OHA rejects The Office of Hawaiian Affairs has denied for now a multiyear, $1.5 million appropriation to the Center for Hawaiian Studies until OHA is on more solid fiscal footing.
funding Hawaiian
studies center
The board put off the grant
because its finances
are uncertainBy Pat Omandam
pomandam@starbulletin.comIt would have been the first time OHA gave money to the University of Hawaii-Manoa center. The funding would have allowed it to have a direct and immediate impact on the teaching of Hawaiian studies at the university.
Approval of the funding fell one vote short at a board meeting yesterday attended by six of nine trustees. The three absent were excused for medical reasons.
OHA Budget Chairman Charles Ota said the downturn in the economy since the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks and the recent Hawaii Supreme Court ruling that struck down past-due, current and future ceded-land revenue payments to OHA has wiped out most of OHA's income.
Until the agency gets a better feel for the performance of its native Hawaiian trust -- which has now fallen below $300 million after nearly reaching $400 million early this year -- it must be careful with spending its money, Ota said.
"While I am for this educational program, until the picture clears a little better, I'm reluctant to vote for it," Ota said.
Center director Lilikala Kameeleihiwa told the board the money, which amounts to $305,000 per year for five years, would allow it to hire three additional assistant professors, four graduate assistants, two lecturers, a grant writer, an administrative assistant and a video expert.
A top priority for the increased staff would be to prepare students for a proposed new master's program in Hawaiian studies the center hopes the UH Board of Regents will approve next summer. Currently, UH-Hilo has the only master's program in the Hawaiian language. The proposed UH-Manoa master's program would focus on Hawaiian studies geared toward English-speaking students, Kameeleihiwa said.
There currently are 130 Hawaiian studies majors at UH-Manoa, she said. Money also would help students pursue training in the inventory of ceded lands.
Kameeleihiwa said the partnership with OHA would augment $455,000 recently given to the center by UH President Evan Dobelle, who expects big results from that funding.
OHA Chairman Clayton Hee said the $1.5 million appropriation is a noble and honorable proposal, but it has some "holes in it" that need to be corrected. For one, Hee said, the proposal is based on an assumption the regents will approve a new master's program in Hawaiian studies.
Hee said he was uncomfortable about approving money based on a presumption, and abstained from voting on the proposal yesterday. Nevertheless, he suggested the plan be incorporated as part of a comprehensive package in OHA's fiscal year 2003 budget.
Doing so would allow the center to address concerns raised by trustees, as well as give trustees time to assess OHA's fiscal situation, he said.
Office of Hawaiian Affairs
