State board confirms Landry as University of Florida's interim president

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The board overseeing Florida's public universities on Thursday confirmed Dr. Donald W. Landry as the interim president of the University of Florida, after the board rejected another candidate following conservative criticism. Landry, a physician and chair emeritus of the Columbia University Department of Medicine, took the helm at the school this month, pending confirmation by the Board of Governors. Landry told the board Thursday that he plans to push the university to the very top rung of academia and fill key leadership roles on campus. He also acknowledged the “ideological turmoil” playing out on college campuses, one day after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at a university in Utah. “I will be locking in a culture of freedom of academic exp