Dobelle wants Every time University of Hawaii President Evan Dobelle appears in public, he tosses out another grand vision for the university.
people to think
big like he does
The UH president's vision is
grandiose to inspire excitementBy Treena Shapiro
tshapiro@starbulletin.comA new football stadium in West Oahu. A film school at Kapiolani Community College. A four-year campus on Maui.
Do people think he can accomplish everything he has presented to the public? No, but they are excited about entertaining the ideas.
Even Dobelle said he sets his sights too high, but said he does not present ideas publicly without careful forethought or to provide sound bites for the media. He is very serious about his role as "head cheerleader," getting people to dream about the university again. "The key thing is that people are excited everywhere I've gone."
Throwing out proposals -- most of which predate his tenure as president -- is a way to break up the logjam of ideas he encountered when he first arrived at the university last month, and he said he is encouraging people to think big.
"I have ideas flying in here now," he said.
"We're in the process of dreaming, and that's something important for an institution that hasn't dreamt for a long time," Dobelle said.
His enthusiasm is contagious.
The UH-Manoa Faculty Senate Executive Committee met with Dobelle for the second time yesterday, in part to clarify some of the statements he has made in public.
"What isn't clear to us is what of all the many things he has mentioned are things that are really high priority," said Jim Dator, vice chairman of the committee. "How many are issues that he brings up in a dramatic way to get attention?"
Even if most fall into the latter category, it's all good, Dator said, because it raises the level of discourse about the university. With every announcement the president is saying, "We've got a good university, and we're going to make it better."
The senate's first priority will be to get the attention of the rest of the faculty and inspire them to participate in campus governance, Dator said. "We have to convince our colleagues that we have a president who cares and appreciates our judgment."
"I think all of us have a cynical side, and we have to keep that in abeyance for now," Dator said.
Committee member Meda Chesney-Lind agreed that the things that Dobelle has already done, such as naming Deane Neubauer Manoa Chancellor, give the faculty reason to set their cynicism aside.
She also said it is necessary to push a bit at some of Dobelle's initiatives, to flesh out some of his announcements. When detailed questions are asked, it turns out that they are not new ideas, but ones that he has adopted while talking with key people, she said.
"We've got good ideas that have been floating around for quite a while, that people haven't felt that they have the green light to even think about," she said.
He may not be able to accomplish everything "unless he's printing money in the basement of Bachman Hall," she said. However, "he's already established himself as an effective advocate for the institution."
"He wants to give people hope. There's a sense that the future is positive."
Ka Leo O Hawaii
University of Hawaii
