UH fails to release Greenwood documents

The University of Hawaii Board of Regents has not yet released documents related to the annual evaluation of UH President M.R.C. Greenwood, despite a legal opinion that her evaluation and the president’s performance expectations are public records.

The Star-Advertiser on Sept. 26 requested copies of Greenwood’s evaluation, performance goals, her self-evaluations, emails and memos regarding her evaluation and the evaluation process, and executive session minutes of her annual evaluation.

The university released Greenwood’s evaluations on Sept. 28, and at the time said it would provide the president’s yearly goals on Oct. 1.

However, on Oct. 1, UH spokes­woman Lynne Waters said she was still trying to get the documents. She also said Greenwood would release her self-evaluation "because of heightened interest and the public’s right to know."

On Oct. 2, Waters said Greenwood was sick with a 101-degree fever and body aches and was "down for the count."

On Wednesday, Waters issued a formal response that the Board of Regents needed more time to decide whether to release Greenwood’s yearly goals, self-evaluation and other documents related to her annual evaluation.

UH’s request for more time came two days before the Board of Regents meets this afternoon to discuss Greenwood’s job. The UH president’s employment agreement is the only item on today’s agenda and was to be discussed in a closed-door executive session.

The president’s current evaluation was completed in May and concluded that Greenwood was doing an "exceptional" job. Yearly goals are part of the annual evaluation process.

But Greenwood has been under fire in the wake of a Stevie Wonder concert debacle in which the university said it was scammed out of $200,000. Questions about the botched concert led to hearings by a state Senate panel and the questioning of members of the Board of Regents, Greenwood and UH-Manoa Chancellor Tom Apple, among others.

The state Office of Information Practices has ruled that the UH president’s annual evaluation and performance expectations are public documents and should be available for inspection during normal business hours.

However, Waters said the university needs to consult with another person, presumably a UH lawyer, to determine whether the documents should be made public. UH also said it needs more time to comply with the request.

State Sen. Les Ihara said he didn’t understand why the Board of Regents would disclose the evaluation but not the yearly goals. Ihara is an open-government advocate and a member of the Senate Special Committee on Accountability, which has been investigating the loss of $200,000 in UH athletic department funds to the apparent concert scam and how the UH administration and the regents have handled the incident. "Without performance goals the BOR cannot itself be held accountable for conducting a proper evaluation. Public officials should foster accountability, not shy away from it," Ihara said.

Waters said the regents and Greenwood had no further comment other than the formal statement.

Greenwood and the regents set goals for the year, and the president is evaluated on how she meets the goals, said UH regent Carl Carlson Jr., the head of a regents’ task group in charge of Greenwood’s evaluation.

As the Star-Advertiser reported in a story last month, UH has apparently been violating the state open-meetings law by holding Greenwood’s evaluation in secret, without any public notice on regents’ agendas.

In 2004 the state Office of Information Practices issued an opinion letter about the UH president’s evaluation and performance expectations in response to a news media request. OIP determined the president’s annual evaluation and performance expectations and objectives are public documents, subject to disclosure.

The FOI request came a few months before the Board of Regents fired former UH President Evan Dobelle and then allowed him to resign after paying Dobelle and his attorneys a $1.6 million settlement.

"When balanced against the public interest in knowing how the Board of Regents is performing its duties, including the employment of the UH president, as well as in knowing how President Dobelle is performing his job, we found that the public interest is greater," the OIP opinion said.

The opinion did not address whether Dobelle’s self-evaluation was also a public document.

But Dobelle released his self-evaluation when he presented it to the regents.

State law gives state agencies up to 10 business days to formally respond to requests for records, and an additional 20 business days to respond if they need more time to study or fulfill a request.

UH responded Wednesday, exactly 10 business days after the Star-Advertiser made its request.

"In this climate, with a lot of public concern and distrust, it behooves them to be transparent in their activities," Ihara said. "Almost to a person, they say they want to be transparent. But I would hope they would walk the talk."