The Board of Regents voted Thursday to combine the positions of president of the University of Hawaii system and chancellor of UH Manoa, despite vocal criticism from faculty about the university’s leadership.

The 12-3 vote came after several professors lambasted UH leaders for how they handled the recent effort by the Senate to chop the university’s budget. As president, David Lassner has filled the role of interim chancellor, with no additional pay, since 2016.

“The sentiment of the faculty is that we have lost faith in UH leadership and in David Lassner as UH president,” said Lynne Wilkens, president of the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly, the faculty union. She said they failed to stand up to the Legislature publicly and keep faculty informed.

“They may have intended to resolve this issue quietly by attempting to appease legislators behind the scenes,” Wilkens said. “But continuing to kowtow to the whims of legislators will only lead to more of the same types of inappropriate micromanagement. We need a strong leader who is willing to draw the line.”

Lassner said UH leaders jumped into action immediately when the Senate revealed its budget proposal.

“We made it a priority to reverse those cuts as quickly as possible,” he said. “And we succeeded. We obviously differed with UHPA on legislative strategy in a number of ways. We did engage fully and directly with the Legislature at multiple levels to reverse those cuts.”

The Faculty Senate has taken no position on Lassner’s leadership in the legislative budget fight.

It advised coalescing behind messages such as: UH is a good deal for undergraduate and graduate education; its research benefits the state as well as students; its accreditation requires that it be autonomous; and it needs support as it competes for faculty and resources nationally and internationally.

Board Chairwoman Lee Putnam endorsed that approach and said regents are deeply concerned about intrusions into UH autonomy.

While deleting the chancellor’s position, the reorganization creates a new position of provost for UH Manoa, to serve as chief academic officer for the flagship campus as well as an officer of the UH system. The provost position will be filled by reassigning a current employee.

The restructuring is expected to save money and make the administration run more smoothly.

Regent Simeon Acoba, who opposed the move, cited a study by the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education in 2015.

“It strongly recommended that these two positions not be combined, but that they be separate,” Acoba said.

The Manoa Faculty Senate opposed the first phase of the reorganization because it had not seen a complete plan.

“Faculty will be involved in this so-called Phase 2, which offices get created and who they will report to,” Brian Powell, who chairs the Faculty Senate, said after the vote.