Regents give Dobelle poor marks
By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer
In a tough-talking evaluation that criticizes University of Hawai'i President Evan Dobelle for such missteps as launching a film school without telling the board; fiscal extravagance, including paying "outrageous salaries"; and not raising faculty salaries as he promised, the UH Board of Regents makes it clear they're angry with their top man.
In response, Dobelle called the evaluation a "highly unprofessional" collection of misstatements — more like "intermediate school gossip" — that he said were created in a flawed and secretive process that the Office of Information Practices has already ruled in violation of Hawai'i sunshine laws.
In releasing the president's second-year evaluation yesterday covering fiscal year 2002-2003, the regents offered a clearer look inside the nitty-gritty conflicts and hostile atmosphere that exist between the president and his overseers, even though the document covers much the same ground critics have raised before.
The regents released Dobelle's evaluation a week after an advisory opinion by the Office of Information Practices said the public's right to know superceded Dobelle's privacy rights. Dobelle said he wasn't concerned about preventing its release, saying it gave more insight into the regents than it did about his performance.
And he said it nowhere pointed to strides the university had made under his leadership, including launching a new medical school in Kaka'ako, completing many long-delayed repair projects, increasing funding for Native Hawaiian programs and attaining dramatic increases in federal research money and admissions.
"Surely, any serious attempt to evaluate my work would have included discussion of these activities, particularly at a time of such major change otherwise in the university," he said.
Using anecdotal information, the board portrayed Dobelle's leadership in the words of approximately 20 people interviewed, including "arrogance," "disrespectful," "cronyism," "lavish spending" and "condescending." Regents extended confidentiality to those who testified and have refused to release names, citing their privacy rights.
Maui Community College student Katie Barry, 23, secretary of the Student Caucus that represents all UH campuses, said she was one of a group of six students interviewed. She said the regents' portrayal of the students' views was "so different than what we had said.
"We didn't say anything like that," said Barry, of Maui, after hearing part of the evaluation that claimed students were critical of Dobelle and "had expressed disappointment in the fact that you have not kept your promises to them."
"It was a positive, enthusiastic impression we have of the president," Barry said. "I'm disappointed that they focused on negative comments. I think it's sad that it doesn't bring out any positive comments, which were probably 90 percent of what the students said."
Despite the stern nature of the evaluation, regents chairwoman Patricia Lee and the president say they hope to put it behind them and continue to work together.
The evaluation criticized Dobelle's performance in a number of areas, including:
• Public perceptions of poor fiscal management and "a cavalier and irresponsible attitude towards public funds and fiscal management." It cited a critical legislative auditor's report last year, use of the president's protocol money for "inappropriate purchases such as rock concert tickets for a few donors along with your staff," and no "credible" report on the total cost of the system reorganization.
• Inadequate fund-raising efforts, including a demand he raise $150 million for the Cancer Center as part of the Health and Wellness Center in Kaka'ako from private money, specifically forbidding him to turn to his well-established relationship with Hawai'i senior Sen. Daniel K. Inouye to garner federal dollars toward that end.
Dobelle calls that ludicrous.
"We have a U.S. senator who is pursuing with us perhaps as much as fifty, seventy or one hundred million dollars to build a Cancer Center that's going to benefit all of America. ... It's like saying the next time we want to build a highway we don't want federal dollars," Dobelle said.
• Not yet raising the necessary money to repay the UH Foundation for renovations at College Hill, the UH president's official residence.
• Politicizing the university by endorsing Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mazie Hirono in 2002.
Dobelle said he "followed policies" by "getting a legal opinion, speaking to the board chairman at the time and informing the board." But the board disputes they got much of a heads-up.
• Poor fiscal management. Dobelle said he has undertaken improvements.
• His part in negotiating a 2003 union agreement that gave community college faculty a workload reduction that later led to concern some classes might have to be canceled (none were).
"Your definition of 'negotiating,' from many perspectives, merely amounted to 'giving away the store,' " the evaluation said.
The evaluation also lays out measures to address some of the board's concerns, including: closer scrutiny of his travel expenses; the need to set annual goals for fund-raising, grants, enrollment, academic ranking and cost control; the need for clarity in financial reports that track results; and his responsibility to gain a trusting relationship with the board, governor, Legislature, public and UH community.
The methodology for creating the evaluation diverges from that suggested by national experts, who recommend that an adequate performance review would include the president as part of the process, offering suggestions of people he has worked with for potential interviews.
Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8013.
