Regents stay mum on fate of Greenwood

The University of Hawaii Board of Regents met for about 2 1⁄2 hours behind closed doors Thursday, continuing a discussion on the future of embattled UH President M.R.C. Greenwood.

Board members left the executive session at about 6:15 p.m. without making any remarks to reporters.

Board Chairman Eric Martinson would not comment when asked whether the board has hired prominent local attorney William McCorriston, who spoke with the regents in the closed-door session.

McCorriston has experience negotiating settlements with departing UH presidents. He represented regents in negotiations with former UH President Evan Dobelle and is a former law partner of Darolyn Lendio, UH vice president for legal affairs. Lendio also worked on Dobelle’s settlement when she was with McCorriston Miller Mukai MacKinnon.

UH spokeswoman Lynne Waters also had no comment, referring reporters to a statement issued after the Oct. 12 executive session. The statement said the discussion on Greenwood’s employment agreement is a “personnel and legal matter” and that the board was treating it with “the corresponding confidentiality required.”

Greenwood has been under fire for her management and UH administration spending since the athletic department lost $200,000 in an apparent Stevie Wonder concert scam.

Sources told the Star-Advertiser last month that at least four regents, including Martinson and Vice Chairmen Carl Carlson Jr. and James Lee, strongly support keeping Greenwood on. Another faction has soured on her, but there doesn’t appear to be a consensus on what action the board should take.

Earlier in the day, Lee told the regents that a report on what went wrong in the failed concert was not ready and would be presented at next month’s meeting.

Martinson said while the board’s task group hoped to have the report finished by Thursday’s meeting, “we don’t want to shortcut the process.”

Lee said the accounting firm of KMH LLP, who regents hired under a $50,000 contract, has reviewed the fact-finder’s report on the $200,000 loss and conducted additional interviews.

KMH still needs to talk to UH executives about what changes have been made since the failed concert, Lee said.

Lee said the finished report will look at “key failures” and examine who authorized payments and contracts and whether proper procedures were followed.

Lee said the report will also make recommendations to prevent a similar incident.

In the public portion of Thursday’s meeting, Greenwood shared what she called “good news” about the university.

“Sometimes we lose sight of some of the really important things at the university,” she said.

Greenwood said UH is receiving national recognition for its efforts to increase the graduation rate and for its “15 to finish” media campaign.

UH Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Linda Johnsrud said the number of graduates at UH is up 20 percent since 2008 and that about 15 percent more students are taking 15 credits a semester since the “15 to finish” media campaign started.

There was no public testimony against Greenwood during the meeting.

Barry Taniguchi, chairman of the Mauna Kea Management Board, a UH-affiliated group that oversees the science reserve at the summit, praised Greenwood’s community involvement in developing a master plan for the Mauna Kea summit and for the $1 billion Thirty Meter Telescope project on Hawaii island.

“All progressive and successful leaders are vulnerable to mistakes,” Tani­gu­chi said in written testimony. “A great leader, however, is one that learns from his or her mistakes. President Greenwood is a great leader.”

Earlier Thursday, regents heard from consultant Terrance MacTaggart from the Association of Governing Boards, a university board members organization. MacTaggart advised the regents to take action on executive pay and compensation issues or risk a “leadership vacuum” that could be filled by others.

Regent Coralie Mata­yo­shi, head of the regents’ personnel committee, said her committee is looking into the practice of granting sabbaticals to top UH executives. The committee will meet today at Bachman Hall.