HONOLULU -- A veteran University of Hawaii professor is asking UH Regents to reject a new contract, doubling the salary for head football coach June Jones.

He and other UH faculty are outraged that basic expenses like electricity and mail may be cut back in academic departments while Jones and top university officials are taking home six-figure salaries.

KITV 4 News investigative reporter Keoki Kerr obtained a copy of a letter sent Thursday night to UH regents, which was the talk of the UH Manoa campus Friday. It's written by the first professor to be openly critical not just of Jones, but of UH President Evan Dobelle and the many high-paid executives he's hired at a time of cutbacks.

"I am simply expressing the kind of outrage and dismay and anger that my colleagues throughout the university feel, at this point," UH ethnic studies professor Noel Kent said.

Kent got his master's and doctorate degrees from UH Manoa and he's taught ethnic studies there for 30 years. He said morale among faculty and staff has never been lower.

"There's this disparity between the sort of cutbacks that we experience in our everyday work, and the riches enjoyed by June Jones and Evan Dobelle and the people at the top. This cannot continue," Kent said.

Kent is upset that his school, the College of Social Sciences, may have to cut $900,000 from its budget, perhaps laying off part-time faculty. He's upset at news last week of a new hiring freeze and potential cuts in electricity, photocopying services and even postage.

"This is a great state university. It's not a five- and 10-cent store. I mean, we're cutting back on all these little items that are undermining our ability to deliver quality education," Kent said.

A UH spokesman said the university is discussing decentralizing mail, electricity and duplicating costs so individual schools and colleges will be responsible for paying their own bills.

Some professors are angry that those cuts are looming while Jones prepares to double his salary to $800,000.

"Do we want a university that concentrates on quality education or one that basically is known as a football school with a third-rate academic environment?" Kent said.

Kent also criticized what he calls the "astronomical" $400,000-plus salary of Dobelle as well as the $200,000-plus salaries of at least 10 top UH executives Dobelle has hired in the last two years. (List of UH employees making $100K+)

UH spokesman Jim Manke declined to respond to Kent's criticisms, saying they were addressed to the Board of Regents. Manke said there is no hiring freeze in effect on the Manoa campus. However, the university has been cutting its budgets by 2.5 percent under across-the-board cuts ordered by the governor earlier this year.