Ron DeSantis’ wishes, the Florida Board of Governors preliminarily voted Thursday to freeze public university H-1B visa hirings for a year, leaving hopeful international academics without that option. During a meeting at Florida State University, the overseers of the State University System started discussion on the matter, prompted by President Donald Trump and DeSantis. The University of Miami, which is not part of the state university system, had the sixth-most recipients, according to U.S. Florida State University had 110 recipients in that fiscal year, the University of South Florida had 107, and the University of Central Florida had 47. One of the defining principles of American higher education, and particularly of Florida public universities, is a commitment to merit.