UH President spends from lucrative donor accounts

UH President MRC Greenwood has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in donor funds on things like travel and gifts, according to accounting documents obtained by KHON2.

After the University of Hawaii released details of former athletic director Jim Donovan’s donor-backed discretionary expenses of over $100,000 a year, KHON2 also filed a Freedom of Information Act request to get a similar tally on the UH president.

What the year’s worth of expense reports reveal is nearly $300,000 of donated money spent from the UH Foundation’s “UH President’s Advancement Funds.” This is different money than university funds that come from student tuition or the state — from that side she’s paid a salary of $425,000 a year, $5,000 a month in housing, nearly $4,000 a year for a car allowance and a $150,000 dollar protocol fund.

This separate spending from about five different UH Foundation sources shows things like:

• nearly $1,000 for Dalai Lama tickets;
• thousands on a dinner to welcome the new Manoa chancellor;
• thousands in lei and gifts;
• thousands labeled "telephone expense";
• even down to a $10 parking tab the foundation picked up.
• lots of travel included a nearly $23,000 tab for a Vietnam-Okinawa-DC trip, and 5,000 for a "disaster risk recovery" trip to Sendai and DC.

"Obviously faculty don’t have expense accounts like this,” said Kristeen Hanselman of the UH Professional Assembly, “and in some departments they barely have resources to fund travel to their area of expertise."

Asked how this spending from the accounts categorized as "UH President’s Advancement Funds" helped advance the university, UH did not yet respond.

The expenses also show a transfer of $5,000 to something called the “Board of Regents Discretionary Fund.” The regents have held several meetings recently with the topic of Greenwood’s employment on the agenda.

UH Foundation does not disclose its donors.

"Fundraising is a big business for universities,” Hanselman said. “You want to make sure there is trust and confidence in not only how the money is used, but also that it is not an inherent quid pro quo for how the money is used."

UH Manoa also provided the chancellors spending covering July 1, 2012 through Oct. 25, 2012, totaling more than $30,000 from two UH Foundation accounts under the “Manoa Chancellor’s Advancement Funds.” It showed hundreds labeled “Debt”, and thousands in business meetings, “protocol” and travel, among other expenses.