The ouster of University of Hawaii at Manoa Chancellor Tom Apple would hurt the university’s ability to overcome a budget shortfall and compound problems already facing the flagship campus, key faculty members say.
"It’s a disaster for the university," said Bob Cooney, vice chairman of the UH-Manoa Faculty Senate, on Sunday. "Compared to the Wonder blunder, I think this is far, far worse."
The "Wonder blunder" was a failed Stevie Wonder benefit concert by bogus concert promoters that cost the university $200,000 less than two months into Apple’s tenure.
"(Apple’s departure) highlights, I think, the incompetence at some of the higher levels of the administration," Cooney said. "It also undermines the faculty and the students."
After just over two years on the job, Apple will soon be leaving his position as chancellor at the university, according to sources familiar with the situation.
Several sources told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that Apple’s ouster as chancellor is imminent, but the UH administration said in a statement Sunday that Apple is still chancellor.
"Tom Apple is the chancellor of UH Manoa and President (David) Lassner continues to work with him to address the challenges facing UH Manoa," said a statement issued after Hawaii News Now reported that UH’s new president and Apple were working out details of the chancellor’s departure.
The statement said Lassner held confidential performance discussions with individuals who report to him.
"The university does not disclose the details of those conversations," the statement said. "The Board of Regents has been briefed."
Apple did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment, and regents also declined to comment.
Cooney, who was on the committee that selected Apple after a seven-month search, criticized the administration for not involving the faculty and students in Apple’s removal.
"We selected Tom Apple through a fair and impartial process," he said. "To my knowledge he’s done the best job possible in the last two years."
He continued, "Why should we spend months of our time, trying to find the best candidate we can, and then have him removed in the dark of night by people we don’t even know?"
Cooney suspects Apple’s battle with the Cancer Center and the medical school are the reasons for his ouster.
Apple came under fire for two failed attempts late last year to fire Cancer Center Director Dr. Michele Carbone, who has clashed with a group of former and current faculty members.
Cooney said it was the right thing to do because "the Cancer Center has been mismanaged horribly." He said Apple also reduced the medical school’s funding by $1 million.
"My concern at this point is ultimately for the accreditation for the university," said Cooney, adding that interference from outside forces shows the chancellor really doesn’t have authority over Manoa. "If he can’t even fire one of his own deans or directors who is not performing, that’s absurd."
Apple, who started his job in June 2012 under UH President M.R.C. Greenwood, came from the University of Delaware, where he was provost and was hired at a salary of $439,000 a year to replace UH-Manoa Chancellor Virginia Hinshaw.
Greenwood retired in September, nearly two years before the end of her contract, citing personal reasons unrelated to the Wonder blunder.
UH’s longtime information technology chief, David Lassner, was named interim president, and the Board of Regents selected him for the permanent position, starting July 1.
The UH administration’s bungled response to the Stevie Wonder scam led to high-profile state Senate public hearings that raised concerns over the UH system’s governance.
Sen. Sam Slom (R, Diamond Head-Hawaii Kai), a member of the Senate Higher Education committee, said many of the problems uncovered during the hearings still have not been resolved.
"If anything, this indicates that it is as deep or even deeper than the legislative special investigation committee found out two years ago," Slom said.
He said the resignation of several regents over a new financial disclosure law have compounded the turmoil at the university.
"Rather than worrying about football, we’d better concentrate on doing the basics and getting the university up to snuff," he said.
Less than two weeks ago, Apple announced a two-year plan aiming to balance the school’s budget and avoid tuition hikes by saving $10 million for each of the next two years, or about 2.5 percent of the annual budget. The plan included a hiring freeze and an across-the-board 3 percent budget cut.
Apple said the university was struggling after the Legislature cut funding by up to 30 percent in 2009.
In a statement Sunday, Cancer Center Director Carbone said the center is not the cause of the budget shortfall and has a positive balance every year. But he acknowledged new revenue will be needed to repay bonds for the center’s building in Kakaako because of declining cigarette tax revenues, which were supposed to cover Cancer Center costs.
Cooney maintains the university will be unable to find another chancellor because of the current problems facing the campus and the dearth of reasons for Apple’s departure.
"Who in their right mind would come into this situation right now?" he said. "The fiscal situation is worse than it was two years ago when Tom came into the position. He’s done what he could to try and stem the collapse."
Some state legislators said Apple seemed to be doing a good job.
"It’s kind of a little bit of a surprise," said Sen. Brian Taniguchi (D, Makiki-Tantalus-Manoa), chairman of the Senate Higher Education committee, adding that Apple has about three years left in an employment agreement with the university.
"They’re going through some budget struggles right now," he said. "Without that kind of leadership, I’m not sure how they’re going to deal with those kinds of issues."
Rep. Isaac Choy (D, Manoa-Punahou-Moiliili), chairman of the House Higher Education committee, described Apple as a "mover and a shaker," adding, "It would be a loss for him to leave. In two years I think he’s changed the thinking of the university."
He said Apple made improvements in the repair and maintenance of the campus and had a compensation plan where researchers would get paid through their grants, bringing UH in line with other research universities.
"Tom Apple wants to make Hawaii a great research university," he said. "He has the credentials and background to get that accomplished."
Choy said he supports whatever decision President Lassner has to make, but was concerned about the loss of a permanent chancellor at UH-Manoa.
"Not to have a chancellor of our research university would be a huge mistake," he said. "We have to manage half a billion dollars of extramural funds. We’ve got 20,000 students. It’s our flagship university.
"You cannot have that ship running around without a captain," he added.
