The two finalists vying to be the next University of Hawaii president tried to distinguish themselves as the better candidate for the job Tuesday in separate public interviews before the Board of Regents.

Frank Wiercinski, considered the nontraditional candidate given his exclusively military background, told the board his being a newcomer to the university should be seen as an advantage.

"I come with fresh eyes. I don’t come with a legacy of past decisions. I come with no bias," said Wiercinski, who retired last year at the rank of lieutenant general after 34 years of service in the Army.

Wiercinski, who’s been criticized by some for not having graduate degrees or past experience in higher education, said that mindset would be useful when making tough decisions such as reducing costs.

He believes his eight years of commanding the U.S. Army Pacific required the same set of leadership skills required of a university system president.

"At the general officer level … you’re not leading troops on the ground anymore. You’re expected to lead an incredibly complex, diverse organization of multiple institutions, separated sometimes by tens of thousands of miles, that require crisis management, resource management, prioritization of effort, human resources," he said.

Meanwhile, interim UH President David Lassner, the university system’s longtime information technology executive, who has worked at UH for 37 years, assured the board that he wouldn’t back down from change.

Some of Lassner’s critics speculate he would maintain the status quo at a time when UH needs to re-establish public trust and accountability.

"I’m not someone who has ever been comfortable with the status quo," Lassner said. "It would be a mistake for anyone, and particularly people inside the university, to think that if they pick Lassner, ‘Phew, things are going to be the same,’ because that’s not what they’re going to get."

He said he would work to get buy-in from the community and lawmakers to advance strategic goals.

"I believe we can rally support internally and externally around educating more students, anchoring an innovation sector in Hawaii’s economy, restoring and modernizing our facilities and improving our practices across everything that we do," Lassner said. "I believe UH and the community are ready after a pretty tough (past) year to really embrace some aspirational goals."

The candidates appeared before the full board for the first time Tuesday and took questions that ranged from how to increase UH’s revenue streams and research activities to how to better serve Native Hawaiians and support athletics.

The regents have scheduled a meeting for Monday afternoon to vote on their final pick.

Both candidates were asked about ways UH could reduce its costs in light of dwindling public funds and a heavier reliance on tuition.

Lassner said UH needs to do a better job of drumming up philanthropic support and commercializing intellectual property and cutting-edge research.

He added that UH could leverage some 17,000 acres of land it owns statewide.

"We haven’t made it anyone’s job to go through almost parcel by parcel and figure out which of that land can generate revenue for us or help reduce cost," Lassner said, citing as an example an idea to let a renewable energy company build a massive solar photovoltaic farm on vacant university land to power Oahu along with UH campuses.

Wiercinski said UH has to be prepared to make sacrifices.

"We can’t bring in more people to come to school if they can’t afford it, no matter what we do," he said. "We have to be committed as a state that this is our university. … It’s going to take sacrifices, it’s going to take finding efficiencies and it’s going to have to take more revenue. We have to demonstrate that to ourselves first before we can look to outside sources."

Following a nearly yearlong search, a regents presidential selection committee earlier this month named Lassner and Wiercinski its top picks.

Lassner was tapped to serve as interim president last summer after former President M.R.C. Greenwood announced she was retiring to spend more time with family and deal with health problems, leaving with nearly two years still on her contract.

While Greenwood’s salary was set at $475,000 when she was hired in 2009, the proposed salary for her successor is $375,000.

Greenwood’s departure came about a year after UH became embroiled in the so-called "Wonder Blunder," a botched Stevie Wonder concert that tarnished public confidence in the university.

The regents have come under fire from student and faculty groups and the state Senate president, who have complained that the search was flawed and needs to be redone.

Some object to Wiercinski’s military background; others find it troubling that Lassner was named a finalist when initially the board said any interim president would not be eligible for the permanent job. Other critics point out the committee failed to meet its goal of producing "no less than five and no more than six" top candidates.

The board has repeatedly defended its search process — handled internally without the help of an outside executive search firm — and there was no discussion Tuesday of reopening the search.

The committee initially identified six finalists, but two finalists withdrew prior to an interview; one dropped out over privacy concerns; and another withdrew upon learning that an internal candidate was being considered.

"It’s unfortunate that it seems like (the regents) are digging their feet in the sand, which is sad. They said community input and feedback would be considered seriously, yet they’re denying the opportunity to talk about and discuss this more," state Senate President Donna Mercado Kim said in an interview.

Kim (D, Kalihi Valley-Moanalua-Halawa) launched an online petition a week ago calling on the board to reopen the search. It has more than 400 signatures.

"This is very similar to the last time we picked a president. There was only one candidate left, and that’s who we hired, and it was these same board members," she said. "At the time there was a call to reopen the search, and they refused. I would hope we learn from past practices and experience."

About a dozen people testified ahead of the candidate interviews. Several testifiers spoke in support of Wiercinski, but a few were critical of his background. Some of the nonvoting members of the selection committee testified in support of the search process, while other community members called on the board to reopen the search.