Anyone who remembers the years of tumult at the top at the University of Hawaii, circa 2001 to 2013, will appreciate UH President David Lassner’s 10-plus years at the helm starting in 2013. Now that he’s announced his retirement, effective end of 2024, it’s worth lauding UH’s recent decade of steadfast progress under Lassner — and to note challenges ahead for his successor.
Nonflashy yet effective and feisty in his own way, Lassner drew on his working knowledge of the UH system — he’s been there since 1977, starting in information technology — to guide its 10 campuses through some turbulent times, including COVID-19 and protests over Mauna Kea management. His retirement will come as he hits age 70 — and his replacement will need a wide range of skillsets for the intense job.
“Constitutionally, the UH president reports to and is accountable to the Board,” Lassner noted in his Tuesday retirement letter to the UH Board of Regents. “But we all know that faculty, students, staff, community members and legislators are also important stakeholders with strong views.”
Indeed, Lassner’s measured, low-drama style was a welcome and necessary foil during sometimes- contentious hearings before state senators, some of them micromanaging and grandstanding at UH’s expense. But as this state’s only public institution for higher learning, UH cannot afford to get bogged down by petty politics or personality clashes.
“I don’t know that there’s an institution more important for the future of Hawaii than the University of Hawaii,” said Board of Regents chair Alapaki Nahale-a, as the search for a new president begins.
When COVID-19 hit, UH struggled to continue providing quality learning, as did every educational institution in the U.S. But the campuses managed to successfully navigate the pandemic, keeping students and faculty safe while maintaining academic performance standards and ensuring financial stability.
In Lassner’s overall tenure, achievement metrics also spoke well about the focus on students — with records on UH graduation rates, retention rates and incoming class sizes at multiple campuses. The Hawaii Promise “last dollar” scholarship was launched, enabling more Hawaii youth to afford college.
Lassner also led a restructuring of the relationship with the UH Foundation that led to record philanthropy, UH noted, and a new approach to advancing research led to record extramural funding. Indeed, the community’s strong vote of confidence in UH was reflected in fiscal year 2021-22, with a record of nearly $165 million in donations — spurred also by a recovering economy and an improved university strategy.
And UH-Manoa — known for its research in fields such as oceanography, astronomy, Pacific-Asia studies, cancer research and genetics — was able to grow prominence in some key programs.
Notably, reputational success was propelled by generous mega donors such as Jay Shidler, with his ongoing bequeaths to the UH business school that bears his name; and Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, who gifted $50 million to UH’s Ocean and Earth Science and Technology to support research.
Unfortunately, one area of prestige — astronomy — is at a crossroads, now that Mauna Kea management is being transitioned away from UH and observatory interests, to a new fledgling authority created by the Legislature.
That will be just one of myriad challenges for the new UH president.
Lassner and his team deserve kudos for finding a swift albeit temporary solution for the football team after Aloha Stadium was abruptly shut down — erecting the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex at UH-Manoa to keep the team playing in Division I, at least for now. But the stadium debacle remains in flux, and UH’s seat at the table is unclear.
Also looming is UH’s chronic problem with its aging facilities. As of 2022, systemwide deferred maintenance backlog was at $863 million, according to the UH’s “6-year Capital Improvement Projects Plan” for fiscal 2024-29. It estimated that $379 million would be needed each year for 10 years to eliminate the backlog.
Lassner was appointed interim UH president in 2013 after MRC Greenwood retired two years ahead of her contract term, amid leadership questions over a concert fundraiser scam involving the athletics department. Just years earlier, previous UH President Evan Dobelle was initially fired, then paid to leave the job, with allegations swirling that he’d misspent funds on personal extravagances.
In bright contrast to such unsavory drama, Lassner showed his aloha for UH by repeatedly forgoing his pay raises. In November 2020, UH executives were some of the only state employees to take cuts; Lassner, who earned about $375,000 as UH president, took a 20% cut. And when pay was restored to all in February 2021, Lassner said he’d continue his 20% cut.
Clearly, there is much more to do at UH — and with a year-plus at the helm, still much that Lassner and his team could accomplish. The upcoming legislative session, for instance, can help put more improvements into motion, to support UH students toward a better Hawaii future.
“Anyone who expects me to act like a ‘lame duck’ will be sorely disappointed,” Lassner said. “I plan to actively advance all aspects of our mission until my last day as president.”
We wish him well.
