[3] A new search was initiated and, two and a half months after Acting Governor Johns was replaced by the newly elected LeRoy Collins, the Board of Control settled on Reitz as its choice to be the university's fifth president on March 22, 1955.

The buildings constructed and expanded during his term included a new health center, a nuclear training reactor, an educational television station, and a married-student housing complex.

Along with the new buildings, Reitz tightened admissions standards and placed greater emphasis on academic achievement in matters ranging from the awarding of financial aid to the development of advanced placement procedures.

Strict behavior guidelines, dress codes, and a faculty disciplinary committee to enforce these rules all received Reitz's strong endorsement.

In the early 1960s, the Florida Legislative Investigation Committee, led by state senator Charley Johns, accused twenty-two university employees and several students of homosexual conduct.

[5]: 19  The denial of tenure to Marshall Jones, a psychiatrist active in radical causes, led to censure by the American Association of University Professors.

After a year of relative calm, Reitz announced he would resign in January 1967, citing "presidential fatigue," but remained in office until Florida Supreme Court Justice Stephen C. O'Connell was sworn in as the university's new president.

After resigning as university president, Reitz served as the director of graduate programs in the U.S. Office of Education, and eventually returned to his international activities.

In addition to his Latin American work, Reitz was named to the Rockefeller Foundation's Board of Agricultural Consultants and, in 1964, he accepted an appointment to the Public Advisory Committee for Trade Negotiations.

Four years after his death, in 1997, the university established the merit-based Reitz Scholars Program to recognize and encourage academic achievement, leadership and service among its undergraduate students.