Dobelle and
regents clashThe UH president is refusing
to make his annual job
evaluation public
University of Hawaii President Evan Dobelle threatened to sue the Board of Regents over an annual job performance evaluation that he refuses to make public, several regents said.
The evaluation and a set of future performance guidelines were finalized in writing at the board's November meeting, but university spokesman Paul Costello said Dobelle's evaluation is a "personnel matter" and does not have to be released.
Regents, who did not want to be identified, said that at one closed-door session during the evaluation process, Dobelle threatened to call his lawyers when the board told him they would put the evaluation in writing. They cited the lawsuit threat as a reason for not releasing the final evaluation.
On Wednesday the Honolulu Star-Bulletin sent a letter to the regents asking for a copy of the evaluation and performance expectations. Copies of the request were also sent to the state Office of Information Practices and to Costello.
Kitty Lagaretta, chairwoman of the regents' personnel subcommittee, said: "It is a personnel matter, and it is my understanding that the person involved would have to waive the confidentiality for it to be made public. But I believe all of us on the board can understand why the public would be interested in the performance of such a highly compensated public employee in such an important job."
In a statement last night, Costello said Dobelle objected to the evaluation process because it began in May but continued after new regents were appointed by Gov. Linda Lingle. The new regents, the statement said, were not on the board during the year that was being evaluated.
"The policy of the Board of Regents states that the goals and objectives that will form the basis for an annual review be mutually agreed to," Costello wrote. "The president has requested an opportunity to come to agreement with the current board on this issue, but that opportunity has not been scheduled. The president looks forward to resolving this issue so that he and the board can finalize together their joint priorities for the university."
Board Chairwoman Patricia Lee said she would have to consult with the Office of Information Practices before the board can decide if the evaluation and performance expectations can be made public.
Leslie Kondo, director of the office, said state open-records laws require a person's right to privacy be balanced against the public's right to know in deciding whether a record should be made public. He said it is up to the university to make a formal determination on whether the record is private before his office can issue an opinion.
The balancing test, he said, is similar to the release of UH coach June Jones' contract, although there is a difference between a contract and a personnel evaluation.
Honolulu attorney Bruce Voss, who specializes in media law, said, "If this was a lower-level employee, there would be no question that this record is private, but the public has a very compelling interest in seeing that the university makes improvements both in its instruction and in its finances."
The regents have been evaluating Dobelle's performance in closed-door sessions for several months. The process began with a self-evaluation by Dobelle and later included input from former regents and others. This is the second job evaluation of Dobelle that the regents have conducted.
Dobelle's contract calls for a more in-depth formal evaluation of his job performance next year, during the third year of his contract.
Last year, during a Freedom of Information Day luncheon, Dobelle talked about making his administration more open than previous administrations.
"The university has needlessly expended a great deal of staff time and expertise in court trying to defend its secret settlements or to justify its hiring and salary procedures," he said at the time. "Perhaps we can serve as a model for the rest of the states. There are other ways, besides bureaucracy, to ensure accountability."