Posted on: Wednesday, August 4, 2004

UH to release documents on dismissal of Dobelle

By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer

The University of Hawai'i today will release documents related to Evan Dobelle's dismissal, but the Board of Regents has been told it may withhold portions of the minutes of its meeting at which he was fired.

Office of Information Practices director Leslie Kondo told the university it may withhold those portions of the minutes that fall within the attorney-client privilege.

What those portions include will be determined by the university's general counsel, according to UH spokeswoman Carolyn Tanaka, associate vice president for external affairs and university relations.

Tanaka said the university supports the OIP opinion and intends to fully comply with Kondo's letter dated yesterday recommending they "should make the records available without any further delay."

"We intend to comply with the recommendations," Tanaka said. "We fully intend to provide full and complete access to the documents with the exception being 'privileged work product or attorney-client communications.' "

However, the minutes of two key meetings at which Dobelle's performance as president was discussed — June 2 and June 15 — will not be released today and will be reviewed by the university's legal counsel before release, Tanaka said. The minutes in question were from executive sessions.

"Legal counsel has told me the minutes are still in draft form, will be revised further and have not yet been adopted by the board," Tanaka said.

The documents have been anticipated for what they could reveal about reasons for the initial "for cause" firing of the university president. But with expectations that the university will withhold some information, it's unclear how much the documents will show.

Tanaka also said that contracts with attorneys William McCorriston and Barry Marr, who represented the university in its dispute with Dobelle, will not be disclosed today "because we don't have total costs yet."

And she said the university will check "to make sure there are no third-party privacy issues."

The university decided to release the documents after a finding by the OIP that doing so would not violate Dobelle's privacy rights.

In a mediated settlement signed last Thursday, regents rescinded Dobelle's firing "for cause," and a joint statement said there was no wrongdoing on either side. As part of that agreement, Dobelle will resign as president Aug. 14.

Kondo advised the university that Dobelle had waived his privacy rights in regard to this dispute and therefore the university should make the records available — with two exceptions.

Those exceptions include Social Security numbers contained in payroll records for workers who did renovations on College Hill and Dobelle's Bachman Hall office, as well as certain portions of the minutes regarding attorney-client privilege.

Records that OIP said could be made public include:

• The Deloitte & Touche final audit of the president's $200,000 protocol fund administered by the UH Foundation, plus e-mails, memos and correspondence between UH and the UH Foundation regarding use of this fund.

• E-mails between Dobelle and his staff and the regents regarding his attendance at the June 15 regents' meeting.

• E-mails and correspondence regarding use of the UH Research and Training Revolving Fund.

• The 2001 and 2003 surveys conducted for Dobelle by the Cambridge, Mass., firm Opinion Dynamics Corp., plus related records and e-mails between the firm and UH.

• Documents relating to the renovations to College Hill and Dobelle's Bachman Hall office, along with change orders and use of Research Corporation of the University of Hawai'i money for the renovation.

• Addenda to Dobelle's employment contract.

As part of this continuing saga, there was disagreement yesterday about interpretation between Kondo and Dobelle attorney L. Richard Fried Jr. over the scope of privacy rights Dobelle has waived.

Kondo's opinion concludes that Dobelle has relinquished privacy rights to all documents relating to his presidency, while Fried argues that the waiver of Dobelle's privacy rights applies only to "information regarding this dispute."

"There is no waiver regarding Dr. Dobelle's employment as president of the University of Hawai'i in general," Fried told Kondo.

Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8013.