The University of Hawaiʻi Board of Regents plans to interview the two finalists for president — Julian Vasquez Heilig and Wendy Hensel — behind closed doors.
However, public interest attorneys say those meetings should take place in public, citing a 2019 state Supreme Court ruling that barred boards and commissions from holding closed meetings unless they prove they are protecting a privacy interest.
Brian Black, executive director of the Public First Law Center, said it's not just about hiring or firing a high-level public employee, but there also needs to be evidence of matters affecting privacy.
"When you're talking about people just getting interviewed for a job, that's not a matter affecting privacy," Black said. "That goes to the heart of what should be public, which is the reason that they should be selected for the position."
The Sunshine Law, created in 1975, governs how state and county boards conduct their meetings.
The 2019 Supreme Court case was spurred by the award of a severance package to former Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha in executive session. Since the ruling, some boards have interviewed finalists for their chief executive jobs in the public eye. They include the Maui Police Commission in 2021, the Hawaiʻi Board of Education in 2022, and the state Law Enforcement Standards Board this year.
UH spokesman Dan Meisenzahl said in an emailed statement that the BOR's search process follows the Sunshine Law, citing an opinion from the Office of Information Practices.
"More than 1,500 people attended a total (of) eight public forums and eight public houses for the two finalists. The videos of the forums are publicly posted on the UH President Search website, which includes the CVs and information on each candidate along with detailed documentation of every step of the search process," he wrote.
"Members of the UH community and general public were able to provide feedback on the finalists through confidentially online surveys and can continue to provide feedback by submitting testimony to the board up to Oct. 16, the next BOR meeting when the finalists will be interviewed," he continued. "All feedback submitted will be considered by the regents during the selection process."
The announcement of the finalists comes as UH President David Lassner plans to retire by the end of this year. He's the university's 15th president and has led the 10-campus system since 2014.
The president plays a critical role in leading the state's only public provider of post-secondary education — with UH Mānoa being the flagship research university.
Voting on a new president
Maui lawyer Lance Collins says the regents would still need to vote to go into executive session and have two-thirds of their 11-member panel present.
"It's not automatic," he said. "The board has to choose to go into executive session. Whether they legally can is a slightly separate question."
Collins recalled the appointment of Evan Dobelle in 2000, who was eventually fired by the BOR in 2004.
At the time, the Hawaiʻi Society of Professional Journalists and the Graduate Student Organization sued the BOR over the selection process, arguing that they violated the open meetings law. However, they eventually lost the case.
Collins said the university has improved community involvement in the selection process for the president compared to 20 years ago.
He also said there may be reasons the board would need to go into executive session due to custom.
"It begs the broader question: If it's necessary to go into secret to have a final interview with these folks, are they the appropriate people to be picked as president?" Collins said.
