The University of Hawaii Board of Regents’ decision to retain UH President M.R.C. Greenwood is just the beginning of what may be a long and potentially rocky healing process in the wake of the Stevie Wonder concert debacle.
The university’s accreditor, the Western Association of Schools & Colleges, sees resolution of the leadership crisis as a positive step. But critics of both Greenwood and the board say the UH president will have to regain the public’s confidence and the Legislature’s trust.
"We are very pleased that progress was made," said Ralph Wolff, WASC president. "The hope would be that the university can move forward without questions about leadership."
But state Sen. Sam Slom said, "People are not happy. They’re not satisfied, and they really don’t have the confidence or trust in either the president or the regents."
Slom is a member of the Senate Special Committee on Accountability, which held hearings on the university’s loss of $200,000 in an alleged Stevie Wonder concert scam and its aftermath. The committee will release its findings and recommendations Monday.
Greenwood faced intense questioning from senators over the controversial reassignment of former athletic director Jim Donovan, spending practices at UH and Greenwood’s management of the crisis.
Slom (R, Diamond Head-Hawaii Kai) said he believes legislators will be asking tougher questions about the university’s funding requests because of what was revealed in the hearings.
"I think it’s going to be a very interesting budget session," Slom said.
"I think it’s going to be very difficult to work with President Greenwood moving forward," said state Rep. K. Mark Takai, an outspoken critic of the UH president. "Having said that, we’re not about to throw the university under the bus or to harm the university at the expense of one individual."
Gov. Neil Abercrombie, who was traveling on the East Coast on Friday, issued a statement through his spokeswoman.
Spokeswoman Louise Kim McCoy said, "The regents have made their decision, and we will continue to support the university as President Greenwood and the regents move toward rebuilding the confidence of the student body and faculty by providing academic excellence and internationally recognized research."
In a letter last month to the regents obtained by reporters on Tuesday, Greenwood’s attorney accused Abercrombie, Senate President Shan Tsutsui and House Speaker Calvin Say of using inappropriate political pressure to reinstate Donovan as athletic director.
Wolff noted that outside interference in university business has been a long-standing concern of accreditors.
"Surely the Legislature has an oversight responsibility," Wolff said. "But attempts to direct individual personnel actions or attempts to direct items that are the appropriate problems of the president or the Board of Regents, those are the actions where we feel a line has been crossed."
Wolff said the commission will continue to monitor the situation in Hawaii and will finsalize a report on UH governance in February.
J.N. Musto, executive director of the UH faculty union, said the public still wants to see definitive action by Greenwood and the regents on the concert debacle and the issues raised in the Senate hearing.
"There has to be something done that restores public confidence," Musto said.
