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Editorials
Tuesday, March 13, 2001UH names a president
from Eastern collegeThe issue: Evan Dobelle, president of Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., is the next president of the University of Hawaii.
THE University of Hawaii regents have selected as the next UH president Evan S. Dobelle, currently president of Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. Dobelle will replace Kenneth Mortimer, who is retiring this summer after eight financially difficult years.
Trinity is a small, private Eastern college, dwarfed by the 10-campus UH system, so Dobelle presumably will have to make a lot of adjustments.
However, he previously served as chancellor and president of the City College of San Francisco, which has 10 campuses and 97,500 students -- about twice as many as UH -- so this should not be a big problem. Before that he headed Middlesex Community College in Lowell, Mass., the largest community college in New England.
Dobelle, who is 55, holds bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in education and public policy from the University of Massachusetts and a master's in public administration from Harvard.
He is described by people who knew him in Hartford and San Francisco as a vigorous and forthright leader, a bold visionary who builds on assets and turns around negative situations. If he lives up to that reputation, he will be a godsend.
Dobelle has not always been an educator. He is a former mayor of Pittsfield, Mass., and was the Massachusetts state environmental commissioner. At the national level, he was a former treasurer of the Democratic National Committee and was U.S. chief of protocol in the Carter administration. A Trinity friend said Dobelle would have had a high position in the federal government if Al Gore had been elected.
At Trinity College, he spearheaded a $250 million program of revitalization of the college neighborhood -- a ghetto with gangs, homicides and crack houses -- that brought the institution national recognition. The efforts reportedly led to creation of a complex of four schools and the first Boys and Girls Club affiliated with a college or university.
Dobelle's varied experiences could be an asset. Spending one's entire professional life as an educator could limit one's perspective.
There have been complaints that the presidential selection process was too secretive, but the reality is that many candidates for such positions insist on confidentiality.
The new president will arrive with Hawaii's economy experiencing recovery after spending much of the 1990s in stagnation. This should make it possible for the university to obtain increased funding from the state government after years of cuts, which in turn should make Dobelle's job more pleasant than Mortimer's has been.
However, the university faces a possible strike by the faculty union, which would certainly be unsettling. The faculty has been without a contract since 1998 and could strike next month.
Mortimer has borne the brunt of faculty frustration with the budget cuts but they were beyond his control. The cuts have forced a number of difficult choices that have not enhanced his popularity, but making choices is what he is paid to do.
Mortimer has made a lasting contribution to the university by successfully lobbying the Legislature to grant UH autonomy in managing its affairs. His successor will benefit from those efforts -- and from increased state funding after years of financial drought.
Ocean aquaculture
gets state approval
AQUACULTURE in the islands goes back to the ancient Hawaiians but in modern times results have been mixed at best. Now a venture making use of an old technique offers hope for a new industry to add to the diversification of Hawaii's economy.
The green light for the venture -- commercial production of fish in offshore cages -- came in the form of authorization by the state Board of Land and Natural Resources of a 15-year lease agreement for 28 acres about two miles off Ewa Beach.
Eighty-foot cages, shaped like two cones joined together, will be anchored to the ocean floor. The cages will be positioned 40 feet below the ocean surface.
The cages will be stocked with moi, also known as Pacific threadfin, which is considered a delicacy and is believed to have export potential for the Japanese and U.S. mainland markets.
A demonstration version of the cage produced 40,000 pounds of moi in 1999. The agreement, believed to be the first in the nation, is with Cates International Inc., based in Kailua. Rent will be based on a percentage of gross revenues.
John Corbin, manager of the state Department of Agriculture's Aquaculture Development Program, said the agreement positions Hawaii to be at the forefront of open-ocean farming technology.
Governor Cayetano said the project could lead to large-scale expansion of the aquaculture industry.
Aquaculture has sustained setbacks from various causes over the years, but this technique, very different from the ponds that have been used in other projects, seems to hold much promise.
The sea-cage technique could provide the foundation that aquaculture needs to make a significant contribution to Hawaii's economy.
Published by Liberty Newspapers Limited PartnershipRupert E. Phillips, CEO
Frank Bridgewater, Acting Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
