The Marine Option Program and degrees and certificates in classics, music composition and dance are among 33 programs under review for possible elimination as part of a long-term strategy to streamline the budget at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

In an e-mail to faculty, Chancellor Virginia Hinshaw emphasized that final decisions have not been made on whether programs will be cut.

Hinshaw said she appointed a committee to review the recommendations during the summer, and meetings will be held in the fall to get reactions from the campus before any programs are terminated.

Besides phasing out programs, UH-Manoa also is looking at consolidating the School of Travel Industry Management with the Shidler College of Business, and reorganizing the Pacific Biosciences Research Center, possibly moving staff into other research units like natural sciences, the medical school and the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology.

Some staff and faculty say they will fight to save their programs.

The Marine Option Program had been targeted before during budget cuts, most recently in 2000.

“;It's real tiresome,”; said former program director Sherwood Maynard. “;It's such an unusual program that it's difficult for the regular administrators to embrace it as much as students do.”;

The program, part of the College of Natural Sciences, allows students from other majors to take marine-related courses and graduate with a certificate.

In a memo, university administrators noted the university now offers a bachelor's degree in marine biology and that “;rebalancing”; support of the Marine Option Program and marine biology “;will not affect the supply of adequately trained individuals for the many critical functions in the state.”;

“;Just because we don't give a degree doesn't mean we're not an effective educational program,”; Maynard said.

“;This is a program that was born at the University of Hawaii. It's unique. ... It motivates students and helps them figure out what to do with the rest of their lives.”;

The last time the Marine Option Program was threatened with budget cuts, alumni rallied to help save it. Maynard said alumni are again starting to organize to make the argument to keep the program.

Former interim Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs Peter Quigley said the university has been reviewing all programs for the last year, before the recent budget crisis.

“;The process was meant to have everything on the table,”; Quigley said. “;It was designed to make sure our resources and direction made sense and was being administered in the most effective and strategic way.”;

Hinshaw, in her e-mail, said she has been studying the recommendations to see how they meet the goals set for the university in its strategic plan.

“;It's a very healthy and reflective and, I think, responsible activity for a state institution to engage in,”; Quigley said.

Gary Ostrander, vice chancellor for research, said the university has not calculated how much money would be saved by the recommendations. He said the review is just looking at whether programs fit in the university's “;core mission,”; and financial considerations will come later.

UH-Manoa is also looking at combining the Water Resources Research Center and the Environmental Center into a program in sustainability science, technology and policy, and integrating the Industrial Relations Center into Hamilton Library.

Robert J. Ball, chairman of the Classics Division at UH-Manoa, said he was “;disappointed, to say the least,”; at the news that the university was considering eliminating the bachelor's degree in classics, the study of ancient Greek and Latin languages and literature.

“;The classics program is regarded as the basis of Western university instruction,”; Ball said. “;This program is essential to the formation of a truly multicultural curriculum.”;

Hinshaw said the administration is looking at reducing the number of low-enrollment certificate and degree programs.

But James Brown, a professor of Russian, said just because a subject is not popular now does not mean it is not needed.

“;There's something to be said about providing students with what they want, but it can become ludicrous to the point where you provide only that,”; Brown said. “;You end up having just one flavor of things.”;