UH808: What is the status of the contract negotiations? Do you feel the university has done enough in extending its "best" offer?

M.R.C. Greenwood: Our negotiating team has met with UHPA and the federal mediator to try to move forward towards a settlement because I think it's in everybody's best interest to settle this. We've received a counter offer from the union that seems, at the moment, to have us further apart. I've requested an informal meeting with the union leader J.N. Musto to talk about whether there is a basis that we can move forward. And of course if we can't settle, we're going to have to consult our attorneys to look at what our legal options are.

In any case, the fact that we don't have a settlement at the moment and that the UHPA unit did not accept the offer doesn't give us any more money. So we have to also now continue to plan based on the fact that we already don't have several months of the salary savings that would have come from an agreement.

BChang: What leadership qualities do you feel makes you qualified to lead the university as its president during these difficult times?

Greenwood: First of all, I'll leave the quality question to others to answer. But what I do bring is that I've worked in higher education now for close to 30 years. I've been in small liberal arts colleges, large universities with medical centers. I've been the head of a very successful campus that moved from one level to another ... and I've had system experience. Plus I spent time in Washington in the political arena in the first Clinton White House for a couple of years. So I think what I bring to the table is a skill set that helps me with what is my greatest passion in life, which is public higher education.

Dinah: As the state's only public university, UH is a pivotal part of the community. You have been on the job for a couple of months, but the community has heard little about your vision. The Hot Seat is the first time the broader community has had a chance to hear from you. Why haven't you made an attempt to share your vision and reach out to the community?

M.R.C. Greenwood: Well I'm actually a little disappointed to hear that question. I've been here for 2 1/2 months. I've visited every one of our 10 campuses, that means all of those on the Neighbor Islands as well. I've met with faculty, students, administrators, local key opinion leaders and legislators. Of course I have met all kinds of faculty and people here in Honolulu and on O'ahu, gone to half a dozen fundraisers, spoken in front of groups of students associated with the P20 project to improve high school graduation rates and get kids to school. So I've been doing a lot of that.

But the question about the vision, I have to tell you that I don't think that it is a sign of a good administrator to come riding into town with "I have the vision and let me tell you all about it." I think you have to come in, you have to listen, you have to visit, you have to understand what's going on and then you take, what in my view here at the University of Hawai'i is already an excellent strategic plan, and you figure out what it is that you can do to help the institution move forward faster and maybe get to a higher level.

Sharon S: What are your thoughts on the university paying its football coach $1.1. million dollars?

Greenwood: Well, Coach Mack is definitely having a tough year and I feel for the team, I really do feel for the team. Especially with these injuries, it's been devastating.

The contract that was negotiated before I came here, and when the economy goes south, coaching salaries are easy targets. That said, the coaching staff and the team have my support. And remember, as I understand it, June Jones went from a 9 to 4 season in 1999 to a 3-9 record the next year. So not all coaches have good years every year. I understand that when June Jones went off to SMU, he got a much bigger paycheck than when he was here, and his first season was a 1-11 season.

MinalZ: Are you pleased with your leadership team? What areas do you feel the university needs to work specifically and how do you plan to address that? Please be specific.

Greenwood: Based on a couple of the earlier comments I think one of the things we need to be doing a bit better is communicating our successes, our programs, and why it is we are so critical to the state of Hawai'i.

Imagine what the opportunities in this state would be or would not be if the University of Hawai'i didn't exist. So if we didn't have the University of Hawai'i, we wouldn't have these community colleges, we wouldn't have the baccalaureate campuses that are building their applied masters programs, we would not have doctors, we wouldn't have lawyers , we wouldn't have business leaders, we wouldn't have legislators who are trained in policy areas. You would have to import them. And that would be a big disaster for the state.

So in my view the best investment that anybody can make is in education. And of course, since I'm the president of the University of Hawai'i, I'm going to argue that the best investment and the one we have to sustain is the one that allows us to build the work force of the future.

Nalani: For many of our children, the University of Hawai'i is the only option. What do you intend to do improve the quality of instruction and the reputation of UH? I know you are new, but you must know that the UH has some work to do. You seldom hear anything positive about UH aside from football, and now even that's not the case.

Greenwood: I just want you to know that I feel badly that that's your impression of the University of Hawai'i. I am a newcomer but I have seen many universities, worked in a number of them around the country, and the University of Hawai'i is a fine university, and the whole system is a fine system. It could of course improve, every system can improve.

One of the things that you should know is that we do have a strategic plan here at the University of Hawai'i that is based on serving the needs of Hawai'i.

Part of the reason I came here was to help build the institution so that we are recognized nationally, internationally, for what we are and then get better.

Ajmikio: Is the UH administration top heavy, with too many executives? Shouldn't some of them be let go?

Greenwood: I will say honestly that we are of course evaluating all of our programs, including how many administrators we have — do we have too many or not enough?

And actually, our administrative size has not changed at all since 1996. We had about 219 executives in 1996 and we have 211 today. So there has not been a huge growth in the executives. And whether 211 is still too many, well I'm always open to suggestions on how we can save money. I don't think at the moment that we are a bit overstaffed.

Steve: Given the serious budget crisis the UH system faces, is it really wise to go ahead with construction of a UH-West O'ahu campus?

Greenwood: Well that is a question that we have certainly been asked. I would say yes, based on a couple of things. One, West O'ahu is serving some of the most underserved parts of the state.

The programs at West O'ahu are doing very well, they've been growing; they've been working well with the community colleges and Mänoa to start putting together a very strong long-term program.

The West O'ahu project is a difficult one in these financial times; we've had some difficulty with liquidating some property that we had hoped would be the financial basis for being able to move ahead. But we have the funds to move ahead right now.

As you probably know, construction funds are different from general operating funds, and right now construction funds also have the double advantage in that they're creating jobs over in that part of the state, which has also been hit hard by the economy.