Senators took the University of Hawaii’s Board of Regents members to task Tuesday for failing to play a stronger role in holding UH administrators accountable and for keeping questions about the institution’s direction behind closed doors.
Regent Coralie Chun Matayoshi, chairwoman of the Committee on Personnel Affairs, acknowledged the board appeared to be giving UH President M.R.C. Greenwood too much power.
"I have high hopes that we will be able to have more impact," Matayoshi told members of a special Senate panel convened in the wake of the botched Stevie Wonder benefit concert.
State Sen. Les Ihara (D, Kaimuki-Palolo), a member of the panel, told Matayoshi, "Who’s in charge? I think it’s time the board take back its own power and be responsible and hold the university and the president and accountable."
Matayoshi said, "I agree."
Three regents were among five officials called before the panel Tuesday in the second Senate hearing on the failed concert. The meeting began at 1 p.m. and wrapped up at about 8:30 p.m. after testimony from board Vice Chairman Carl Carlson.
Senators also had tough questions for regents Chairman Eric Martinson at the first meeting last week, with several saying they did not believe the board was acting as an independent watchdog body.
Similar issues were raised Tuesday, with senators saying they were concerned about the board’s transparency, its members’ understanding of their own policies and state law, and the regents’ response to the concert fallout.
After testimony from UH-Manoa Chancellor Tom Apple, regents Vice Chairman James Lee (the board has two vice chairmen) spent about an hour answering questions.
Lee stood by many of the board’s decisions, but he and his fellow board members did say they made mistakes in handling the concert fallout and were interested in making wholesale changes to how the board operates.
"We need to promote accountability," Lee said. "We need to make sure funds are spent in a wise manner."
Lee also said he did not support the decision to reassign former athletic director Jim Donovan to a newly created marketing position paying $211,000 a year.
Meanwhile, board members said they were given word of the reassignment — the result of a settlement agreement under which Donovan agreed to not sue UH — just hours before the deal was announced publicly.
Senators said they were especially concerned that the board was not asked to approve Donovan’s deal. UH attorneys told the board that it did not have to approve it, regents said, but some senators said that appeared to go against board policy.
Matayoshi agreed.
"I think it probably should have come before the board," Matayoshi said.
But since the deal was already signed by the university and announced, "We felt we had no choice," she said. "I didn’t think we could overturn that decision."
Sen. Donna Mercado Kim, chairwoman of the panel, said several times during the meeting that the board members’ responses concerned her.
"If anything, you all should be the ones to hold the administration accountable," Kim said. "I find myself speechless in the sense that no wonder we’re having all these problems and issues."
Sen. Sam Slom (R, Diamond Head-Hawaii Kai), a member of the panel, agreed, saying while he appreciates the regents’ time and commitment on the volunteer board, he wants to see a more active and accountable body.
"Our constituents tell us that they have grave concerns about the Board of Regents, about being independent," Slom said at the meeting. "I think what we have been witnessing is the tail wagging the dog. This can’t continue and it won’t continue."
