Dobelle and regents
settle their differencesAt issue was the board’s
evaluation of the UH president
University of Hawaii President Evan Dobelle and the Board of Regents appear to have resolved differences over last year's contentious evaluation of the president.
The Personnel Committee of the regents met behind closed doors for three hours with a UH attorney yesterday and emerged saying they and the president have put the matter behind them and that they are working on coming up with procedures for next year's evaluation.
"It's pau," said Kitty Lagareta, chairwoman of the committee. "We are all done with it."
Lagareta said yesterday that there was a remaining issue about the evaluation that needed to be discussed in private with the UH attorney. She would not go into detail about what the issue was.
Lagareta and regents Chairwoman Patricia Lee met with Dobelle for about an hour and a half before the Personnel Committee meeting.
UH spokeswoman Carolyn Tanaka said it was a "positive" meeting.
Lagareta said Dobelle was invited to the committee meeting but declined to attend. She said Dobelle was also given the option to waive his privacy interest and open yesterday's closed-door meeting to the public, and also declined to do so.
The evaluation, which is critical of the president, sparked a rift between the regents and Dobelle.
Dobelle's evaluation remains secret while the state Office of Information Practices is expected as early as next month to issue an opinion on whether the evaluation should be made public.
Both the regents and Dobelle say the evaluation is a private personnel matter. The Star-Bulletin and other news media organizations have asked OIP for an opinion on whether the public's right to know about Dobelle's performance as university president outweighs his privacy interest.
Dobelle's next evaluation is on the agenda for next week's board meeting. Lagareta said that the full board wants to talk in public session about how to conduct the next evaluation, which is expected to be more in-depth than last year.
Meanwhile, at the state Capitol yesterday, the Senate Education Committee advanced a bill that Republicans called political but the bill's sponsor said is an attempt to take politics out of the appointment of regents.
Senate Bill 3125 would set up a advisory council to recruit and interview candidates for the Board of Regents and forward names to the governor. Eight members of the committee would be appointed by the leaders of the House and Senate, and four members would be appointed by the governor.
Last year, the Senate rejected two of Lingle's nominees.
