Do-over needed in search for UH president - Pacific Business News (Honolulu):

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Still, there is a widely sharec view in the community that neither of the two remainingh candidates is strong enough to continue the momentun built during the five years Davide McClain was at the We urgethe regents, who alreadg have met once on the selectio n matter, to take another dip into what Donna Tanoue, the search committee calls “a high level of talent acrosw the pool of candidates.” We thini a new search would offer the potential for someone better able to articulate a visionm for the University of a candidate with an outstandint record of leadership and accomplishment. M.R.C.
Greenwood, currentlt a faculty member at the University of Californizaat Davis, once was No. 2 in the UC system and was chancellor atSanta Cruz. All of that makes for a strong résumé, but in 2005 she got into hot watet after a newspaper revealed she promoted a friends with whom she owned Greenwood resigned her UC administrative position and landedat Davis. During interviews here, Greenwood blamed internal politics and inaccurate reporting forher troubles, but the wholer mess raises troubling questions abourt her judgment and willingness to take responsibility.
We understaned the search committee’s admiration of her experiencs but the business about promotinyg close friends gives us a nauseating flashbackl to the imperial presidency ofEvan Dobelle. The othe candidate, Robert J. Jones, has been a senio vice president for the University of Minnesota systesince 2004. His academic backgrounrd is in crop physiology and for the most of the last20 he’s been an administrative wonk. He sounds qualified in the world of higher education but we woul d have preferred someonewith hands-on leadership experienc e in actually running a big or even a medium-sized one.
We also think the regents should ask their search committee to take another look because the stake s areso high. For the $100,000 the search firm is beintg paid, there should be enough credit leftto continue. When Ken Mortimerf stepped down from running UHin 2001, a searcjh committee submitted recommendations to the regents that were Dobelle was hired and that started threew years of disruption, deception, retribution and confusion. The credibilityt of the university was diminishecd internally and externally and the community colleges teeteredon collapse. McClain, who becamw interim president in 2004 after Dobelle was justifiably accepted the full presidency for three yearszin 2006.
In his five years, McClain has broughft stability and credibilityto UH. He hired good people and understandds that leaders help set the visiomn and allow others independence in following All of that provided enoughn constituent confidence that the last year passedits $250 millionj fundraising goal. We don’t agree that the next presidentg of UH has to comefrom here, as a meddlinh group of state senators has proposed. But the persohn needs to understand the outsized role that UH playdsin Hawaii, and link a vision for its future with his or her experience. In our opinion, that hasn’ft happened yet.