Beyond the Books at UH
Some worry
about quality of
UH education
'If the university is not setting
the highest standard, we can't work
at our highest ability,' says
a new studentBy Susan Kreifels
Time for graduation gets longer
Star-BulletinHigh school graduates are visiting the University of Hawaii's Manoa campus with the usual excitement about the new life ahead of them, new faces and freedom from mom and dad.
They also come with the usual worries: about passing math and science requirements, tight campus parking, enough money to get them through the year.
But at a recent freshmen seminar at Manoa, concerns ran deeper for some new students and their parents. Will state budgets be cut further, crippling the quality of education? Will faculty morale hurt learning? Will students be caught up in communication problems between professors and administration? Will university accreditation be threatened in three years?
Manoa has received a good share of bad news, and while some incoming students were not that worried about the quality of education, it was high in the minds of others -- like Elexa Sin, a Sacred Hearts Academy graduate who planned to go to the University of Washington but chose the less expensive UH-Manoa when she didn't get a scholarship on the mainland.
She worries that "flaws" at Manoa could hurt her ability to transfer credits, as well as hurt her future generally.
"If the university is not setting the highest standard, we can't work at our highest ability," Sin said. "If it's not at its best, we are not at our best."
A critical report last month said UH-Manoa accreditation would "soon be endangered" if problems of poor communication and leadership were not improved within three years. The accreditation report said the problems held up urgent changes demanded by major budget cuts through most of the 1990s.
Dwindling budgets have caused hiring freezes, maintenance backlogs, cuts in library resources, and the loss of accreditation at the School of Public Health. Dean positions remain open, and a UH systemwide survey showed the Manoa faculty scored lowest in morale.
Financial future uncertain
On the other hand, the accreditation report also praised the campus for dedicated faculty and staff, a relatively small 11-to-1 student-faculty ratio and a well-done undergraduate education.Private fund raising also has more than doubled, and research grants are at an all-time high. Only 59 of 3,900 U.S. colleges and universities are Carnegie I research institutes such as UH-Manoa, Alan Yang, dean of student affairs, told the freshmen. He emphasized that they will attend a university with national prestige.
"We consider you full partners," Wang said. "It's not a one-way dialogue."
Still, the financial future of the campus remains uncertain as the state's weak economy persists. Adele Koyama, a Big Island parent whose son will enroll this fall, fears that more budget cuts will close classes, preventing him from graduating in four years. Koyama, who works at UH-Hilo, also was bothered that it took five phone calls to get one question answered.
"I heard many parents say, 'Don't send your children to UH-Manoa,'" Koyama said. "I worry what will happen to him if he's misadvised or there is poor communication or they don't give a lot of respect to students. Can my son handle it?
"Then I hear about the WASC report," Koyama said, referring to the critical accreditation report from the Western Association of Schools & Colleges.
The campus is holding eight freshman seminars this summer. About 1,400 participants have signed up, including 230 parents.
UH spokeswoman Cheryl Ernst said enrollment figures will not be released until after the semester starts. Ernst said Manoa officials do not expect the accreditation report to have a major impact on this fall's enrollment. "Usually, students' decisions for this fall were already made when the publicity on the accreditation hit," Ernst said.
Orientation program expands
Advisers and staff have prepared for difficult questions parents and students may have this year that haven't come up in the past. So far, they say, most still focus on usual concerns such as class size, access to faculty, requirements, and housing and other costs.Organizers expanded the orientation program this year to cover academic programs, as well as activities and adjustments to college life. It focuses on the opportunities at UH-Manoa such as small class sizes -- most are capped at 25 -- and new programs, like the freshmen learning communities.
The orientation sessions are designed to make the first year a more satisfying one, thereby keeping freshmen at Manoa. Enrollment there is down about 15 percent since 1994, dropping from 20,000 to 17,000. Overall UH enrollment has fallen 8 percent.
"We understand the fears and concerns," said Carolyn Brooks-Harris, an adviser and co-coordinator of the First Year at Manoa program. "The University of Hawaii has an extraordinary amount of resources."
Parent Dwight Bartolome believes the Manoa campus is still a good choice. Bartolome convinced his son to enroll there even though he was accepted at three mainland schools.
Bartolome feels it's more important to stick close to home for a couple of years to adjust to university life.
"I'm still confident about the quality of the school," Bartolome said.
Other parents, like Margaret Tokunaga, said their worries subsided after attending the program.
"From what I learned today, things are in pretty good shape," said Tokunaga, who works with adult education at the Department of Education. "I'm pleased with what they have to offer. I think people are committed."
Budget cuts 'hurt everything'
Still, parents are worried about further budget cuts. Joseph Tachibana's daughter chose UH-Manoa over mainland schools because she likes the way the many ethnic groups get along there. But she may transfer after two years."I'm OK with it provided they don't cut any more budget," Tachibana said. "That's my biggest concern. The state should consider the importance of the education system, especially at UH. More money should be allocated."
Tokunaga agreed: "If we want to keep our students, we must invest. This is our future."
Michael Tamamoto, a graduate of Mililani High School who will study engineering, was accepted at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, which offers what he called an excellent engineering program. But he chose UH-Manoa, where he won a scholarship.
Tamamoto believes Manoa "is not the best institute, but it's a good one. While the other school might have more weight, I'm not concerned. When I get a job, (that's when) I have to prove myself."
Budget cuts have "hurt everything a little bit. They worry me, but not on a large scale," Tamamoto said. He believes the state won't let UH-Manoa lose accreditation "because everybody knows the university would die."
A number of parents and students at a recent freshman seminar at UH-Manoa said they worried that it would take students five to six years to graduate rather than a hoped-for four years. Time it takes to graduate
gets longer overallOf the students who entered UH-Manoa in fall 1992, 55 percent had graduated by summer 1998, according to UH statistics. The average length of time to graduate in that six-year period was 4.6 years. The federal government mandates that universities look at graduation rates over a six-year period.
At the University of Wisconsin, where Carolyn Brooks-Harris, now an adviser and co-coordinator of the First Year at Manoa program, was an adviser for six years, the average time to graduate was about five years, she said.
Some students and parents blamed longer graduation time on courses being closed or to poor advising.
But Brooks-Harris said class shortages are not usually the reason why it takes students longer to graduate.
Classes are normally available but may not fall at a time the students like, she said. Or family obligations and work interfere with schedules, requirements have been raised, or students change majors. Those factors have lengthened graduation time nationwide, she said.
"By their junior or senior year, they find out they didn't meet requirements."
Susan Kreifels, Star-Bulletin
Learning communities may
By Susan Kreifels
stimulate students
Star-BulletinPhysics professor Peter Crooker wants to sell the universe to freshmen entering the University of Hawaii at Manoa this fall.
Crooker helped organize "Describing the Universe," one of 15 curricular learning communities being offered to help freshmen get a jump-start on majors. He attended a recent freshman seminar to promote the idea.
The way it works: Learning communities will be limited to 20 students who are interested in particular areas, such as physical science and math. They will take most of their courses together over the two semesters of their freshman year.
The courses will integrate themes connected to the majors. For instance, in the "Universe" community, writing and critical-thinking courses could include topics such as the ethics of cloning.
Some groups will meet regularly with faculty organizers.
Crooker said the community concept is not designed for "hand-holding," but to stimulate students and place them with those who have like interests, instead of their high school chums.
The freshman year "can be very impersonal," he said. "The university is getting a bad name, and we're trying to change that."
The campus offers a total of 38 freshman learning communities in five categories that can accommodate 700 students, nearly half of the predicted freshmen entering this fall.
The overall goal is to make the first year more personal, put students in smaller classes with familiar faces, keep them on track in meeting requirements, and convince them to stay at UH-Manoa.
According to the UH Institutional Research Office, 82.3 percent of freshmen entering UH-Manoa in fall 1997 came back for their sophomore year.
Carolyn Brooks-Harris, an adviser and co-coordinator of the First Year at Manoa program, said the decision to stay is usually made within the first two months. The major problem she sees among students is time management.
The learning communities help "make the campus seem smaller. They don't feel so isolated; they see familiar faces. There's more personal contact with faculty and study groups," she said.
Ka Leo O Hawaii
