Posted on: Wednesday, June 23, 2004

EDITORIAL
UH turmoil clouds a great potential

The flow of charges, insinuation and reports and counter-reports coming out of the University of Hawai'i is reaching flood proportions.

Much of it is the result of a natural impulse to put some order and coherence into the dramatic firing of President Evan Dobelle by a unified Board of Regents.

We are also watching the first skirmishes of what might be an ugly legal battle to come.

The ultimate victims, as always, will be the university as an institution and the students and faculty whose reputations depend on the success of that institution.

The latest reports, a pair of rather critical evaluations from two different accreditation bodies, paint a picture of a dysfunctional institution where great ideas and good intentions fell victim to politics, personality and power plays.

One report is from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities. WASC looks at major four-year institutions, of which Hawai'i has three.

The WASC report focuses on what has now become obvious: a dysfunctional and antagonistic relationship between the Board of Regents and the university administration, personified by Dobelle.

The evaluation found Dobelle's relationship with the board to be distant, if not almost dismissive. The regents, in turn, were cited for micromanaging, failing to understand the policy-making role of the president and for excessive politics and conflict of interest.

Ideally, the two sides should have found a way to work through their differences for the good of the university, but clearly that was not the case.

The second report, by an accrediting commission for community and junior colleges, found fault on both sides but focused more intensely on the regents. It accused the board of micromanagement and allowing "excessive politics" to slip into its decision-making.

Our outsider's impression of all this is that the two key players — the regents and Dobelle — allowed their flawed and difficult relationship to overcome what should have been their larger obligation: doing the best possible for the University of Hawai'i and its students, faculty and staff.

Despite the current turmoil, the University of Hawai'i continues to hold great promise. It is now up to the surviving regents and the new administration — for the moment led by David McClain — to convert that promise into reality.