NIU President John La Tourette might be going to Hawaii on vacation, but he will not be going there permanently because he is not one of four finalists for the vacant presidency of the University of Hawaii at Honolulu.

La Tourette, who could not be reached for comment because he is in Salzburg, Austria, visiting an NIU international studies program, left word with his secretary that he was no longer in the running for the position.

In an interview Oct. 28, La Tourette said he had been one of 10 interviewees for the position. He added, however, that he would need more information to consider the position seriously.

At that time, La Tourette also said there had been some confusion about the process and he was being very tentative.

It was reported in the University of Hawaii student newspaper, “The Honolulu Advertiser,” that La Tourette and Thomas Wallace, president of Illinois State University at Normal, were among six finalists for the position.

Wallace had said he was surprised by the report because he had taken himself out of contention several weeks earlier.

On Halloween, U of H’s Board of Regents released an official list of four finalists which did not include La Tourette or Wallace.

With La Tourette out of the running, NIU will not lose its third major official in a year.

Kendall Baker, former NIU provost, accepted a position at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks last semester.

Tom Montiegel, former vice president of Development and University Relations, left last semester to take charge of the Western Golf Association as director of the Evans Scholars.

La Tourette also was a finalist in spring 1991 for the presidency of California’s Fresno State University.

The four finalists for the U of H presidency are Joyce Tsunoda, U of H’s highest-ranking woman administrator, Gregory O’Brien, chancellor of the University of New Orleans in Louisiana, Kenneth P. Mortimer, president of Western Washington University in Washington state and Roy E. McTarnaghan, executive vice chancellor of the state university system in Florida.