Expert criticizes
Dobelle firingA lawyer says the regents'
public move will make it difficult
to find a new presidentSpending, poor relations soured tenure
A national expert in contract law for university presidents and boards says the University of Hawaii Board of Regents made several serious mistakes in its public firing of UH President Evan Dobelle.
"In the cold light of day, they might want to think about re-examining their actions," said Raymond Cotton, a partner in the Washington, D.C., law firm of Mintz and Levin and a vice president of ML Strategies.
If that is not possible, the board should at least re-examine how it dealt with Dobelle, he said, because part of the blame for the university being in the embarrassing position of firing the 58-year old former Trinity College president rests with them.
"Right now, there seems to a considerable amount of broken glass on the floor," Cotton said.
"One of your board members said it was like the breakup of a marriage, but when a marriage breaks up, rarely does one party have 100 percent of the fault.
"This board needs to look at itself. This was a failure, a failure of the presidency, but also a failure of the relationship," Cotton said.
UH will have a difficult time finding a high-caliber president now because of the public way Dobelle was fired, said Cotton, who helps university boards and university presidents draw up employment contracts.
Firing a university president for cause, Cotton said, is extremely rare in the university world. If they were unsatisfied with Dobelle, a better plan would have been for the regents to let him go after negotiating a severance package, Cotton said.
The regents' actions are going to make it "greatly more difficult to find another president," predicted Cotton, who said he just finished providing an exit strategy for a university president who was being dismissed by his board.
"What they should have done is appoint a committee of the board to work with an outside consultant to work out the departure," he said.
Kitty Lagareta, board vice president, acknowledged in response that the board was at fault for not addressing their problems with Dobelle earlier.
"I will tell you this board is also at fault, but this board gave a very honest shot at improving the relationship.
"But the board was at fault in not finding good ways to resolve it sooner and the president was at fault for not finding ways to resolve his side of his relationship with the board," Lagareta said.
She and Patricia Lee, regents' chairwoman, attempted to have regular meetings with Dobelle, Lagareta said, but Dobelle only attended one and sent assistants to all the other meetings.
"It is very difficult to have a relationship with someone who doesn't want to engage," Lagareta said.
Cotton, who writes a column for the Chronicle of Higher Education, said being a university president is a demanding job and the president must pay attention to the expectations and requirements of the board.
"No matter how tightly drawn a contract is, the single most important constituency for a president is his or her board. Successful presidents understand that," he added.
He said it's "an extreme situation -- to fire him (Dobelle) for cause.
"The best candidates in the United States are going to look askance at a board that did that," Cotton said. "They are going to say to themselves, 'Are the politics in Hawaii so difficult that nobody can do the job, and if there is a mix-up on my expenses, where I didn't do anything wrong, but there might be some negligence along the way, is this board going to jump all over me and fire me for cause?'"
The national expert added that if a university president is fired "for cause" and the charges stick, "it is the end of his or her career in higher education."
If the charges don't stick, Cotton warned there will be a lawsuit and "everything will be bogged down until it is resolved."
Dobelle was fired "for cause" Tuesday night after an all-day meeting. The phrase is important because it means he would not be entitled to a $2.26 million severance package.
Dobelle's contract is specific in defining "cause" as a conviction for a felony offense, mental instability or conduct that brings public disrespect, contempt or ridicule upon the university.
Lagareta said the regents were told by their attorneys they could not say why they fired Dobelle.
She added, however, that the regents explored their options before dismissing Dobelle and they doubt it will be impossible to find a high-caliber president.
"I am confident there are people out there because Hawaii is a terrific place and we have a wonderful university," Lagareta said.