University of Hawaii President M.R.C. Greenwood says UH independence is at stake because of the fallout from the failed Stevie Wonder concert.
"For me, the most important issue here is not the so-called Wonder blunder," Greenwood told the UH-Manoa Faculty Senate Wednesday. "It is a much more fundamental concern for the independence of this fine institution. We have to be free to make our own personnel decisions independent of political pressure."
The UH president was invited to speak before the Faculty Senate, which was scheduled to consider a motion Wednesday afternoon to hold a vote of no confidence in Greenwood’s leadership.
Greenwood blamed "improper" and "inappropriate" political pressure for some of the problems she is confronting.
"I am personally very confident I have done the right thing here," she said.
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UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII REGENTS MEETING
The Board of Regents meets today at 11 a.m. at the John A. Burns School of Medicine in Kakaako.
A regents’ task group is scheduled to present a report on what went wrong in the failed Stevie Wonder concert in a public session.
The board will also meet behind closed doors in executive session to continue a discussion on the employment of UH President M.R.C. Greenwood. Also on the executive session agenda is a discussion with lawyers on board policies for the approval of legal settlements.
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Greenwood has been under fire for her management decisions since the UH-Manoa Athletics Department lost $200,000 in an apparent scam involving the Wonder concert.
The Board of Regents is scheduled to continue a discussion behind closed doors today on Greenwood’s employment contract.
The Faculty Senate, which is made up of representatives from UH-Manoa departments, decided to postpone the vote indefinitely.
But Doug Vincent, chairman of the Senate Committee on Administration and Budget, said committee members are still "deeply troubled" by Greenwood’s lack of consultation with the Senate and over "expensive expenditures" on legal and public relations firms.
Vincent said the committee may still bring the no-confidence vote motion to the Senate, depending on what happens between Greenwood and the regents and if relations between the faculty and the administration do not improve.
In her remarks, Greenwood said she was told hearings would be held and the UH budget could be threatened if she and Manoa Chancellor Tom Apple did not return former athletic director Jim Donovan to his old job after the decision was already made to give him a new job in the chancellor’s office.
"The reason I did not was to protect the university and its independence," Greenwood said.
"However, as consequence to this decision, I’ve been subject to a campaign of false statements, the UH has been diminished and our Board of Regents has been dishonored," she said.
Greenwood did not say who pressured her and she did not answer questions from faculty or reporters afterward.
During state Senate hearings about the failed concert, Greenwood testified that Gov. Neil Abercrombie told her that Senate President Shan Tsutsui and House Speaker Calvin Say wanted her to have Donovan finish out his contract.
State Sen. Donna Kim, the chairwoman of the Senate Special Committee on Accountability, said the hearings were not part of an effort to pressure Greenwood.
Kim said the public outcry was so great when the regents met behind closed doors to discuss Donovan and the loss of the $200,000, that lawmakers felt they had to step in.
"The hearing wasn’t to put anybody’s job back," Kim said. "The hearing was to have transparency and accountability."
As far as she knows, Tsutsui and Say did not talk directly to Greenwood, Kim said.
Greenwood testified that the governor only offered her advice and did not tell her what to do.
"She (Greenwood) can say whatever she wants," Kim said. "But I think it’s clear from the hearings that she tends to bend some of the things that were said."
