From the issue dated August 13, 2004
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U. of Hawaii Settles Dispute With President
The Board of Regents of the University of Hawaii System has rescinded its firing of Evan S. Dobelle as president and agreed to a mediated settlement that will pay him about $1.6-million. Mr. Dobelle, in turn, will resign the presidency and surrender his rights to a tenured faculty position, effective August 14. Under the terms of an agreement reached late last month, the former president will remain as an untenured researcher in urban and regional planning at the university's Manoa campus for two years and will work on a "special project" to be agreed upon by him and the chancellor. The settlement stipulates that he cannot apply for another job at the university. Mr. Dobelle, 59, who had been president since July 2001, received a salary of $442,000 a year, one of the highest in the country for a public-university leader. He was eligible for total annual compensation of $599,500. The settlement requires the regents to pay Mr. Dobelle $1.05-million, plus $290,000 to cover his legal fees, and to continue making $40,000 annual payments on a life-insurance policy for the next six years. The university will be reimbursed for the payments when Mr. Dobelle or his heirs cash in the policy. He will also be paid $125,000 annually while he serves on the faculty. Terms Called Favorable William C. McCorriston, a lawyer for the regents, said last week that the settlement's financial terms were favorable for the university, given provisions of the seven-year presidential contract and several additional agreements that had been signed by a previous chairwoman of the board when Mr. Dobelle was hired. Under those provisions, the university estimates, it would have had to pay Mr. Dobelle as much as $4.5-million, including an open-ended obligation to employ him as a tenured professor at a six-figure salary. The $1.6-million settlement, part of which will be covered by the university's insurance, "is a tremendous savings," Mr. McCorriston said. Mr. Dobelle said last week that he was pleased with the settlement because he and the board had resolved their differences with no finding of wrongdoing on either part. "It's the conclusion of a very sad chapter at the university," he said. As president, Mr. Dobelle directed a reorganization of the university system, oversaw the resolution of accreditation problems on the Manoa campus, and helped to resolve an impasse with faculty members over their contract. The regents, though, had said that Mr. Dobelle was a poor communicator. They accused him of cronyism in hiring several top administrators and said his record in fund raising was disappointing. In addition, the regents and lawmakers questioned his spending on travel and entertainment, which led to two state audits and a university-commissioned financial review of his use of money from the University of Hawaii Foundation. In June the regents voted unanimously to fire Mr. Dobelle "for cause," which would have made him ineligible for severance pay. http://chronicle.com Section: Money & Management Volume 50, Issue 49, Page A24 |
Copyright © 2004 by The Chronicle of Higher Education