The subject was not supposed to be on a public agenda and caught regents and other university officials off-guard when was discussed yesterday during a board meeting, said Sam Callejo, the university’s chief of staff. The issue of Dobelle’s reimbursement arrangement with the UH Foundation is part of an audit of the school’s "protocol support fund" that has not been made public.

"Even I was caught off-guard," Callejo said today. "That draft is still confidential until it’s finalized."

The reimbursement practice was discontinued in March 2003, Callejo said.

The fund, which has $200,000, is available for Dobelle to use on trips and expenses that will benefit the university, Callejo said. For example, when the school buys a coach airline ticket for Mainland travel, Dobelle can upgrade to first class using money from the protocol account. He can do the same thing with hotel rooms.

The regents were concerned that Dobelle was taking too long to reimburse the foundation, Callejo said.

When Dobelle first began as president, he would pay his entire credit card bill, then ask the foundation to reimburse him. But the practice did not work well, Callejo said, so the foundation began paying the entire bill and getting Dobelle to reimburse it for his personal expenses. Callejo said that did not work well, either.

Currently, the president’s staff goes over his expenditures to make sure that no personal expenses are submitted to the foundation.

Regent Kitty Lagaretta said today that the regents cannot talk about the issue until the audit is made public.

She said they were listening to a report by Bill King, the foundation’s chief financial officer, and asking general questions about reimbursement when King answered in greater detail than they expected.