The University of Hawaii wants no more, but no less, this year in state funding for the school's operations, its president, Evan Dobelle, told state lawmakers yesterday. Dobelle asks legislators to
maintain funding for UH projectsBy Bruce Dunford
Associated PressHowever, he urged approval of $357 million in construction money for the school, including $142 million to build a four-year campus in West Oahu and $55 million for a Student Life and Events Complex at the Hilo campus.
Dobelle, who took over as president six months ago, went before the Legislature's money committees to outline the university's budget, issues and problems.
The university will stay at the same funding level "because I need to have more confidence and be able to stand in front of the Legislature and be accountable for the money that we are given in a strategic sense for the university, and I can't do that today," Dobelle said after the briefing before the House Finance and Senate Ways and Means committees. "And I'm not going to ask for more money until I can do it."
Dobelle said he wants to develop an academic, financial and managerial plan for the university system for which he can be accountable before he asks Hawaii taxpayers to put more money into the school.
"We need to show through administrative audits that we are not running a large bureaucracy that's unnecessary, and that we're putting money into the classrooms, and that we're paying our faculty appropriately, and then make a determination at that time if we need more resources," Dobelle said.
Despite the governor's spending restrictions of $2.9 million this year and $5.7 million next year due to the decline in anticipated state tax revenues following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Dobelle said he has no intention of seeking an increase in the five-year tuition schedule approved last year by the Board of Regents.
Dobelle said part of the strategic plan is to add a minimum of 10,000 students in the university system, which he says can be the catalyst for diversifying Hawaii's economy.
Dobelle said he endorses House Speaker Calvin Say's proposal to expand the Manoa campus makai of the H-1 freeway to create a college town in Moiliili and transform it into a residential college instead of a commuter college.
Deane Neubauer, interim chancellor of the Manoa campus, told lawmakers that a growing backlog of repair and maintenance projects is among the biggest problems.
"The result has been an infrastructure that is rapidly becoming inadequate to support the level of research activity at the UH," he said.
The university wants to borrow $53 million to attack the problem.
Dobelle said he supports the proposal that the state transfer ownership of Aloha Stadium to the university so rentals and concessions can support the university's athletic programs. He agreed it would be a way to entice head football coach June Jones to stay at Hawaii.
"I want him here for 20 years, and will he stay here for two years? I suspect he will," Dobelle said. "But would he stay here for two years without a way to control that football stadium, without the revenues that would come from concessions and parking that would help the athletic department? ... The answer is, that's a big question mark."
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