UH regents drop speech policy
By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau
HILO, Hawai'i — The University of Hawai'i Board of Regents yesterday rescinded a board policy apparently meant to limit individual regents' criticisms of the UH president.
Some board members had questioned whether the policy was constitutional, and the full board voted yesterday to scrap it.
The policy stated: "No member of the board shall publicly challenge any act of the president as being contrary to established policy, except in a meeting of the board."
Regents Chairwoman Patricia Y. Lee said the regents made it clear that rescinding the policy was no reflection on UH President Evan Dobelle.
"I think what we wanted to say is we're a very open board, we're a newly configured board — eight out of 12 members are new — and we'd like to be open with the public. We want to be accessible," Lee said.
As for the provision, "it's unclear whether it's constitutional or not, because we don't know the purpose for which that policy is there," Lee said.
Lee said public statements by regents are partially covered in her "ground rules" that make it clear the chairperson speaks for the board.
According to Lee's ground rules, "No regent acts on behalf of the board. Any regent may represent the board with the knowledge and consent of the chair. The Board of Regents office must be kept informed."
Dobelle called the issue "a tempest in a teapot," and said he did not take the discussion or the rescinding of the policy personally.
"I just think common sense says we're trying to work together, it's a new board, a reasonably new president and almost entirely new administration," he said.
"These are marginal clean-ups of policy that have been around for 30 years. They're unenforceable and nobody knows what they mean."
"I personally think people are looking for division where there is none, and I think they ought to stop looking, because it doesn't exist," Dobelle said.
Regent Kitty Lagareta said there had been a good deal of public speculation about what the repeal means.
"It means that the new board is reviewing its policy, ... that the new board is probably going to be quite a bit more outspoken than perhaps previous boards," she said.
Regent Ted Hong, who publicly questioned the legality of the policy, said he believed the board should be able to speak freely about issues to other regents and the public.
In other business, the board approved a student fee increase at UH-Hilo and Hawai'i Community College on the Big Island, raising activity fees for most students from $25 to $50 per semester.
The fees, which pay for student government, student activities and student publications, will continue to increase in steps until they reach $67 per semester.
Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 935-3916.
