Eight members of the University of Hawai'i at Manoa faculty say they plan to appeal, through their faculty union, a denial of their formal complaints opposing the proposed university affiliated research center.

The faculty members say they were told Wednesday that their formal complaints filed in March opposing the UARC were rejected by the university's legal counsel. The complaints allege that UH President David McClain violated five Board of Regent policies, including rules of faculty governance and discrimination, when he recommended in February that the university move forward with a proposed U.S. Navy UARC.

UH and Navy officials say they have since made significant progress in negotiating a final contract.

Michael D'Andrea, one of the complainants, said his group will file a class-action grievance through the university faculty union, the University of Hawai'i Professional Assembly. He also said the group is preparing to submit a statement regarding the alleged policy violations to the UH Board of Regents at its next monthly meeting scheduled for July 20.

D'Andrea and members of his group were scheduled to meet with the faculty union last night, he said.

David Iha, UH Board of Regents secretary, said the university's general counsel is preparing a letter to officially inform the faculty members of the decision. He said he could not confirm whether the group's complaints were being denied since the university's general counsel office is still handling the matter, he said.

D'Andrea said Iha told him in a conversation Wednesday that his group's complaints had been rejected.

"It's not uncommon for complaints to be denied on the first go-around," D'Andrea said. "When you file in-house, 99 percent of the time the decisions go in favor of the administration. The legal counsel represents the administration."

By filing a class-action grievance through the faculty union, D'Andrea said the group hopes to obtain an outside arbitrator to examine the alleged policy violations.

The group's main complaint is that McClain, in recommending a systemwide UARC rather than a UH-Manoa UARC in February, violated a Board of Regents policy that requires him to seek input from faculty and student groups from campuses systemwide.

"From a Board of Regents policy perspective, he has the responsibility before making that recommendation to contact faculty and student organizations systemwide," D'Andrea said. "He did not."

The group also claims McClain violated a faculty self-governance rule by recommending a UARC even after three faculty senates — UH-Manoa, UH-Hilo and Honolulu Community College — passed resolutions against it. The group also claims that the Navy UARC would violate Board of Regents' anti-discrimination policies on sexual orientation and national origin, among other charges.

Reach Loren Moreno at lmoreno@honoluluadvertiser.com.