ORLANDO, Fla. — UCF's former president says he won't appear before a Florida House committee right now to answer questions on how the school misused funds for construction projects.
- Florida Public Integrity and Ethics Committee subpoenaed Hitt
- Hitt says he can't travel, won't take questions by phone either
- Hitt retired as UCF president in 2018
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Dr. John Hitt informed the chairman of the Public Integrity and Ethics Committee earlier this month that he would not appear at a hearing February 18.
Hitt is currently with family in Wisconsin, and he says traveling right now just isn't possible.
"Traveling to Florida is not possible for me in this weather and with my family responsibilities here in Wisconsin," Hitt wrote in an email exchange released Tuesday by the Florida House of Representatives.
The Public Integrity Committee has subpoenaed Hitt to answer questions about his knowledge of UCF's misappropriated funds.
Hitt said he asked to be relieved of his post-presidential duties and contract from the UCF Board of Trustees after he retired partly for the same reason.
"I found that at my age this kind of travel is too much," Hitt wrote. "If you will send me your questions, I will do my best to answer them."
In emailed correspondence obtained by Spectrum News, a staff director for Committee Chairman Tom Leek (R-Ormond Beach) asked Hitt whether he would be willing to answer questions over the phone instead.
Hitt replied in another email: "I received your note. If you will send me your questions, I will do my best to answer them."
The staff director then asks Hitt to clarify whether he is willing or not to answer questions by telephone. Hitt repeated his previous reply: "If you will send me your questions, I will do my best to answer them."
The Public Integrity and Ethics Committee hearing that was supposed to happen February 19 was subsequently canceled without explanation. The committee is overseeing a state investigation into misused funds at UCF.
That same day, UCF President Dale Whittaker, Hitt's successor, handed in his resignation.
Hitt is the longest-serving president in the school's history. In 2014, under his tenure, school officials misspent more than $38 million to build a new Trevor Colbourn Hall. The money for the building was taken from general funds, rather than from the budget for construction projects. Whittaker later said a total of $85 million was misappropriated.