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UCF official: President Dale Whittaker, others involved in planning on Trevor Colbourn Hall
Facing a public rebuke in September after UCF misspent $38 million on a new building, President Dale Whittaker identified an official he said took “immediate and full responsibility” for the transgression.
But that official, Bill Merck, told the Orlando Sentinel this week that Whittaker, who became UCF president on July 1, and former President John Hitt both knew where the money came from to replace a building that endangered employees and students.
“I stepped up and accepted my responsibility as the chief financial officer,” said Merck, who resigned the day of the censure by the state university system’s governing board. “I think others could have stepped up also and shared their responsibility.”
Documents and interviews with other University of Central Florida officials also show that Whittaker and Hitt agreed to use leftover operating dollars to build a new Trevor Colbourn Hall, a decision the Board of Governors said constituted “a serious breach of trust.”
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/education/school-zone/os-merck-ucf-audit-20181214-story.html