UH regents chairman backs Apple’s ouster

Amid continued protests from University of Hawaii at Manoa students seeking the reinstatement of fired Chancellor Tom Apple, Board of Regents Chairman Randy Moore says he fully supports the decision made a week ago to terminate Apple two years into a five-year appointment.

The UH-Manoa Graduate Student Organization and the Associated Students of the University of Hawaii delivered a letter Tuesday to Gov. Neil Abercrombie, asking him to launch an investigation into Apple’s firing, calling the move by UH President David Lassner corrupt and nontransparent.

Moore said Wednesday he hadn’t heard about the request to the governor.

"Speaking for myself, I think I understand what happened, and I don’t think an investigation would inform me," he told the Hono­lulu Star-Advertiser.

He said he fully supports Lassner’s July 30 decision to remove Apple as chancellor.

On Wednesday, about a dozen students held signs in support of Apple outside Manoa’s IT Building, where the Board of Regents was scheduled to hold various committee meetings.

Students asked the board to reinstate Apple.

"Our chancellor was fired without the approval or even input of students and faculty. This suggests that the core of our campus is not important in this important decision-making process (and) our voices were blatantly disregarded," ASUH Vice President Kelly Zakimi testified. "Our chief administrative officer, the first chancellor in recent history both students and faculty have believed in and trusted in, was removed by a process that implies micromanaging and ignorance of our campus values."

Michelle Tigchelaar, president of the Graduate Student Organization, praised Apple for prioritizing the needs of students.

"Tom Apple’s style of leadership stands in stark contrast to his recent firing and the events surrounding that decision," Tigchelaar testified. "When students, faculty and community members spoke out in support of Chancellor Apple after rumors of his firing broke in the news, President Lassner decided to rush decision rather than take the time to listen to these voices."

Graduate student and GSO officer Bret Polopolus-Meredith called Apple’s termination outrageous.

"This has sent a signal throughout the system to the chancellors that you may strive to meet the strategic plan, you may do the best you can and be effective, and yet, if you go poking around where people don’t want you to look, you may be fired — over the summer, when the students who support you and the faculty who support you and need you cannot speak out for you, may not even be notified of what’s happening to you," Polopolus-Meredith said.

Apple has said he was forced out by Lassner after an unsatisfactory job rating that Apple claims was rigged against him.

In a rebuttal letter to Lassner that Apple released, he alludes to pushback from the dean of the medical school for funding cuts and his failed attempts to remove the director of the Cancer Center as contributing to his ouster.

Lassner has said he was concerned about Apple’s abilities to turn around a fiscal crisis at Manoa and inspire campus leadership to carry out strategic goals. He said what troubled him most was the financial crisis — what Apple has characterized as a $20 million annual shortfall in operating funds.

Lassner told the newspaper on Wednesday that his decision to remove Apple from the post is final.

"We have a signed settlement agreement signed by Chancellor Apple," he said.

Apple has agreed to be reassigned as a tenured chemistry professor at a $299,000 annual salary, effective Sept. 1. He also will receive a $100,000 lump-sum payout.

"Nobody has suggested that Chancellor Apple is a bad man," Lassner said. "I think (the students’) comments will help inform the interim chancellor as to expectations across certain areas where they expressed appreciation, and if their perception is that he raised the bar, I’d say, ‘Bravo,’ and let’s keep it high."

A recommended interim appointment could be considered at the regents’ full board meeting Aug. 21.