In a letter to an accrediting body Thursday, the University of Hawaii acknowledged rocky relationships with legislators in the wake of last year’s Stevie Wonder concert debacle but said the situation is improving.

The Western Association of Schools and Colleges had warned earlier this month that the episode had included inappropriate external interference from government officials and "revealed the fragility" of the university’s autonomy.

In response to that warning, UH President M.R.C. Greenwood said in a letter to WASC on Thursday, "The media coverage has not been as measured as one would hope, but we acknowledge that what you have read reflects a serious decline in the quality of interactions and relations among the various parties."

Greenwood also addressed several bills introduced this session that WASC said could interfere with the university’s autonomy.

"The bills and resolutions that were sponsored in the early days of the legislative session have, for the most part, not progressed, and there seems to be a genuine effort to differentiate between ‘external interference’ and appropriate levels of accountability," Greenwood wrote.

In addition to autonomy issues, WASC also raised concerns about the effectiveness of the Board of Regents, overlapping and "confusing" lines of authority at UH, and a series of operational problems discovered during the concert debacle.

The concert was to be benefit for the athletic department but ended up costing the university more than $200,000 in an alleged scam.

Legislators have said their response to the episode, which included a special Senate investigative committee, did not inappropriately interfere with UH operations.

A WASC team plans to discuss the issues with legislators, the Governor’s Office and regents within four months, and will also conduct a special visit in spring 2014.