[ OUR OPINION ]
Ambitious plans position
UH to excelAS the administration of the University of Hawaii system undergoes sweeping reorganization and as its leaders put together a budget in hopes of raising the institution's status in the academic world, students and the quality of their education appear to remain the focal point of all the proposed changes.
THE ISSUE The university presents a re-organized administrative structure and its funding needs for a top-tier institution.
During adroit, power-point presentations to the Board of Regents last week, a series of administrators representing various campuses in the university's structure presented their strategies and desires for funding through the next biennium. The plans were ambitious and wide-ranging, emphasizing the need to expand educational choices to more students and to provide a means by which well-trained work forces can be deployed faster in an economic atmosphere that can quickly evolve.
The approach embraces the conviction shared by UH President Evan Dobelle and Gov.-elect Linda Lingle that the university should be a partner in further development of the state's economy. It correctly connects ivory-tower thought with real-world application, acknowledging that each remains exclusive to the detriment of both.
The administrative reorganization elevates community colleges, previously viewed as the step-sister of the university system, to the same standing as the four-year institutions. The challenge will be to keep the community colleges accessible to those seeking non-academic education in trades and services. While a certain amount of scholastic experience is beneficial, the community colleges should not move toward exclusivity.
In budget matters, officials outlined the funding needed to fulfill Dobelle's promise to bring the university system into the top tiers of institutions nationwide by 2010. They are prudently pursuing money outside the state's thin general fund revenues, expecting that more than half will be garnered through research earnings, grants and other sources. The new governor and the state Legislature, however, should recognize that financial support of the university is key to bolstering the state's economy and an investment they cannot ignore.
Dobelle and his team have been on the job for more than a year and appear to have used this time well in fashioning a plan to meet the heightened expectations of students, faculty and the public. They now will need the support of the community and the state's leadership if the university is to excel.
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Hawaii made safer by
maritime securityINCREASED screening of passengers and their bags has allowed travelers to feel more secure at the nation's airports, even though inconvenienced by an occasional lapse like the one that evacuated part of the Miami airport last week. Less visible, yet just as important, are the nation's seaports. Congress finally has enacted a maritime security bill to fill that need.
THE ISSUE Congress has approved legislation that tightens security at the nation's seaports.
Employees of the new federal Transportation Security Administration took over security duties at Honolulu Airport last month, and the agency will meet the Tuesday deadline for replacing civilian employees at all airports. Most are expected also to meet a Dec. 31 deadline for screening all bags with explosive-detection machines. Exceptions should be allowed to avoid disruptions in the travel industry.
Security against terrorism has received less attention at seaports, partly because seaport activities are less visible to the public than airports. In an update to its pre-Sept. 11, 2001, warning about terrorism, a task force headed by former senators Warren Rudman, R-N.H., and Gary Hart, D-Colo., reports that surface-transported cargo remains a risk.
"While 50,000 federal screeners are being hired at the nation's airports to check passengers," the report says, "only the tiniest percentage of containers, ships, trucks and trains that enter the United States each day are subject to examination -- and a weapon of mass destruction could well be hidden among this cargo."
Although 98 percent of Hawaii's goods arrive by ship, it may be safer than many U.S. ports, because most foreign shipments to Hawaii have entered the United States on the mainland and have undergone Customs and Coast Guard inspections there. Currently, only 2 percent of the 5 billion freight containers entering the United States each year are inspected. Hawaii will benefit from increased security at both West Coast ports and at Honolulu Harbor.
Congress approved a bill last week that will require the nation's 361 seaports to develop security plans. It also will create a sea marshal program, marine antiterrorism teams and new standards to make container seals tamperproof. An important provision will require crew and cargo manifests for incoming ships.
The bill also calls for increasing the Coast Guard's authorization by $200 million, from $5.8 billion last year. It includes expenditures of $33 million for security training and $90 million over six years for car scanning technology research.
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Published by Oahu Publications Inc., a subsidiary of Black Press.Don Kendall, Publisher
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