UH speakers urge
Senate panel to halt
Navy research tie

More than 35 University of Hawaii professors and students attended a state Senate hearing yesterday to blast a proposal to form a Navy-affiliated research center at UH that could conduct classified research.

They urged the Senate Education and Military Affairs and Higher Education committees to pass a resolution asking UH to hold public hearings on the research center. Senate Concurrent Resolution 172 unanimously passed the committees and is expected to head to the House for further discussion.

In all, about 60 people submitted written or oral testimony yesterday, mostly in support of the resolution. Many also said the Senate should amend the resolution to call for the university to abandon the establishment of the Navy-backed University Affiliated Research Center.

Opponents of the center say it would go against the ethics and spirit of a public university by encouraging military research, some of which could be related to weapon development.

"The UARC and the classified research it would bring to the university are not consistent with our values and our core commitments," said Karl Kim, a professor of urban and regional planning and former vice chancellor of academic affairs at UH. "There is widespread opposition to this initiative."

But UH-Manoa Chancellor Peter Englert, along with several science professors and deans, spoke in support of the proposed center, saying it would bolster the university's funding and reputation.

The resolution calls for UH interim President David McClain to convene a task force of professors, students and others to study the research center's costs, funding sources and ethical implications. It asks that the task force hold public hearings on classified research and report to the Legislature on its findings.

The UH Board of Regents gave preliminary approval to the center in November. University administrators have said it would bring an estimated $50 million in Department of Defense research contracts to the university over five years.

They note that classified military research is not new to UH. UH-Manoa researchers and professors have been conducting classified experiments for more than three decades at sites off campus.

Also, of the four Navy-affiliated research centers established in the United States, three are at public universities.

Klaus Keil, interim dean of the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, said the school garnered 395 grants in 2004, 25 to 30 of which were awarded by the Department of Defense. He said some of those included classified research, but could not say how many.

Sen. Clayton Hee (D, Kahuku-Kaneohe), chairman of the Higher Education Committee, said he would push the university to abandon the research center if someone convinces him the agreement "is not in the best interests of the state."