What goes around will come around

The majority of the moral, principled, fair, decent and just people I have met in my life believe in some form of "karma" (in lieu of the word "retribution") in business and/or personal dealings.

The die has been cast for the University of Hawaii regents and all of those connected with this latest episode. The polarization has begun and this cabal will eventually have to face the consequences, and they will be dire.

UH President Evan Dobelle will wind up just fine. His brilliant academic track record speaks for itself.

The big loser is the university and the state of Hawaii.

Jimmy and Vicki Borges
Honolulu

Dobelle didn't fit in but regents behaved badly

I have never been a supporter of Evan Dobelle's. He rubbed people the wrong way. He simply doesn't do things "island style." His political miscalculations were huge. Who will ever forget seeing his face on the spot ads supporting Mazie Hirono for governor? He also didn't do a very good job working with the regents. However, I am not sure if all the fault lies with Dobelle on that score. The Board of Regents seems to have an agenda all its own and clearly it is not looking at what's best for the University of Hawaii.

OK, to the point, can you imagine the challenge now of seeking and finding a university president who will want to come here? Any potential candidate just has to do a fast Google search to get a good overview of how this board conducts business. All of which is culminated by a long-distance firing of an university president who was unreachable that night -- "but we were able to talk with his wife." Come on! You talk about the lowest of the low. The lack of professionalism of this board is astounding.

I am also baffled by the "firing for cause." I bet this one will get sorted out in court and will result in more taxpayer money being spent to defend the board's actions than to simply have paid the contract clause. Gee, wonder if that should be determined to be a "for cause" reason for termination of the board? As a taxpayer, I vote yes.

How about you, governor? How do you vote? I think everyone here and every potential UH presidential candidate is awaiting your answer.

Tom Swindell
Kailua

K-12 campuses need medical school priority

A snapshot of the Ben Cayetano/Evan Dobelle legacy, based on the Star-Bulletin's June 16 report about the new medical school in Kakaako: While Dean Edwin Cadman and his colleagues prepare to enjoy their "spacious rooms, high tech amenities and views of Diamond Head and the oceanfront" in air-conditioned comfort, hundreds, maybe thousands, of K-12 public students get ready for another year of outdated textbooks, unsanitary bathrooms and sweltering classrooms.

Webster Nolan
Honolulu

Board of Regents behaved thuggishly

It was not what the Board of Regents did, but how it fired University of Hawaii President Evan Dobelle that brought such disgrace to UH. The board should have practiced the "golden rule." When you find yourself in the position of having to fire someone, have the decency to do it with some respect, class and humility to allow for the potential that your decision might not be fair, or even wrong, and most of all, not strip the person's dignity. Or simply, do it the way you would like others do unto you.

If the board did have just cause to fire Dobelle, how it went about doing it overshadows the validity of its decision. The board members have acted like a bunch of thugs thuggering in dark allies. The thuggering is appalling considering that the board had 12 hours to deliberate last Tuesday alone; it wasn't a momentary misjudgment.

It is unacceptable, disgraceful, and shame on you thugs. I hope the governor steps in and shows that she is capable of being fair even to people who once supported her opponent. Though only symbolic, an apology to Dobelle for the way the ax fell would be appropriate. Or she can remain as the "perceived" top thug.

UH and our state needs and deserves the very best effort to make this wrong to be made right.

Ashley Ji
Honolulu

Need money? Get UH regents to fire you

What a way to go! If you are ever fired in your career, hope that it's done by the UH Board of Regents. The question of whether the firing is deserved or not is quickly forgotten. The firing is handled in such an offensive way that you'll be able to collect ever so much more for your nest egg.

Richard Y. Will
Honolulu

Regents need to learn when not to talk

Regarding your June 13 article "UH regents considering whether to fire Dobelle," the unidentified regents who suggested that Dobelle's contract might be terminated are no better than juvenile 7th-grade gossipers.

Worse, I think that they inflate their own sense of importance by leaking a Sunday front-page topic. Hey, anonymous regents, just do your job without fanfare. That is what you were appointed to do, so just do it.

Stuart N. Taba
Honolulu