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As the University of Hawaii searches for a new president, critics are revisiting concerns about the relatively few local hires in top positions at the university.

A Civil Beat analysis shows that just over half of UH’s highest-paid executives, including outgoing president M.R.C. Greenwood, were recruited from the mainland.

Greenwood’s that she’ll be retiring two years before her contract expires has reignited conversation about the university’s hiring practices. There’s already been intense speculation about possible to succeed her.

Meanwhile, the UH Board of Regents is holding a on Friday to discuss the presidency.

It remains to be seen how much the new president’s salary will be and whether UH will .

Renewed interest in recruiting a kamaaina for the job was sparked by a group of senators who introduced a earlier this year that asked the Board of Regents and UH president to give preference to local candidates when hiring for executive positions. The reso was one of several measures introduced this session that aimed to change how the university does business, including how it spends its money.

Senate Concurrent Resolution 110 died, but Sen. Will Espero, who co-introduced the measure, said it was meant to show the university “what some of us are thinking.”

“The intent, obviously, is to seriously consider our local talent and those individuals who are currently within our system,” he said. “We can’t just limit it to those individuals, of course, but it’s just a statement — something they would hopefully consider.”

Some say that the university should seriously consider candidates with strong ties to Hawaii because of their understanding of the state and because they could serve as role models for kamaaina youth.

Greenwood served as provost for the University of California system before she was hired as UH president in 2009. UH paid a national executive search firm more than $100,000 to hire her.

All but one of Greenwood’s also hailed from the mainland. Many other big UH players — including UH Manoa Chancellor Tom Apple, UH Hilo Chancellor Donald Straney and Athletic Director Ben Jay — were recruited from out-of-state, too.

Civil Beat reviewed the online biographies of 34 UH executives and managers with in 2012. We found that 53 percent were hired from the mainland.

UH Manoa had the smallest number of local hires in those top executive and managerial positions.

However, UH spokeswoman Lynne Waters says that UH data shows that among the university’s high level administrators — including those who make less than $200,000 — just 28 percent were recruited from out-of-state.

When recruiting an executive, UH officials review the position’s description, advertise on the university’s job vacancy site and the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and seek evaluations and feedback from stakeholders such as faculty, staff, student representatives and community members, according to Waters.

Moreover, Hawaii law now requires that any proposed compensation for a new executive be posted before the person is appointed so that the public has a chance to provide comment.

The university follows several guidelines when recruiting executive personnel, including those outlined in the , the and the .

The Board of Regents’ requires that openings for positions involving responsibility over instruction or research be filled through national recruitment.

But the policy also states that openings for positions outside of that realm — such as those involving administrative support or student services — can be filled through local recruitment.

UH policy also that recruitment efforts involve affirmative action when necessary. Among the affirmative action options are “including members of underrepresented groups on committees for recruitment, screening, interviewing and selection” and “encouraging members of underrepresented groups to apply for higher-level positions.”

Waters noted that Hawaii law prohibits employment discrimination based on factors such as nationality and ethnicity, making it illegal to factor birthplace into hiring decisions. Hiring an executive because he or she is from Hawaii, Waters said, would fall under that bracket.

“So while not specifically illegal, we err on the side of caution” and don’t ask whether someone is kamaaina or not when considering whether to hire that person, she said, adding that the university doesn’t keep information on employees’ hometowns.

According to Waters, selection is based solely on job qualifications. The goal, she said, is to pick a qualified candidate who can fully support the university’s mission and best serve its academic and research community.

Still, university officials have said little about how they’re planning on recruiting a new president.

The Board of Regents at a regularly scheduled meeting last Thursday began talking about the future of the UH presidency. But most of the details were discussed behind closed doors in an executive session that .

Officials cited the Sunshine Law’s privacy exception to justify the closed talks, reasoning that specific names would likely be tossed around.

After emerging from executive session, Board Chair Eric Martinson said that members had indeed discussed specific individuals while meeting in private. When asked whether more attention would be given to local candidates, Martinson said that the board’s responsibility is to “find the best candidate.” He did, however, note that the university needs a president “who’s sensitive to Hawaii’s business style and culture.”

Martinson didn’t disclose many other details about the board’s private conversation, though he did confirm that none of the regents are interested in the position. He also didn’t say whether the university would pay a headhunting firm to help recruit a new president.

But some say that by scheduling a second closed-door session on Friday to talk about the presidency, the regents are again shutting the public out of discussions on matters of significant public interest.

Critics Question University’s Recruitment Practices

The idea of hiring local isn’t just being floated by lawmakers.

Maui Regent Artemio Baxa, who’s term ends in June, opened Thursday’s Board of Regents meeting with a farewell speech urging fellow members to deeply consider recruiting someone who’s already familiar with the university.

“The beauty could be in our backyard,” Baxa said, likening the board’s recruitment efforts to a local appreciating all the natural charm Hawaii — as opposed to faraway destinations — has to offer. “Some people here not only know the local terrain, they know the national landscape.”

Lawmakers senate resolution on the matter that UH “has a history of hiring candidates who reside from out of state to fill executive positions within the University.”

“There may be qualified and talented individuals who reside within or have strong ties to the State and could fill these executive positions but have been overlooked by the University of Hawaii because of its penchant for hiring individuals from out of state,” it said.

In its testimony on the resolution, the university said it “appreciates” the Senate’s effort to ensure that qualified locals be considered for executive positions and that it always considers people affiliated with Hawaii when hiring.

But the resolution, which was adopted by the Senate, never got a hearing after being referred to the House Higher Education and Judiciary Committees.

Rep. Isaac Choy, the Higher Education chair, said he felt uncomfortable with the resolution.

“Preference would be a very strong term to use for local candidates,” he said. “What I’m looking for is competency. UH is an international institution. I’m looking for a good candidate that’s competent in all areas, including local culture and dealing with the local Legislature.”

“Of course I would like to see some keiki o ka aina get the position,” he added.

But Sen. Brickwood Galuteria, who co-introduced SCR 110, said that the university needs to be proactive in placing kamaaina in executive positions.

“I think that, at this time in our history, our local products could probably do the job just as well, and so our encouragement would not only be to look beyond the reef but to look right here at home,” he said, adding that officials should also look toward hiring people who were educated at UH. “We would hope that, in the reservoir of possibilities, we would have someone who has a history here in Hawaii.”

What sets kamaaina executives apart from out-of-state hires, Galuteria said, are “local sensibilities.”

Espero agreed, citing the insight local administrators would have into Hawaii’s history, culture and community.

He also said that when institutions such as UH hire of kamaaina for top positions it sets an example for youth and the local community.

“I would guess that the morale might be better knowing that somebody within was promoted upwards,” he said. “Youth will see these individuals as role models … It’s good for the state’s psyche all around.”

Espero also criticized the university for spending so much in its national recruitment efforts.

“I for starters don’t think we need to be spending such large amounts of money on national search committees — especially if they (the candidates) are not from Hawaii,” he said.

Waters said that the university uses search firms only in certain cases, depending on the level of the position, anticipated recruitment challenges and how specialized the job is.

But the tendency to rely on national hiring firms, Espero said, is part of larger trend in which increasingly higher salaries are necessary to maintain a competitive edge in the higher education world.

“The system perpetuates itself,” he said. “This system just keeps the snowball going and going, and it gets bigger and bigger every time.”

He pointed to the differences in former UH Manoa Chancellor Virginia Hinshaw’s and current Chancellor Apple’s salaries: , respectively.

Still, Espero acknowledged that the goal is to provide UH students with the best education possible — and that may mean that officials often have to recruit nationally to get the highest-caliber pool of candidates.

“We don’t want to cut any corners,” he said. “We need someone who is qualified and capable.”

When it comes to Greenwood’s replacement, however, some critics say the university needs a local — at least in the interim — who can help regain the public’s trust in UH.

Governance at the university has been under intense scrutiny following the botched Stevie Wonder concert. The fiasco brought to light a perceived lack of transparency and accountability at UH.

Experts Say National Recruitment Integral To University’s Success

Higher education experts say recruiting nationally is critical to ensuring a university maintains its edge in the global marketplace.

Andrew Mytelka, an editor at the Chronicle of Higher Education, said that universities are under immense pressure to recruit from a broad pool of candidates.

“Universities that appear to have handed a top job to an internal candidate who is seen as not otherwise qualified tend to run into problems with a variety of stakeholders,” including accreditation officials, he wrote.

Mytelka pointed to the Sandusky Scandal at Penn State — where nearly all the key players had worked at the university for decades — as an example of what can happen when universities routinely hire and promote from within: “circle-the-wagons protectiveness when bad things happen.”

Raymond Cotton, a mainland attorney who regularly advises university boards across the country, said that he always tells universities to search for top talent because those people “inevitably attract other talented people to work with them.” Having high-caliber staff, he said, ultimately benefits the students, faculty and community at large.

“I do not think it is in the best interest of UH — or indeed any American university — to limit searches for executive level people to their own locality or state,” he said. Universities “ought to leading the way for our young people to learn how to relate and work with all kinds of people, not just those who happen to live in the same state where the university is located.”