Ex-OHA trustee is
top pick for UH jobPay issues mar Rockne Freitas'
nomination for Big Isle chancellor
Rockne Freitas, a former Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustee and professional football player who has been in management at Kamehameha Schools and the University of Hawaii, is the leading candidate for the chancellorship at Hawaii Community College.
Rockne Freitas
Freitas facts
Current job: Vice president and executive director, Ke Ali'i Pauahi Foundation
Previous positions: Vice president, Kamehameha Schools; vice president for external affairs and associate athletic director at the University of Hawaii; head of GRG Enterprises Inc., a fishing supply company formerly based at Kewalo Basin; Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustee
Education: Bachelor's degree from Oregon State University, master's and doctorate degrees in education from University of Hawaii; 1963 graduate of Kamehameha Schools
NFL career: Player and coach with Detroit Lions and Tampa Bay Buccaneers
But Freitas' proposed salary is a point of controversy with the UH Board of Regents, which must approve his hiring.
Sources said the board was asked to approve a salary of about $167,000 a year for Freitas, which is more than chancellors make at the other community colleges and more than the $99,000-to-$126,000 salary range for the job.
Salaries for community college chancellors in the UH system range from $101,232 for the chancellor at Kauai Community College to $127,608 for the chancellor at Kapiolani Community College, who is also an assistant professor.
Acting Hawaii Community College Chancellor Shirley Daniel made $200,400, but she is also a UH-Manoa distinguished professor and Henry Walker chairwoman in the College of Business Administration.
According to Ke Ali'i Pauahi Foundation filings with the Internal Revenue Service, Freitas made $155,302 in 2002 as the vice president and executive director of the nonprofit organization, which raises money to support the Kamehameha Schools and the education of native Hawaiian children.
Freitas' appointment was reviewed Friday by the Board of Regents' Personnel Committee in a closed-door meeting. Two of the regents -- Walter Nunokawa and James Haynes -- recused themselves from the discussion and vote because of friendships with Freitas.
Sources said the board reached a compromise that would keep Freitas' salary as Hawaii Community College chancellor within the range of $99,000 to $126,000 but also give him a year-to-year consultant contract of about $37,500 to work with the community and the Institute for Astronomy on issues surrounding telescopes on Mauna Kea and other projects.
His total yearly compensation would be slightly less than $160,000, the sources said.
Should he be hired, Freitas' salary, like those of other top UH officials, would be public information.
Freitas confirmed to the Star-Bulletin that he is the top candidate for the chancellor job, but did not want to say anything more so as not to jeopardize his appointment.
Hawaii Community College, adjacent to UH-Hilo, serves about 2,075 students working toward associate's degrees and career and technical training. It also administers the UH-West Hawaii campus in Kona.
Freitas' supporters say his ability to raise money from foundations and private sources, and from within the UH system and the Legislature, is a major factor why he was recommended.
"I think he has that ability, or at least he came across as having the ability to do that," said Robert Duley, a counselor and Academic Senate treasurer at Hawaii Community College and a member of the search committee for a new chancellor.
Duley also cited Freitas' experience with building a new Big Island campus at Keaau for Kamehameha Schools as another reason that the search committee recommended him.
Andy Levin, executive director for the Big Island mayor's office, said Freitas' knowledge of Hawaii and the university system from his previous UH stints as vice president of university relations and associate athletic director were also pluses.
The other finalists were from the mainland.
"I think he impressed me and others with his feeling for the Big Island and his interest in education in general and the community college in particular," said Levin, who was also a member of the search committee. "He had a style that I think really won people over."
Levin said the search committee did not consider salary in making its recommendation.
The regents will likely vote on Freitas at their meeting next month.
