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UCF board of trustees accepts President Dale Whittaker's resignation

By Sarah Wilson, Jason Kelly, and Samantha Manning
By Sarah Wilson, Jason Kelly, and Samantha Manning

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The UCF Board of Trustees agreed Thursday to accept the resignation of President Dale Whittaker.

Whittaker submitted his resignation two days earlier, stemming from controversy regarding millions of dollars of misspending done by the university.

Students and university staff spoke for more than an hour in support of Whittaker, asking the board to reject his resignation.

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But in the end, the majority of the board voted to accept his resignation naming Thad Seymour Jr., the vice president for partnerships and chief innovation officer of UCF, as the school's short-term interim president.

Whittaker was hired less than a year ago after a nationwide search.

He replaced John Hitt, who retired after 26 years as president.

Last month, Hitt resigned from a newly created president emeritus position.

Read: Emails indicate UCF president had details about Trevor Colbourn Hall since 2016

Investigators said it appeared Hitt was advised of the possibility that the funding for the building might lead to an adverse audit finding and that he directed the school's former CFO to continue with the project anyway.

Some former UCF employees said an investigation into the misuse of leftover operational funding unfairly blamed them.

They told state investigators they never knew what they were doing was wrong and they feel more senior-level employees, including Whittaker, should have asked more questions about it and given more oversight.

Read: Emergency meeting scheduled to decide whether to accept UCF president's resignation

UCF's former CFO, William Merck, told state investigators, "Nobody on the board said anything," when he told them that his plan for using $38 million to replace Colbourn Hall could lead to an audit.

Merck said he knew at the time that the move was unconventional, but he did not know it was prohibited.

He told investigators that once the audit did happen, Whittaker told him, "'You are going to take some heat for this.' And thinking back on it, I think he clearly meant 'you' will take some heat, not 'we.'"

Read: UCF fires 4 administrators after misspending report released

Merck said he took responsibility on behalf of the employees who worked for him, but he still felt senior-level staff members, including the president and the provost should be held accountable, too.

"They all have responsibilities, too, in everything that happens," Merck said about a conference call with the school's chancellor.

Tracy Clark, the former associate vice president of finance who was fired, told investigators the following:

"I feel like the report applies all this culpability to the four that they decided they wanted to fire, and yet no culpability to the ones who have 20, 30, 40 years of higher ed experience, (who) were making the decisions, (who) were supervising us."

Read a timeline of Thursday's meeting below:

2:30 p.m.: Via Twitter, Whittaker has released his first public comment since the UCF board of trustees voted to accept his resignation.


12:50 p.m.: The board has agreed to name Thad Seymour Jr. to serve as the short-term interim president of UCF. Seymour is currently the vice president for partnerships and chief innovation officer of UCF.

12:43 p.m.: The board is discussing naming Thad Seymour Jr. as the acting president of UCF.

12:40 p.m.: The majority of the board has approved accepting Whittaker's resignation.

12:36 p.m.: The board is now voting on whether to accept Whittaker's resignation.

12:35 p.m.: Board member Alex Martins thanked Whittaker for putting this university, its students and faculty first. Martins said Whittaker is a "great leader." Martins said because he is a great leader, the board needs to accept his opinion and his resignation.

12:25 p.m.: Board member David Walsh said "what we do is about the students." He said the board needs to respect Whittaker's wishes.

12:22 p.m.: Board member Beverly Seay said by phone that Whittaker's wish to resign should be honored, but that that does not diminish what a great leader he has been.

12:20 p.m.: Board member William Self said he will not support accepting Whittaker's resignation. He said as a faculty he is representing the opinion of the faculty. The faculty, he said, is the backbone of the institution.

12:16 p.m.: Board member Ken Bradley said he will vote to accept Whittaker's resignation and looks forward to seeing what he does at the helm of another university.

12:15 p.m.: Board Member Joshua Boloña said the resignation of Whittaker will be difficult for students and the university.

12:10 p.m.: Board member Joseph Conte said the board needs to keep the university's well-being at the forefront of their minds. "We must make decisions to protect the university," he said.

12:07 p.m.: Board member John Sprouls said not accepting Whittaker's resignation could be more damming than accepting it.

12:05 p.m.: Board moves to accept Whittaker's resignation. They will now discuss the motion before voting.

12:05 p.m.: Board chairman Robert Garvy said Whittaker had the best intentions. "Our loss will be some other institution's great gain."

Noon: Members of the Board of Trustees have taken the floor and are reading their own statements regarding Dale Whittaker's resignation.

11:50 a.m.: The meeting is back in session, and a UCF student is reading a letter from Dale Whittaker.

11:35 a.m.: The public period is over, and the board has agreed to take a 10-minute break. The meeting will resume at 11:45 a.m.

11:12 a.m.: One hour into public comment, the board has voted to extend the public period for 30 additional minutes.

11:10 a.m.: The lawyer for the student publication Knight News said transparency is the root of UCF's problem.

11:05 a.m.: Charles Greene, the attorney for four UCF staff members who have been terminated tied to the misue of funds investigation, said accepting Whittaker's resignation will allow the healing process to begin.

11 a.m.: Supporters continue to take the mic one by one to speak in the defense of Dale Whittaker, encouraging the board not to accept his resignation.

10:40 a.m.: Dale Whittaker's daughter and wife took the mic to speak in defense and support of the president.

His wife turned her back to the board to face the audience, telling students to "reach for your special star and know that Dale is there with you."

10:30 a.m.: The creator of the change.org petition aimed at keeping Whittaker in office spoke in Whittaker's defense.

10:25 a.m.: Staff from the president's office told the board, "we know Dale did nothing wrong."

10:15 a.m.: John Euliano, with the UCF Foundation, was first to speak during the public comment period. He spoke in support of keeping Whittaker in his position, which brought applause from the audience.

10:10 a.m.: The board agreed to extend the public comment period of the meeting from 15 minutes to 60 minutes.

10 a.m.: The ballroom where the meeting is set to begin any moment is packed. Students have lined the back of the room with signs supporting Whittaker.

ORIGINAL STORY:

The UCF Board of Trustees will hold an emergency meeting at 10 a.m. Thursday to consider accepting the resignation of President Dale Whittaker.

Whittaker submitted his resignation on Tuesday a month after an audit revealed that the University of Central Florida misused $38 million related to the construction of Trevor Colbourn Hall.

>>> READ: Emails indicate UCF president had details about Trevor Colbourn Hall since 2016 <<<

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