A successful address should have included a balance of good and bad points, in order to give the most informed, cognitive view of the state of affairs at the University of Hawai'i. The address did not measure up to this standard. While Mortimer did his fair share of back-patting and congratulating, he failed to adequately address some of the university's most pressing concerns.
Budget cuts, for example.
UH has been pressed with budget cuts and program cuts, many of which have the students and faculty concerned about our future. Rather than dealing directly with these cuts and offering proactive solutions for the coming year, Mortimer parlayed fears and passed over the issue as if it was innocuous. The recent accreditation report for UH stressed communication as a major weak link in the administrative chain. Mortimer has recently claimed intentions to communicate better with students. He did not, however, address this in his speech.