Construction, safety top UH wish list
Legislative committees hear funding requests for the state's surplus
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UH to review policies in compromise
Students and faculty at the University of Hawaii at Manoa want lawmakers to fix aging dorms, build new classrooms for Hawaiian language and studies, and fund positions for financial aid and to prevent violence against women.
Those were among the requests for more spending heard during a 3 1/2-hour hearing with the House and Senate Higher Education committees yesterday at the UH-Manoa Campus Center.
Mary Tiles, acting chairwoman of the Philosophy Department, said elevators do not work or are in constant need of repair, and air conditioning in some classrooms is often on the blink.
"It's very difficult to teach students when the air conditioning is too hot or too cold," she said.
Student athlete Chantelle Laan told the lawmakers that athletic facilities on the lower campus were "like high school facilities" rather than a college program.
Michael Peters, chairman of the Physics & Astronomy Department, said it is not only students who need housing.
"It's increasingly difficult to recruit new outstanding faculty because of the high cost of housing," he said. "They go away discouraged because there's no way they can ever hope to have a home of their own."
House Education Committee Chairman Tommy Waters said that at a bare minimum the Legislature should spend the money to make Manoa a safe campus.
"The conditions of some of the buildings is quite appalling," he said.
Senate Higher Education Committee Chairman Clayton Hee said lawmakers would need to hear what the governor is proposing and would also be looking at Board of Regents and administration priorities, which are to bring facilities up to standards required by the Americans with Disabilities Act and to spend money on health, safety and security.
The state has a projected $632.6 million budget surplus for the next fiscal year. Gov. Linda Lingle has said that means there should be more money to spend on education as well as for tax cuts for the poor.
But Lingle has not said how much money she will devote to higher education.
The Board of Regents, working with the UH administration, has proposed an additional $187 million in construction projects and $41.5 million in additional general fund spending.
The governor has yet to release her budget for the university. The Legislature will also work on the university's budget when it convenes in January.