UH faculty
rejects plan
to cut budgets

By Susan Kreifels
Star-Bulletin

The Faculty Senate at the University of Hawaii-Manoa has taken a stand against the administration's plan to cut and reallocate department budgets. In an advisory vote yesterday, the group rejected the plan.

Instead, it wants the university to aggressively recruit new students to make up a 15 percent drop in enrollment.

But members failed to pass a resolution that would make freshman and sophomore tuition the same throughout state universities and community colleges. Now UH-Manoa students pay three times as much as those on other campuses, while community college courses still transfer to UH-Manoa.

Some faculty members were concerned that asking for equal tuition could suggest they wanted increases at community colleges. They requested a new resolution that specifically asked for lower tuition at UH-Manoa. Others preferred that courses not be transferable.

The drop in enrollment at UH-Manoa since 1995 has fallen in line with increases in tuition, according to charts developed by Chris Measures with the Oceanography Department.

Faculty members lambasted the administration for lacking vision and backbone in speaking up for the university, which has suffered dramatic budget cuts in recent years.

Members accused the administration of deliberately trying to turn the Manoa research university into a state college.

"We've seen the Balkanization of our university," said Senate Chairman Alexander Malahoff. "We are on a path of destruction. We need a passionate advocate."

At a Faculty Senate meeting earlier this month, UH Senior Vice President Dean Smith described the administration's "4-4-4 plan" -- asking department heads to chop up to 4 percent of their budgets for each of the next three years. The administration would then reallocate the money to pay for priority needs.

Faculty members passed a resolution opposing that plan. Some said budgets were already bare bone and more cuts would mean getting rid of staff.