UH Regents prefer to hire McClain
By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer
The surprise announcement that University of Hawai'i regents want to ditch a nationwide search and hire a reluctant David McClain as permanent president drew broad positive support yesterday, but not on the floor of the state Senate.
Sen. Clayton Hee, chairman of the Higher Education Committee, called it a mistake not to search out the best and the brightest.
"It speaks poorly of the Board of Regents to presume that the system has the best money can buy," Hee said by phone later, recapping the remarks he made to the Senate. Hee has wrangled with McClain over a personnel appointment in recent months.
At the same time, the recommendation from a UH Board of Regents' task group brought approval from a UH student leader and from the head of the university's accrediting body.
"If the board wants to work with McClain for the next three years, I'd say let's move forward together," said student body president Grant Teichman.
And Ralph Wolff, chairman of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, said McClain has shown his effectiveness in leading the system.
"It's certainly true he's been able to respond to a number of challenges effectively," said Wolff, reached by phone in California. "While ordinarily a search is appropriate, there are definitely times when that is not an exclusive rule."
McClain, 59, has won praise for his leadership since taking over the reins of the university following the 2004 ouster of Evan Dobelle. But in November, the interim president said he would not be a candidate for the permanent job because of family needs and because he couldn't give the university the seven-year commitment he felt the job required to give the system stability and the time to move projects forward.
Nevertheless, acting on advice from two search firms and other authorities, the board's presidential search task group chaired by Kitty Lagareta recommended yesterday that regents suspend their search for a new president and offer the job to the man doing it now.
Lagareta told regents that she and fellow regent Al Landon had already sounded McClain out on the idea and received a positive response.
"He told us the door is not completely nailed shut," she said.
In November, McClain said he could only serve until 2009, short of the seven years he said the job requires. He has already served almost two years in an acting and interim capacity.
But Wolff said that shouldn't be a problem.
"The average tenure of a president is only five to six years," he said. "There's no hard and fast rule how long a contract should be, or how long a president should serve."
McClain did not return calls yesterday, but UH spokeswoman Carolyn Tanaka said, "He's open to talking to the board."
Lagareta, who also chairs the board, said regents will meet in a special session within eight to 10 days to act on the task group's recommendation. If it's approved they'll begin immediate negotiations with McClain.
"I suspect they'll go forward," said Lagareta, of the full board. "I know how they feel about David."
Lagareta said if McClain does take the job she wouldn't expect his $341,000 annual salary to go much higher.
"David has a real keen sense of what is right," she said.
Dobelle, McClain's predecessor, was paid $442,000 a year — a sore point with some legislators and many at the university and in the community.
Lagareta said the six members of the task group came to their decision after spending hours meeting with two top national search firms, as well as talking with leading authorities on governing boards.
At yesterday's meeting, Lagareta explained the task group's recommendations by reading to the board some of the feedback they received, including:
In the nearly two years McClain has led UH, he has been faced with charting a difficult course over the proposed addition of a Navy affiliated research center, a substantial increase in tuition and a move to bring new dorms to Manoa and build a new West O'ahu campus in Kapolei.
And although he has won praise from the regents and the governor, in recent months he ran afoul of two key legislators — chairmen of the higher education committees in both chambers of the Legislature — whom he said pressured him to make a particular personnel appointment, despite the university's autonomy.
Yesterday one of those chairmen — Hee — was critical of the task group's recommendation, expressing concern in a floor speech that Hawai'i could lose out on the best candidate if regents cancel a search.
"Any excuse as to why the search should be suspended because McClain is the best candidate is presumptuous," Hee said.
Rep. Tommy Waters, chairman of the House Higher Education committee, agreed with Hee, saying he thinks it is a bad idea for the university to suspend the search process.
While he would not object if the search firm recommended McClain as the best choice, he thinks other candidates need to be considered before anyone is offered the job.
"It's an important job and we should go through a national search," he said.
But Sen. Sam Slom defended the recommendation, saying national searches are no panacea — "the last one had been a disaster" — and that McClain has done a good job.
"He took over in a time of crisis; he did not seek that position," Slom said. "He's done an outstanding job in the two years in settling the crisis and restoring the university."
And student body president Teichman said McClain has always had an open door for student concerns.
"I'm in favor of moving forward ... and getting some of these projects into implementation," he said. "The students have waited for solid leadership long enough."
Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com.
