Posted on: Tuesday, July 20, 2004
Letter listed Dobelle benefits
By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer
A separate agreement signed the same day as former University of Hawai'i president Evan Dobelle's employment contract provided him a number of benefits, ranging from country club memberships to supplemental travel money in addition to a year's sabbatical at full salary in the sixth year of his seven-year term.
Former members of the Board of Regents familiar with the negotiations say there were a number of additions to the contract at the 11th hour.
The agreement, a copy of which has been obtained by The Advertiser, stipulated that Dobelle would be provided dues at three Hawai'i country clubs, as well as $10,000 per year for seven years from the First Hawaiian Foundation as "supplemental travel funds."
Additionally, the letter granted Dobelle tenure "after completion of your term as president" and said that his pay would be equivalent to "the highest prevailing rate as a professor in your field."
The letter was dated March 9, 2001, and signed by then board chairwoman Lily Yao.
The agreement is one of many elements on the table as attorneys for Dobelle and the UH Board of Regents that fired him June 15 move into a third week of mediation. Last week regents recessed a special meeting until Thursday in hopes of seeing a settlement emerge. As well, they pushed back Dobelle's termination date to Aug. 14 "to allow the parties to continue further efforts in mediation," according to board chairwoman Patricia Lee.
While several national education authorities say agreements offering sabbatical leaves are common for university presidents signing new contracts, Washington, D.C., higher education contract expert Raymond D. Cotton said there could be questions about the validity of the separate agreement.
"It's not clear-cut, unfortunately for him," said Cotton, a foremost national expert in higher education contract law who has negotiated more than 100 agreements for college presidents and boards over the past 25 years.
"The argument may be made that since it wasn't specifically 'attached' (to the contract) then it's not a valid modification of the employment contract," said Cotton, a partner in the Mintz Levin Law firm and vice president of Higher Education for Mintz Levin Strategies.
"Normally in contracts that I do there is a clause that says 'this is the entire agreement,' and letters or oral agreements, e-mails, none of that count," he said. "So the question in this particular contract is whether the letter would be legally binding."
The letter indicated that the Board of Regents had approved the agreement, although only Yao signed the document. As chairwoman of the board at the time, she had authority to sign documents on behalf of the board.
While a sabbatical year appears moot at this point, national experts in higher education say it's common when boards are recruiting new presidents.
"Sabbaticals are fairly common in presidential contracts," said Richard Novak, with the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, an agency that provides guidelines for college boards in many governance areas.
Often those agreements come at the end of a president's term, especially when the president chooses to return to teaching after he leaves the presidency, said Novak.
Patrick Callan, president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, said not every president has such a clause, "but it isn't rare ... This is pretty well within standard practice."
Contract attorney Cotton, too, said "it's fairly typical" for a president to get a year's sabbatical after six or seven years of service.
Yao's letter also includes other agreements made with Dobelle when he was hired, stating:
"We have agreed to the following: (1) UH Foundation provides the president protocol funds estimated at $150,000 per year. You may be interested to know that President Mortimer purchases economy fair (sic) tickets and upgrades using protocol funds. (2) Clubs: We agreed to pay club dues for Waialae Country Club, O'ahu Country Club, Pacific Country Club and the dues for the two clubs that you currently belong to since the facilities are available for use by other UH administrators. (3) We have secured from First Hawaiian Foundation a commitment to provide the president supplemental travel funds in the amount of $10,000 per year for seven years, or the equivalent value, to be used at his discretion."
Sharon Shiroma Brown, president of First Hawaiian Foundation, said yesterday that the foundation "was asked to financially assist UH's efforts to attract Dr. Dobelle."
"Our charitable foundation did agree to help," said her statement, "just as we have done in the past in endowing a $1 million chair for the College of Business, supporting athletic and other programs at UH and giving to other schools."
Yao said she does not remember the side agreement with Dobelle — "I signed so many documents," she said — but noted the Board of Regents "keep very good records" and "have all the records."
Even though Yao's is the only signature on the letter, "nothing is signed unless the whole board authorized" it, she said.
Several other members of the board who were serving at the time say they do not remember if there was such a letter or not.
But one, who asked not to be identified, did say that Dobelle was a tough negotiator and there were additions to the contract late in negotiations, and Yao had to poll regents in the evening to see if they agreed to the terms. Although this regent could not remember what the particular changes were, the individual said there was nothing to balk at.
Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8013.
