UH professor wants
Dobelle audit made publicRegents plan closed-door meeting
A University of Hawaii journalism professor has asked the state Office of Information Practices to issue an opinion on whether this year's evaluation of fired UH President Evan Dobelle and final audit of his protocol fund spending should be made public.
On Wednesday a university attorney denied a June 21 request by professor Beverly Keever to release the documents to the public.
"These records are public, and it's not a clearly unwarranted invasion of privacy," Keever said. "The audit has nothing to do with personal privacy; it's an accounting issue."
But in a letter, UH associate general counsel Presley Pang wrote Keever, "It is the University of Hawaii's position that all documents pertaining to the current evaluation and the decision to terminate President Dobelle are not subject to disclosure to members of the public at this time."
Pang cited Dobelle's request that the evaluation process be conducted in executive session, closed to the public; potential threatened legal action based on "purported violations of constitutional protection of his reputation"; and the ongoing mediation to resolve the dispute between Dobelle and the regents over his firing.
"Because there are ongoing discussions, this matter of President Dobelle's evaluation has not finally concluded, and the materials are considered pre-decisional, protected from public disclose under the frustration of legitimate government function (exemption to the open records law)," Pang wrote.
The regents unanimously fired Dobelle on June 15 "for cause," effectively denying him a $2.26 million severance payment. But on the advice of their attorneys, the board would not say what the cause was for Dobelle's termination.
Regents did say that one of the factors in Dobelle's firing was a Deloitte & Touche audit of his spending from his $200,000-a-year protocol fund, maintained by the UH Foundation for the use of the president and his staff for fund-raising and other purposes that advance the university.
Yesterday, Keever appealed the university's denial of the records to OIP and asked the agency to expedite the request by hiring additional attorneys if necessary.
"Providing resources to address and resolve this urgent issue benefits the Lingle administration, the institutional reputation and image of the university and the goals of students, faculty and staff whose already inadequate resources are being drained by an expensive, time-consuming secret process to which the public is locked out," Keever wrote.
OIP Director Les Kondo was out of the office yesterday and had not seen Keever's request.
He said his office will be asking the university to review copies of the documents and for further explanation of why access is being denied.
Keever said she is afraid the public might never find out why Dobelle was fired, especially if a settlement reached in mediation includes keeping documents confidential.
"Basically, the idea is to hold the parties accountable. They are covering up the elements of the decision-making. The decision-making has cost the university big bucks and a big cloud over its reputation," Keever said.
"It seems to me as though they are dragging their feet in resolving this. The more they drag their feet, the more the public loses out and UH loses out," she added.
"I don't know if I can really comment on that (whether the documents may remain secret)," Pang said. "There's so many possibilities as to how this may end up."
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Regents plan
closed-door meetingThe Board of Regents has scheduled a closed-door meeting Thursday morning to discuss the status of mediation with fired University of Hawaii President Evan Dobelle.
Regents are scheduled to consult with their attorney on "mediation, settlement issues and other matters related to claims by Dr. Evan S. Dobelle."
The notice also includes, "discussion, deliberation, and decision-making regarding mediated settlement of Dr. Dobelle's claims, if necessary."
Also scheduled is "discussion deliberation, and decision-making regarding consideration and/or reconsideration of termination notice to Dr. Dobelle and to provide for procedures regarding termination issues concerning Dr. Dobelle's status as president/professor should the parties fail in their mediation efforts."
Because of an agreement not to talk about the mediation, regents' attorney Barry Marr had no comment about whether a mediated settlement was in the works and could not elaborate on the written notice.
Board of Regents
www.hawaii.edu/offices/bor