Regent claims
Dobelle said slurThe UH president denies
the charge and says Ted Hong
has been hostile with him
A rift between Evan Dobelle and the Board of Regents that started over a critical evaluation of the University of Hawaii president has turned personal.
On Friday, in response to questions from the Star-Bulletin, Dobelle accused Interim Regent Ted Hong of being "hostile" toward him. He also said, through a spokesman, that Hong is lying about a heated exchange between the two men during a September board meeting on Maui where Dobelle's annual evaluation was being discussed.
According to Hong, during a conversation about donations to the University of Hawaii Foundation, Dobelle used the phrase "you people." Hong said he felt personally insulted and thought Dobelle was referring to local residents.
"He (Dobelle) said, 'I don't understand why you people don't contribute to the University of Hawaii, why you people don't participate more,'" Hong told the Star-Bulletin.
"I told him that, look, my parents graduated from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. I said my brother and my sister did. I did graduate from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and contribute to the University of Hawaii, and I said if you do not understand why 'you people' or 'us people' don't contribute, I told him maybe you shouldn't have this job," Hong said.
Dobelle, through university spokesman Paul Costello, denied ever using the phrase "you people."
"I never said it. I would never use that term. I would never say it like that," Costello quoted Dobelle as saying. "It is the local community which has been the backbone of giving to the University of Hawaii."
In an e-mail on Friday, Costello added his own opinion and wrote: "Ted Hong's statement about President Dobelle is not only false; it is a vicious and mean-spirited attempt to embarrass President Dobelle within the local community."
Regent Walter Nunokawa said Dobelle did use the phrase "you people" during the exchange. Nunokawa, who was appointed to the board by former Gov. Ben Cayetano, said he thought Dobelle was referring to the regents when he made the statement.
However, he said, "it would be reasonable for Ted to make the interpretation that he did."
In an e-mail response to a question about his relationship with Hong, Dobelle wrote: "It's not a matter of candor; it's a matter of tone. Frankness has nothing to do with it. Regent Hong has been absolutely hostile since the day he came on the board. And I have been always respectful. Tone is as important, in my opinion, as anything in a relationship."
Hong responded: "I think that's unfortunate that he takes it that way. I don't think I've been disrespectful at all. I think it's his method again to politicize everything."
Board of Regents Chairwoman Patricia Lee said Hong is not the only regent who has criticized Dobelle, but Hong "has a more confrontational manner because he's a trial lawyer."
"Maybe that's what Dobelle is calling hostile, but I think he's very frank and open," she said.
Hong was appointed to the board by Gov. Linda Lingle and, as the state's chief negotiator, is a member of Lingle's Cabinet.
He has also been one of the more outspoken regents.
Hong questioned whether the university administration should go ahead with plans to build a $350 million UH West Oahu campus in Kapolei, and questioned whether then-Regent Everett Dowling had a conflict of interest because he was developing a new UH Institute for Astronomy building on land Dowling owns on Maui. Dowling denied any conflict and later resigned from the board.
Hong also pushed to do away with a board policy that prohibits regents from criticizing the president in public.
"If he has hurt feelings, I'll certainly do my best to make sure his feelings aren't hurt," Hong said. "However, the concerns I'm voicing on behalf of the university and citizens need to be heard and need to be brought out in open meetings."
The tension between the regents and Dobelle may have been growing before Lingle took office.
In November 2002, Interim Regent Michael Hartley resigned from the board after Dobelle, in a highly unusual move for the president of a public university, endorsed Lingle's opponent for governor, Democrat Mazie Hirono.
Both Dobelle and Lingle have said publicly they have put the incident behind them.
Since then, Lingle has appointed seven new regents to the 12-member board that governs the university.
Observers say since the new regents started this year, the board has been far more outspoken and questioning of the Dobelle administration than the previous board.
The conflicts between the board and Dobelle appear to have come to a head over the president's annual evaluation and performance goals, which began in May under the old board and continued with the new members. Dobelle considers the evaluation a personnel matter and wants to keep it secret.
In a written statement last week, university spokesman Costello said Dobelle objected to the evaluation process because the review for the past year was being conducted by the new regents who were not on the board during the year for which Dobelle was being evaluated.
Lee, however, noted that the former regents continued to contribute testimony for Dobelle's evaluation.
Lee, a Cayetano appointee, said the board and Dobelle will be discussing his evaluation again in January.
"We're still going on the premise that we're all going to move forward," Lee said. "We'll have to get over these stumbling blocks."