The Florida Board of Governors moved to slow the University of Florida’s presidential hiring process over compliance concerns, but trustees appointed Stuart Bell as interim president anyway. The State University System delayed the permanent selection vote after raising governance questions about UF’s board authority and potential compliance issues, including alleged financial and real-estate practices. UF’s board voted unanimously to name Bell interim rather than wait, with Bell’s base salary pegged at $2 million and a promise of a follow-on system board meeting to advance a permanent decision “as soon as legally possible.” The dispute unfolds alongside a broader right-wing push against Bell over his prior support for DEI initiatives during his tenure as University of Alabama president. For higher education executives and boards, the case highlights how system-level compliance review can become a governance bottleneck—and how institutions may respond by shifting to interim appointments to avoid leadership limbo while litigation and public pressure persist.