of the Faculty Senate. The trustees appointed by DeSantis and the Board of Governors serve staggered five-year terms with no term limits.

The terms of two other DeSantis-appointed trustees, Fred Ridley and Anita Zucker, end Monday. It is unclear whether they will be reappointed.