UH students call
for dorm repairsLawmakers are asked to allow the
university to issue bonds for fixes
University of Hawaii student leaders told House lawmakers yesterday that dorms on the Manoa campus are in dire need of millions of dollars in repairs and maintenance.
"I see the problems in housing all the time," Andrew Ogata, a UH-Manoa student senator who lives in a dorm, told members of the House Education Committee.
The students presented a petition signed by 316 students urging lawmakers to allow the university to issue revenue bonds to pay for an estimated $34 million in deferred maintenance and repairs at the dorms.
Ogata said after the hearing that his room has drawers that are broken and that walkways between dorms are held up by improvised wooden supports.
"We want the dorms to be safe," said Kawika Baker, chairman of the UH Student Caucus, an organization of student leaders from all of the UH campuses.
Baker said fixing the dorms and building a new campus for UH-West Oahu are among the priorities for student leaders.
Jan Yokota, UH director of capital improvements, testified that fixing the dorms is a top priority for the administration. She said the university is working on a master plan for fixing dorms on all of the UH campuses and is also looking at the feasibility of having private developers build new dorms at Manoa.
"Deferred repair and maintenance is just one of the issues," she said.
Norman Kukona, a student senator at UH-Manoa, complained that students are not being consulted on the master plan.
After prompting from Education Chairman Rep. K. Mark Takai, Yokota promised that the UH administration would get student input as it looks at options for the dorms.
Kukona also complained about the university borrowing millions of dollars from the student housing fund to pay for other projects. Kukona said his research shows the money could have been used for current maintenance and that the interest from the money could reduce the need for a housing fee increase.
"I'm just tired of students being held accountable for administration mishaps," he said.
Kukona said he would like the administration to look at other ways to pay for deferred maintenance and repairs than raising fees for students.
"If they raise fees, I would rather see a substantial improvement in student housing," he said.
University of Hawaii