Page 8 | Ka Leo | Monday, Feb. 3 2014
Twitter @kaleoopinions | opinions@kaleo.org | Doorae Shin Editor |Kristen Bonifacio Associate
Opinions Evan Dobelle retired after resigning from Westfield State University. MASSHIGHERED FLICKR
UH: DON’T HIRE ANOTHER DOBELLE ALEX BITTER City Editor
The University of Hawai‘i system seems to be notorious for hiring the wrong presidents. When the president of Massachusetts’ Westfield State University resigned last November, he left a mess in his wake.
QUESTIONABLE SPENDING
Though the head of the 5,000-student public college had been wellliked a few months earlier, charges of his excessive spending on travel, concert tickets and other luxuries quickly made him the focus of a state investigation. He said he needed these expenses to build the university’s “brand.” It wasn’t the first time Evan Dobelle had been in hot water for his use of a university’s funds. Almost a decade ago, the UH Board of Regents fired Dobelle
amid accusations similar to those he now faces at Westfield. The president’s departure after four years in Bachman Hall was as much of a public relations disaster as it was a costly one, with UH ultimately shouldering his legal costs and paying him a $1.6 million cash legal settlement.
ONLY GOOD ON PAPER With a history like that, how could Westfield possibly have decided that Dobelle was their best choice? While public officials and representatives from the search company who found Dobelle for the Westfield presidency claim they dug into his past, what wooed them was Dobelle’s résumé. Among his attractions was a position in Jimmy Car ter’s presidential administration, his political connections and Dobelle’s reputation for improving universities on the decline after his ten-
ure as president of Connecticut’s Trinity College. In large part, these were the same credentials that impressed UH officials when they hired Dobelle in 2001. During his first months at both UH and Westfield, Dobelle embarked on ambitious programs of reform, charged with reworking the images of each university. At UH, that meant talk of building a new football stadium in West Oahu and other big improvements. At Westfield, it meant pricey new efforts to develop the small-time university’s brand, both nationally and abroad.
CAN WE LEARN FROM HISTORY? In the process of both transformations, Dobelle’s lavish personal spending eventually attracted attention from outside watchers and led to his departure from both institutions. As the Board of Regents prepares for another presidential search, the
distant lessons of more than a decade ago — and Westfield’s more recent ones — are worth remembering. With UH’s relationship with the public still strained after the “Wonder Blunder,” the Regents may be tempted to find someone who, like Dobelle, claims prowess at turning universities around and fixing their troubles. Instead, the Regents should consider finding someone who already knows what challenges UH faces and has dealt with them at the ground level at some point, whether it be as a student, faculty member or someone else. David McClain is a perfect example as he served as a professor at Shidler before successfully serving as UH system president from 2004 until 2009.
CURRENT STATE OF PRESIDENTIAL SEARCH Last week, the board took a step toward finding such a person when
it decided to find UH’s next president without a national search firm, effectively cutting out many potential out-of-state applicants. But that still leaves the job open to many who may have only a surface understanding of what UH really needs. One need only look at last semester’s march to the state capitol protesting tuition increases to see that there are complex issues whose solutions can’t always be found by those with sparkling CVs but no understanding of UH’s unique situation. Now that the search is completely in their own hands, the Regents need to find someone who is already familiar with UH and its problems. We can’t afford another president who tries to improve the university through huge, uninformed changes while spending lavishly on themselves at the expense of everyone in the UH system.