Although voters granted the University of Hawaii “autonomy” in 2000, it’s a designation with little definition and provides no funding that would make UH truly and financially independent.

As a result, UH officials have to defend their annual budget requests to the state Legislature every year because tuition, donations, endowments and other revenue sources aren’t enough to keep the 10-campus system running on a budget of over $1 billion. The institution employs nearly 8,000 people while educating 46,000 students.

UH President David Lassner said that the reception he receives in the House continues to be cordial and respectful.

But the mood changes dramatically when he and other UH officials move over to the Senate side of the state Capitol where they face often tense, confrontational and sometimes sarcastic interrogation, particularly from Sens. Donna Mercado Kim, Michelle Kidani — chair and vice chair of the Senate Higher Education Committee — and Donovan Dela Cruz, who chairs the powerful Ways and Means finance committee.

None of the senators responded to requests for comment.

It’s a situation that could be repeated with the 16th UH president when the next legislative session begins in January following Lassner’s retirement.

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It remains to be seen whether the new president will enjoy a honeymoon period with the senators — or whether they will try to increase their leverage over a new head of a sprawling campus system that he or she will still be getting to know.

Lassner told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that tensions with the three senators, in particular, go back to his predecessor, M.R.C. Greenwood, and the creation of a special Senate committee to investigate the “Wonder Blunder” fake concert debacle during hearings that were broadcast live on television.

“University presidents aren’t universally popular characters anywhere but that relationship with that handful of senators has been a challenge over many years,” Lassner said. “The Senate has not been kind to UH for a very long time, and that has eroded in a number of ways.”

On paper, the UH president reports to the UH Board of Regents, which has responsibility for hiring and — in some cases — firing the president.

But Kim, Kidani and Dela Cruz — through their oversight and budget powers — have tried to control personnel and other key UH policies, including what research UH should conduct.

At one point in 2023, all three independently told the Star-Advertiser that it was time for Lassner to leave, after they lost confidence in him.

A year earlier, the Senate’s initial budget plan all but rewrote UH’s budget proposal.

Dela Cruz plays a critical role in Senate budget decisions as chair of the Senate’s key money committee, and the Senate’s version would have chopped over 90 positions across the entire system of seven community colleges, three four-year campuses and the UH Board of Regents.

But the Senate budget wasn’t based on cuts during tough financial times because — at the same time — the Senate plan also budgeted for 128 new hires and funding for research that UH never requested.

The Senate proposal also called for a $100,000 pay cut for the UH West Oahu chancellor and elimination of the positions of communications director and director of the Office of Equal Employment.

Dan Meisenzahl, UH’s spokesperson and communications director, had angered Dela Cruz over a 2020 news conference in which Meisenzahl criticized the previous tenure of former UH football Coach June Jones, whose potential return to the program had plenty of support.

Dela Cruz, at the time, told the Star-Advertiser that the proposed $100,000 pay cut for UH West Oahu Chancellor Maenette K.P. Ah Nee-Benham reflected the time that she actually spent on campus.

Lassner said the Senate has tried to “micromanage” UH’s budget to the point where it has proposed “taking out individual positions from the budget of people who are not favored.”

U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz told the Star-Advertiser in a text last week that, “Following President Lassner’s 10-year tenure, UH is thriving and better than ever. But in order to continue its success, it must maintain its independence — a right Hawaii voters overwhelmingly supported in 2000. While no one would disagree that proper oversight of the University is necessary, it is also true that UH cannot effectively function with two separate governing bodies seemingly dictating its daily operations. The voters have already decided on this matter. We should honor that.”

Kalbert Young — UH’s vice president for budget and finance and its chief financial officer who previously served as the state budget director — also has faced intense scrutiny in the Senate over UH’s budget.

He respects the Legislature’s responsibility for oversight of UH, but the issue of how much control individual senators get to exert gets cloudy when it comes to the issue of how much “autonomy” UH actually has.

“For Hawaii, it’s a delicate balance that’s not easy to define,” Young said. “Everyone has an opinion, including legislators. There is a Board of Regents that’s supposed to be empowered with the final authority regarding governance. But the university has to accept that it is not truly autonomous. So those who pay get a say.”

In the end, however, Young said, “It’s not the Legislature or individual legislators to do the functions of other state officials.”

When it comes to the UH president getting the blunt end of Senate scrutiny, Young said: “I’ve been in government relations for more than 33 years. I don’t know any person, including Jesus Christ, who is universally loved at the Legislature. … That is an unattainable goal when you are university president.”

When she served in the state Senate, U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda chaired several committees including Ways and Means, Education and Higher Education. She assumes the two remaining candidates to become the next UH president — Wendy F. Hensel from The City University of New York and Julian Vasquez Heilig from Western Michigan University — know how Lassner’s relationship with Kim, Kidani and Dela Cruz has deteriorated.

“I’m sure they’ve already done their homework — both the opportunities and the challenges that Lassner and the university faced,” Tokuda said. “They should be coming in with their eyes open. The fact that they are still in it and committed says something.”

But Tokuda hopes the arrival of the next UH president will result in a new, healthier era between UH and the Senate or, at least, “a better balanced relationship than we have seen.”

Former Gov. David Ige, who also served in the state Senate and House, called the situation “sad.”

“It’s sad that the Legislature, and the Senate, specifically, takes out its grievances against the institution. It really hurts all the people of Hawaii.”

The incoming UH president needs to somehow “really stand up to the bullying and do what is right, instead of caving into the needs and wants of a few senators that are being punitive and trying to hurt the university because they wouldn’t support a pet project or respond in a way that some legislators want them to respond.”

However the relationship turns out, Ige said the next president must always “work with the Legislature because that’s part of the job. I hope they can be strong enough to recognize they are being hired at the University of Hawaii to provide leadership and direction. I know the business community will welcome them and support them. I do hope they can exert their leadership to take the university to the next level.”