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David Yount, a physicist, longtime University of Hawaii professor and administrator, appeared to discuss his newly published book on UH governance. Stuart Ho, a University of Hawaii regent, joined the conversation to assess Yount's findings. The concrete question the episode turns on is who actually controls the University of Hawaii, and whether that ambiguity has prevented the institution from achieving excellence. Yount argued that Hawaii's state constitution creates an unresolved tension between the Board of Regents and the legislature: the board is nominally responsible for running the university, yet the legislature controls the purse strings and frequently intervenes in academic matters. This divided authority produces a power vacuum, delayed decisions, and the loss of star faculty. Ho, drawing on his own experience as a regent thirty years earlier, largely confirmed Yount's analysis and said the problems described in the book were already present in his day. Both agreed the state had not made a genuine commitment to building a world-class university, though they differed on whether abolishing the Board of Regents might clarify accountability.
Transcript
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Companion newspaper commentaries
Commentaries by the guests, published in The Honolulu Advertiser around the broadcast.
