EDITORIAL
New UH regents must be loyal to the job

State senators gave Gov. Linda Lingle's six nominees for the University of Hawai'i Board of Regents a thorough grilling. And they deserved it, as does any candidate vying for a job of this much importance.

The six — Byron W. Bender, Shelton G.W. Jim On, Catherine "Kitty" Lagareta, Edward D. Sultan, Alvin Tanaka and Trent Kakuda — are bound to feel loyalty to the governor. After all, all owe their nomination to Lingle and several have deep personal loyalties going back to her successful gubernatorial campaign.

But as regents of an autonomous agency, we expect new regents to be even more loyal to the university by setting aside their political biases and making sound policies.

The state's academic and economic health depends on the success of UH. That's why its governing body must be well-versed and opinionated on the university's goals, successes and failures, including projects under way.

Not every nominee appears to have met that standard, at least in the eyes of some members of the Senate.

For instance, nominee Jim On, an attorney for the governor's campaign, offered neither a vision for the university nor an opinion on UH President Evan Dobelle's plans to strengthen and expand community colleges. He said he needed the specifics in front of him.

Other nominees would not say whether they supported building a new UH-West O'ahu campus next to Kapolei to serve the island's fastest-growing population area.

This was enough for a majority of senators to vote against confirmation of two of Lingle's nominees: Jim On and Sultan.

Our expectation is that the Lingle appointees will bring their own ideas, energy and philosophy to the board. But we would be disappointed to see major reinvention of the wheel at this critical point in the university's growth.

There are many positive developments under way. Just a few examples:

• The University of Hawai'i medical school in Kaka'ako and an expanded cancer research center.
• The ongoing creation of a seamless university system in which students can more easily transfer from one campus to another as part of a systemwide reorganization.
• Related to that, creation of a seamless educational process that links pre-kindergarten to the highest levels of the university and even beyond.
• Partnerships with investors to create high-tech enterprises. On the environmental front, the university is teaming up with the city of Honolulu on various sustainability projects such as reducing energy use.

This is momentum we cannot afford to lose.