UH-Manoa,
depressed by budget
cuts, fights back
'Jest for Health'
UH fine boosted to
By Helen Altonn
$1.8 million for hazardous-
waste violations
Star-BulletinThe two University of Hawaii professors had just met this morning with other Faculty Senate members and administrators about budget cuts -- no "laughing matter."
Yet, said oceanography professor Chris Measures: "You've gotta laugh about it; otherwise you'd cry."
That sort of sums up why today was declared "Humor Day" on the Manoa Campus by UH President Kenneth Mortimer.
Richard Dubanoski, College of Social Sciences dean, conceived the idea to combat a depressed atmosphere resulting from budget cuts and university deterioration.
"Laughing Matters: Jest for Health" was the theme.
Among popular items distributed at the Campus Center were masks of Mortimer's face and questionnaires for students and professors to fill out: "If I were UH president for a day, I would . . ."
Undoubtedly it wouldn't be to impose almost across-the-board 4 percent cuts on every department's budget, which Measures and Bob Cooney of the Cancer Research Center had just heard from UH administrators.
"If you walk around here, look at the campus," Cooney said, noting that a colleague in the morning meeting said it looked like a Third World university.Mortimer planned to read a "Humor Day" proclamation at the Campus Center and join more than 300 participants in a half-mile "Jest Walk for Fun."
"He is keen to see some humor on campus," said Rebecca Goodman, co-coordinator of "Humor Day" with Ann Sakaguchi. She said he wore one of the masks of himself at a recent deans and directors meeting.
"Everyone's so serious; we all need to laugh, especially in mid-terms," said freshman Amber Wong, hanging out with friends at the Campus Center. "We're gonna have a good day."
"It's always funny for us," said Kevin Lau. "We're always happy. This is the happy spot," added Kailene Nihipali. Both are freshmen.
Lawrence Gamiao, graduating this semester in nursing, was helping blow up balloons.
"It will help morale," he said.
Peter Rappa, Sea Grant extension agent, was awarded a bouquet of red noses as the winner of a joke contest drawing more than 500 entries.
He submitted a list of strange, funny or misspelled classified newspaper ads. Example: "Amana washer $100, owned by clean bachelor who seldom washed."
Jokes and cartoons were posted on a mirth wall. Other activities included humorous presentations by Frank DeLima, Les Peetz and Billy Sage, funny films, stage performances, a "Wacky Dance Corner," a health wall, Humor Walk Lane, Belly Laugh Row and "Stretch to Unstress."
"There were a lot of skeptics," Goodman said.
"But humor and health go together," she said. "Humor boosts the immune system and we really need it around here."
Measures said he was going back to his office to grade an exam.
"That should be fairly funny," he said.
UH fine boosted to
By Mary Adamski
$1.8 million for hazardous-
waste violations
Star-BulletinThe University of Hawaii -- cited last year for violations of hazardous-waste laws at its Manoa campus -- faces an increased fine after state investigators found a cache of leaking pesticide containers on the Big Island and drums of contaminated soil on Kauai.
The state Health Department issued citations against the Waiakea Agricultural Experiment Station, where corroded and unmarked containers were stored in a shed, and the Kauai Agricultural Research Center, where drums of dioxin-contaminated soil and waste herbicides have been stored since a 1986 cleanup.
The original $1.3 million fine was upped to $1.8 million for the latest counts of storage of hazardous waste without a permit.
Gary Gill, deputy director of environmental health, said "In our investigations of university facilities, we are discovering that waste management problems are more pervasive than we originally believed," said Gary Gill, deputy director of environmental health.
"The university needs to understand that improper storage or disposal of hazardous chemical waste is a violation of the law and a threat to public health and the environment."
A waste removal contractor has already cleaned up the Big Island site, said Eugene Imai, UH senior vice president for administration.
Since the surprise inspection that led to citations in July, the university has been seeking the Health Department's help in a coordinated environmental audit of all sites throughout the university system, he said.
"The UH takes it very seriously," Imai said.
On Kauai, the university "did the correct thing initially" in a 1986 cleanup involving the federal Environmental Protection Agency, he said. Soil was removed and put into drums, and the drums were put in a 20-foot container.
"The UH failure was in not following up its initial request for assistance in disposing of the dioxin-contaminated soil," Imai said. "We are working now to find a way to dispose of the soil."
