MĀNOA FACULTY SENATE
University of Hawaii at Manoa Faculty Senate, September 20, 1995
Architecture #205
Presiding: Co-Chair Kiyoshi Ikeda, Manoa Faculty Senate Executive Committee
Senators Present: Belinda Aquino, James Brandon, Barry Brennan, John Casken, Gaye Chan, David
Chappell,Joanne Cooper, Joel Cohn, Linda Cox, James Dator, Steven Dawson, Austin Dias, Dolores Foley,
Gregg Geary, Richard Guillory, Kathryn Hoffmann, Ruth Horie, Kiyoshi Ikeda, Wayne Iwaoka, Alison Kay,
Adelheid Kuehnle, Barry Labonte, Bruce Liebert, Burt Lum, Fred McKenzie, Chrisopher Measures, Karen
Meech, Robert Meyer, Jane Moulin, Cynthia Ning, C. S. Papacostas, Karen Peacock Thomas Pearson, Teresita
Ramos, Jurgen Sang, Leon Serafim, Janice Shoultz, James Silva, Thomas Speitel, Patricia Steinhoff, Victor
Stenger, John Stimson, Glenn Teves, Jane Tribble, Alice Tse, Rosemarie Woodruff, Ming-Bao Yue
Senators Absent: Sandra Chang, Marilyn Dunlap, Joel Fischer, Patricia Fryer, Patrick Gilbert, Sue Hanson,
Patrick Henry, William Lampe, Nancy Lind, Margaret Maaka, John Melish, Marian Melish, Ralph Moberly,
Deane Neubauer, Peter Nicholson, Stephen O'Harrow, Victor Olgyay, Nicholas Ordway, Neva Owens, Robert
Paull, Thomas Ramsey, Raul Rudoy, Joseph Stanton, Lorrie Wong
Senators Excused: Donna Rae Ching, Patricia Edelen-Smith, Robert McLaren, Marita Nelson, Aiko Oda, Judy
Weightman, Roy Wilkens
Visitors: Senior Vice President Carol Eastman, Assistant Vice President Thomas Bopp, Joshua Cooper, Alan
Shimada, Van Hiyakumoto, Shawa Chun, Masaaki Marler, Patrick Nakamura, Tad Saiki, Jean Okazaki, Helen
Josephine, Miles Cheung, Karen White, Ken Lincoln, Anne Bush, Bobby Higa, Glenn Man, Candace Fujikane,
Ruth Hsu, John Pincince, Brian Guevara, Alma Trinidad, Greg Harada, Richart Nettell, Pat Omandam, Stephen
Page, Sheila Foreman, Mark Enomoto, Irene Ellorin, Alton Cheong, Anne Smoke, Iris Lo, Onofre Abad,
Barbara Ige, and others whose names were not readable.
The meeting was called to order by Co-Chair Ikeda at 3:06 PM.
The minutes of August 18 were approved as submitted (with the exception that Adelheid Kuehnle should be
marked as present and not absent).
Co-Chair Ikeda opened the meeting with several announcements:
President Kenneth Mortimer has agreed in principle to meet with the academic community during the Faculty
Senate and Congress meetings scheduled for October 18 .
Prior to that meeting, three Workshops/Teach-ins will be scheduled in October with Senior Vice President for
Financial Affairs Eugene Imai, Director Rodney Sakaguchi and others of their staff to explain to faculty,
students and staff the Manoa and UH System Budgets. The purpose of these Workshops/Teach-Ins is to help
the Faculty fully to understand the past, present and future budget situation. The Workshops/Teach-Ins will
review the budget, and budget cuts, over the past five or six years and show the distribution of the budget in the
various categories of
UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI’I AT MĀNOA FACULTY SENATE
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MĀNOA FACULTY SENATE
Instruction, Research, Service, etc., and the proportionate cuts in each, and between Manoa and the rest of the
System.
These meetings will be held on different days and times in October and in different places on campus so as to
ensure that all interested faculty members can receive and think about this information before the meeting with
President Mortimer on October 18.
Co-Chair Ikeda also said that he will ask Pres. Mortimer to present at the October 18 meeting his vision of UH
Manoa as a research university which must operate within the budget restraints of the next three to five years.
Co-Chair Ikeda then announced an auction of goods and services to be held on behalf of the Aloha United Way.
All faculty members are urged to indicate what goods or services they are willing to contribute to that auction
by sending a message to Room 413 of the Student Services Building.
Prof. Ikeda called the attention of the Senate to a matrix which he had prepared on "Programs at Risk"
(attached) as a consequence of current and proposed budget cuts. He asked each Senator to review that matrix
and try to gauge the impact which the cuts might have on the units listed.
Three students were then invited to make statements to the Senate.
The first was Brian Guevara who represents a coalition of student groups concerned about the budgetary
situation. He urged the Faculty to join with the unified students in planning and carrying out appropriate action
aimed at restoring necessary funds and preventing further cuts.
Mr. Guevara introduced Greg Harada, ASUH President, who discussed planning for a Funeral March to the
Governor's Office scheduled for October 31 which will denounce the Death of Education at the University of
Hawaii. He hoped that Faculty would join with students in that March.
Joshua Cooper, Co-President of the GSO, then reminded the Senate of the March on the Capital last year
involving students, staff, and faculty from all UH campuses, and of the recent Read-In at Hamilton Library. He
said that Halloween seemed an excellent time to stage a Funeral March. But he said we need to keep the
momentum gained from the Read-In going, and not wait until October 31. He mentioned the possibilities of
some kind of activity at UH football games.
Co-Chair Ikeda responded that he knows of businesspersons, who are members of the UH President's Club, who
would also like to join with faculty and students in protesting budget cuts and promised to give a contact name
to the student groups.
He also reminded the Senate of the article, written by Co-Chair Kay and himself, which appeared in the
newspaper recently, and of an article in Pacific Business News which will be out shortly.
Returning to the "Program at Risks" matrix, Prof. Ikeda reminded the Faculty that the Senate has the
responsibility of guaranteeing academic quality in all programs offered by the University. This is carried out
primarily in three ways:
UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI’I AT MĀNOA FACULTY SENATE
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MĀNOA FACULTY SENATE
1. The review of proposals for new programs, including gaining assurances from the Administration that
any programs adopted must be adequately funded for the life of the program.
2. The review of all existing programs on a seven year cycle.
3. Whenever significant enhancement, or downsizing, consolidation, or closing is threatened or
impending, to indicate what the impact of these actions will be on the overall academic quality of the
University.
While the decision to enhance, or downsize, a program is the responsibility of the Administration, it is the
responsibility of the Faculty to assure continued and improved academic quality.
Prof. Ikeda stressed that when the Focus on Manoa Plan or any new or revised strategic plans are considered by
the Administration, it is essential that the faculty be involved before they are presented to the Board of Regents.
Prof. Ikeda asked if this was going to happen in the case of some strategic plans which he understood were
going to be presented to the BOR shortly without faculty review.
SVP Eastman replied that the BOR had directed the President to present a draft plan concerning Priorities to the
November meeting of the Board. It is only a draft, and not a proposal, and the President hopes and intends to
have proper faculty review even before it is presented as a draft, but certainly before it becomes formal policy.
C. S. Papacostas asked who made the Program at Risk document (Prof. Ikeda said he did) and whether the list
of Legislatively-Mandated programs, requested by the Senate last meeting, had been provided by the
Administration (Co-Chair Kay said such a list had been provided, but it might not entirely be the one we really
wanted to receive).
Prof. Ikeda then read from the BOR Charter the section concerning the responsibility of the Board and the
Faculty for quality education.
Karen Peacock from the Library rose to thank those people who supported the Library in the Read-in of last
Friday. She supported the plans for the October 31 March. And she was glad that the Senate was following the
proper procedures of moving from CAP to the SEC to the President and then to the BOR. But she said we must
move more quickly than that. "We need action now." She made it clear that the Library had been "ordered" to
reinstate its previous hours, but without being given any new money to do so. So the Library had to divert
internal funds and personnel from other needed services in order just to keep the Library open as "ordered." In
the meantime, no new books have been bought this year, 700 periodicals have been canceled. "The library is a
shadow of what it was a year ago". The budget has been cut 25%, 20 staff members who retired have not been
replaced, and eight temporary and emergency hires have been released.
"I am secure," she said. "I have tenure. But if I don't speak up, I am being irresponsible. We must act now."
This was greeted by sustained applause.
Co-Chair Ikeda said that he understands from what the President has said that the book and periodical
purchasing freeze is due to a serious cash-flow problem facing the University, and that once that has been
solved, money will be released to the Library for purchases.
UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI’I AT MĀNOA FACULTY SENATE
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MĀNOA FACULTY SENATE
Jane Moulin from Arts and Humanities wanted to know how the Senate proposed to respond to Prof. Peacock's
impassioned plea.
Victor Stenger suggested that we should not try to ask the President (or Governor) for new money, but rather for
him to move money from lower priority units in the University to the Library as the top priority of the Faculty
Senate.
After some discussion, SVP Eastman explained that a lot has happened recently, none of which is good. Until
last week, the President expected that $2 million would be released to it, but because the Judiciary did not meet
the cuts requested by the Governor, there was no $2 million for the Governor to release to the University.
As a consequence, some units in the University are currently operating in the red, so it will be necessary to
begin laying off people. The idea of taking money from low priority units and giving it to the Library is great,
but she is unaware of any unit that has the surplus to give to the Library. "We did not want to cut the Library,
but we had no other choice."
When the BOR passes a budget for the System on Friday, we will then be able to allocate what money we have
precisely, and find out who is suffering the most and how better to reallocate the money.
Leon Serafim, Asian Languages and Literature, asked why the Judiciary could refuse the Governor, but the
University could not. Several people responded that it had to do with the Separation of Powers and the fact that
the University was not as autonomous as the Judiciary is.
Brian Guevara wanted to know when the Administration would take its share of the cuts.
SVP Eastman said it had already cut itself 15%. "I couldn't stand before you if that were not the case."
"Maybe you think we should take bigger cuts, but you may miss us then. As the song goes, 'you don't know
what you've got till its gone.'"
There was an exchange then between David Chappell of Religion and SVP Eastman concerning West Oahu,
which has been much less damaged by budget cuts so far. However, AVPAA Tom Bopp reminded everyone
that the entire budget for West Oahu is less than the book acquisition budget for Hamilton, so trying to get more
from West Oahu would be meaningless at best. "There is not money anywhere in the UH System," Bopp said.
Christopher Measures of SOEST and SVP Eastman then had an exchange about where the money from Parking
and from Housing went. Both are self-financing units. Measures felt that there must be plenty of money in the
Housing account, but other voices expressed doubts.
What about the UH Bookstore? a voice asked. Does their money go into General Funds?
No, said SVP Eastman. It was in a Revolving Fund which has already been swept by the State when it cleaned
out all revolving funds everywhere.
UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI’I AT MĀNOA FACULTY SENATE
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MĀNOA FACULTY SENATE
Patricia Steinhoff, Sociology, urged that all present create an environment of concern tomorrow and Friday at
the Campus Center when the BOR is meeting.
The discussion then moved to a statement made by the UHPA President which appeared in the UHPA
publication, "Board Notes". The UHPA President there states that she told the Board of Regents that certain
undergraduate courses should be removed from Manoa and placed in the Community Colleges.
Co-Chair Ikeda said that he had already spoken to Jim Kardash of UHPA about this and had been told the
UHPA President's statement had been meant to be "positive." Prof. Ikeda pointed out that it certainly was not
perceived as such by many Manoa faculty members.
Victor Stenger said that a letter protesting the UHPA President's statement had already been circulating on
various email and listserv sites.
Co-Chair Kay said that there is a White Paper which delineates the duties and responsibilities of the Union and
the Faculty Senate. "We try to stay away from UHPA business, and they need to do the same. This time they
crossed the line."
Several voices demanded that we protest the UHPA President's statement. Others reminded us that our concern
should be with the UH President and BOR, not the Union.
With that, two motions were placed on the floor and passed.
One stated that the Faculty Senate unanimously requests that the UH President immediately restore to the
Library the funds necessary for it to function and operate effectively.
(Karen Peacock later thanked the Senate for this, and other, expressions of support of the Library.)
The second motion, also passed unanimously, directs the SEC to convey to the UHPA President the strong
sentiment that the UHPA President overstepped the line between Union and Faculty Senate duties and
responsibilities by suggesting that some undergraduate courses be removed from Manoa and placed in the
Community Colleges. This statement is to be sent to the President of UHPA, the President of the University,
and the Board of Regents.
The discussion then returned to the question of how the academic community should keep pressure on the
Administration and BOR for the next few days.
Patricia Steinhoff again issued her call for a physical presence at the Campus Center where the BOR is going to
meet.
Someone asked SVP Eastman if we should expect retrenchment of untenured faculty or not. If so, what is the
Faculty Senate going to do about it?
SVP Eastman replied, "No." At the BOR retreat last Friday and in yesterday's meeting of the Academic
Council, it was agreed that no one on a tenure track will be released for the Spring 1996 Semester. Beyond that,
UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI’I AT MĀNOA FACULTY SENATE
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MĀNOA FACULTY SENATE
we don't know. Retrenchment may be necessary if we are not able to raise enough money from tuition
increases.
The Faculty Senate will be involved in any such retrenchment action.
The Union Contract spells out retrenchment procedures, and these will be followed.
Discussion then went back to the BOR and David Chappell presented a motion which stated that the Senate
urges the BOR as a body and in person to ask the Governor to release more funds to the University of Hawaii,
and to do so immediately, making the restoration of Library funds a top priority.
This also was unanimously passed.
Co-Chair Kay pointed out that it was her observation that this is the first BOR she has experienced that does
seem genuinely concerned about the University and prepared to work to save and strengthen it. Co-Chair Ikeda
strongly supported that position.
There was no other new business and the meeting adjourned at 4:36 PM
Respectfully submitted
Jim Dator
UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI’I AT MĀNOA FACULTY SENATE
An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Institution