A firing for cause, unless successfully challenged in the litigation that is likely to follow, frees the university from paying out a $2.2 million severance package for Dobelle.

Dobelle, who is traveling with family on a college trip for his son Harry, said in a written statement today he is "amazed" by the regents' action.

"My family and I came to Hawai'i when I was recruited three years ago and we are pleased to have devoted our total energy and enthusiasm to this University," he said.

"I am both amazed and regret the action taken by the regents, but have great faith in the strong administrative team that I put in place to continue to advance our efforts on behalf of our faculty, researchers and students on all our islands.

"Working directly with students has always been my greatest joy and I look forward to being able to have my efforts now concentrated with them.

"I am proud of everything I have done as president of the University of Hawai'i and I thank everyone for that privilege."

David McClain, vice president for academic affairs, was named acting president.

In his first statement as acting UH president this morning, McClain committed his administration to continue support of Native Hawaiian programs at UH that Dobelle had begun and moved forward.

"I'm fully behind and support what has been done and I make a commitment to moving forward aggressively," he said.

McClain, calling this a "difficult day" and commending Dobelle for his commitment to the university, said he will move forward with the motto: Strive for the highest. "That will be the motto of our team," he said.

In announcing the firing last night, regents chairwoman Patricia Lee said Dobelle no longer has the trust of the board. There is no longer "the unity of purpose between the board and the president, or a clear recognition of his integrity, character and commitment," the board said in a statement made at 8:40 p.m.

With the other regents standing behind her, Lee said Dobelle had been terminated "for cause." She did not elaborate.

The specific reason for the termination will be referred to Walter Kirimitsu, the board's legal counsel, and he said it will be announced by the board as early as today.

As regents gathered this morning to continue their regular meeting, they heard an outpouring of shock and sorrow from the Native Hawaiian campus community over the decision to fire Dobelle.

"You have broken our heart," said Lilikala Kame'eleihiwa, with her voice breaking.

"Evan Dobelle was a champion of our people, the first champion of our people. He gave us hope. You bashed our hope. We're looking to the board to give back that hope."

She said there was tremendous support for the work Dobelle had done for Native Hawaiian programs.

"This is a very sad day. You've made a terrible mistake."

Kame'elehiwa said she wanted to see a real and continuing commitment to Native Hawaiians, including $58 million next year for a building on the Hilo campus and an adjunct building at Manoa to give Native Hawaiian programs a fair share of money from the ceded lands on which the Manoa campus sits.

According to Dobelle's contract, termination for cause is limited to one of the following: conviction of a felony, a determination by medical professionals that he is mentally unstable or conduct that constitutes moral turpitude, brings public disrespect and contempt or ridicule on the university and if proven in court, would constitute grounds for his criminal conviction or the university's civil liability.

Lee said last night that regents had been trying for several hours to contact him and had reached his wife Kit, but he had not returned their calls.

Earlier this week, Dobelle called a published report — based on comments from anonymous regents that the board was considering firing him — "a total violation of the evaluation process."

Lee was asked about potential legal action and said she could not comment.

"Clearly this is the most difficult decision ever to be made by the regents," Lee said. "However, we are confident that we have made the right decision at the right time and our beloved University of Hawai'i will continue to move forward successfully."

Ralph Wolff, who heads accreditation for the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, declined to comment on the regents' decision beyond saying that the association review commission would weigh this week's events in its report on UH governance and other aspects of university organization.

Wolff said the association sent a review team to Hawai'i in March to follow up on Dobelle's reorganization of the system, including aspects of governance and the respective roles of the regents and the UH president's office. The commission is expected to act on that report Friday, and send its findings to McClain by the end of June, he said.

According to his contract, Dobelle will be permitted to stay in College Hill, his official residence, for 60 days.

He stays on the payroll for 30 days on official leave.

Last night's announcement came after a 12-hour closed-door session. The agenda listed a discussion of Dobelle's performance and an audit of his $200,000 protocol fund.

The audit by the accounting firm of Deloitte and Touche touches on a number of areas dealing with travel, reimbursements, credit card charges and personal expenses. Dobelle has responded to all of the criticisms, has made reimbursements as necessary, and has changed a number of procedures to standardize reimbursement policy.

Dobelle's relationship with the board had been deteriorating for the past year, showing up in flashes of temper on both sides during monthly meetings and a protracted dispute over his second-year evaluation.

Dobelle turned to legal counsel in asking the State Office of Information Practices to evaluate whether the regents had violated state sunshine laws, with the OIP saying that some regulations had been overlooked by the regents. They specifically changed the agenda, and did not give Dobelle the opportunity to make a meeting involving his evaluation public, which was his right.

In later days they offered Dobelle every opportunity to open evaluation meetings to the public but he declined.

While both sides said they were putting differences behind them at the end of that process, regents had increased their level of oversight of the university president, his spending, and administration of the 10-campus system.

Two days ago, regent Vice Chairman Kitty Lagareta said the rocky relationship couldn't continue and likened it to a marriage where the partners were always fighting.

But she stopped short of saying the regents would be considering his dismissal — saying that each individual is an independent thinker and the board had yet to discuss his evaluation. Nor had the board discussed buying out Dobelle's contract, said Lagareta at that time.

A buyout would have included paying him an annual salary for the remaining four years of his contract, plus three years of accrued incentive payments. The total would be more than $2 million.

Dobelle came to UH in 2001 after serving as president of Trinity College. He also was the former leader of City College of San Francisco. He succeeded UH President Kenneth Mortimer, who left the university after eight often tumultuous years.

Dobelle arrived in Hawai'i with great promise, an unconventional leader who described himself as someone who could make things happen.

Comfortable in academic and political circles — he was the one-time treasurer of the Democratic National Committee and chief of protocol at the White House under President Carter — Dobelle was seen as the right man to bring the university out of years of crisis mode.

Hired at an annual salary of $442,000 and given a home at the president's residence at College Hill in Manoa, Dobelle became the most richly compensated UH president in history, and among the highest paid in the nation.

In a statement last night Gov. Linda Lingle said, "The Board of Regents' decision reflects what it believes is in the best interest of the University of Hawai'i system and its students. As additional information is made available by the board in the coming days, we will have a clearer understanding of the reasons for president Dobelle's dismissal and what the university's next steps will be."

Former Gov. Ben Cayetano said he was surprised that the regents acted to fire Dobelle when he was away on a family trip. "No class. That is absolutely no class," he said. "That kind of tells you what the regents are all about."

Cayetano said it may be difficult for the university to recruit a top-notch replacement given the manner in which they dismissed Dobelle, who had a good reputation nationally before coming to Hawai'i.

"The problem with this town is that people have a difficult time dealing with change," Cayetano said.

State Rep. K. Mark Takai, D-34th (Pearl City, Newtown, Royal Summit), the chairman of the House Higher Education Committee, who has been critical of Dobelle over administrative salaries and other issues, said he would not second-guess the regents' decision.

"For the sake of the university, we need to put this behind us and move forward," Takai said.

Surprisingly, it might be a lack of political instinct that got Dobelle into trouble and contributed to the partisan climate that led to his undoing.

Dobelle's decision to publicly endorse Democrat Mazie Hirono over Lingle soured his relationship with the future Republican governor, who later said that she hung up on Dobelle when he told her the news.

Lingle eventually ended a past practice of inviting the university president — or the state school superintendent — to Cabinet meetings, a signal that Dobelle was not in step with the Lingle administration's agenda. Lingle's appointments to the Board of Regents have been among those most critical of Dobelle.

"He made a terrible political mistake," said Daniel Boylan, a history professor at UH-West O'ahu who was on the search committee that recommended Dobelle. "He had absolutely no right as president of the university to do that.

"It didn't make sense."

Senate President Robert Bunda said he "wasn't that surprised" by the regents' decision, given rumors that had circulated in recent months. "I didn't think it would be happening this suddenly," he said.

Dobelle first came to the Legislature with promises, most of which went unfulfilled, Bunda said. "I think President Dobelle had come to the Legislature with some excitement.

"I think he had told the Legislature that he was excited about the new medical school and promised a $150 million match to the Legislature's bond funding. Unfortunately, that hasn't really come to pass. So I think many of the legislators, today, really have misgivings about some of the promises that President Dobelle has made."

Bunda said he would not oppose giving UH's next president a similarly high salary package — provided the successor could deliver on the promises Dobelle could not. He also believes the regents should conduct the hiring of a new president in open proceedings, something that was not done when Dobelle was hired.