A University of Florida task force held an inaugural meeting as the state's flagship university struggles to regain its stature amid a controversy involving three tenured professors who were told they could not testify as expert witnesses in a high-profile voting rights lawsuit.

University President Kent Fuchs assembled the task force after political science professors Sharon Austin, Michael McDonald and Daniel Smith were denied requests to serve as witnesses for plaintiffs in a challenge to a new elections law (SB 90) that includes making it harder for Floridians to vote by mail. Plaintiffs allege that the law, approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis this spring, discriminates against Black and Hispanic voters.