Florida officials on Tuesday rejected the candidacy of Santa Ono to lead the University of Florida, after he had been accused of leniency toward pro-Palestinian protesters while serving as president of the University of Michigan.

The University of Florida’s board unanimously approved Dr. Ono last week, but the state’s Board of Governors, which oversees the sprawling State University System of Florida, voted against him, 10 to 6.

At Michigan, Dr. Ono had presided over a campus that was rife with acrimonious debates over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the role of diversity in higher education. Those issues have been hotly debated in Florida, where Republican leaders have successfully enacted conservative priorities across K-12 schools and in college.

Dr. Ono had tried to distance himself from the politics of Michigan as he sought to transition to the Sunshine State. Last month, he wrote an opinion essay disavowing diversity programs, for instance.

Paul Renner, a member of the Board of Governors who voted against Mr. Ono’s confirmation, said in an interview on Tuesday that Mr. Ono had led a university that embraced diversity, equity and inclusion programming. Mr. Renner said he did not find Mr. Ono’s attempt to distance himself from those efforts sincere.

“The public record completely contradicted what the nominee was telling us,” said Mr. Renner, a former speaker of the Florida House.