Revision of UH regent selection process begins
By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer
A legislative committee has taken the first step toward changing the selection process for the University of Hawai'i Board of Regents, with the hope of depoliticizing the process and spreading out the power base to more constituencies.
The Senate Higher Education Committee, chaired by Sen. Clayton Hee, yesterday found support for creation of an advisory council to screen and propose candidates for the board from a pool of qualified people; a constitutional amendment that would change the law accordingly; and a lengthening of the term served by a regent from four to 10 years.
Bills containing those proposals were approved in the first of many steps toward potential passage.
"This measure proposes to make the Board of Regents more autonomous from the vagaries of the three branches of government," said John Radcliffe, associate director of the University of Hawai'i Professional Assembly, in prepared testimony.
Radcliffe said it is consistent with a 35-year-old goal of the faculty union to increase the university's autonomy from "day-to-day impulses of government."
Retired international attorney Frank Boas, a member of the board of the UH Foundation and the Friends Board of the William S. Richardson School of Law, noted that such measures would "reflect the autonomy of the university," which the public has already chosen to support in a constitutional amendment passed in 2000.
Boas said the change would also help fund-raising. "Major prospective donors, private individuals, charitable foundations and corporations will have confidence in a Board of Regents who are also stakeholders in the university and who will support the university's fund-raising efforts in both word and deed."
Boas said his support should not be interpreted as criticism of any current or past regent.
Under proposed legislation, the 12-person advisory council would recommend between two and four people for seats as vacancies occur. The governor would continue to make the final choice for the board from those candidates selected by the advisory council, and the Senate would continue to confirm appointments. Currently the governor has sole authority to appoint, and the Senate to confirm. But regents can also serve for interim appointments without Senate confirmation, a practice senators are also trying to change.
Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8013.
