The University of Hawaii Faculty Senate has passed a resolution opposing Manoa Chancellor Virginia Hinshaw's plan to close the Kewalo Marine Laboratory on the advice of Gary Ostrander, vice chancellor for research and graduation education.

The Faculty Senate also asks Ostrander to step down as interim director of the Pacific Biosciences Research Center and that someone acceptable to both the faculty and administration be appointed, according to the resolution, approved last week.

Ostrander “;has been serving as PBRC interim director, with direct administrative oversight for the Kewalo Marine Laboratory, for the past five years, even though he has several notable conflicts of interest and has acted as an antagonist rather than advocate for the unit,”; the resolution says.

It says the Faculty Senate executive committee had asked Ostrander “;to follow a process in pursuing the closure of KML, with which he has not complied.”;

Ostrander said he does not know of any irregularities, and the UH prioritization committee and other groups also recommended closing the Kewalo facility.

“;I have to do what I think is right and best for the university and our obligation to the citizens of the state,”; he said.

The resolution says some information presented in support of closing the Kewalo lab “;is factually incorrect, exaggerated or presented in a false light.”;

If due process for closing the laboratory had been followed, “;for the most part this resolution wouldn't have happened”; because disagreements about some of the facts could be resolved, said David Ross, Faculty Senate executive committee chairman. (Ross' wife is a PBRC associate researcher, but he says he does not vote on any resolutions as the executive committee chairman.)

Ostrander said he told the four Kewalo faculty members 2 1/2 years ago the lab would be closed in June 2013 because the university cannot afford two marine laboratories (the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology on Coconut Island is the other one), and the fiscal situation is more severe now.

He said he gave Kewalo researchers five years to shift to labs at Coconut Island, the Waikiki Aquarium or Manoa campus, and he believes they and other scientists would benefit from interaction.

“;If we had unlimited money, I would rebuild the Kewalo Lab,”; he said. But he said it is on leased land, “;in pretty bad shape”; and costs $500,000 a year just for utilities and nonfaculty staffing to keep it open.

Kewalo Laboratory Director Mark Martindale pointed out that the lab is recognized internationally and that the researchers publish in the most prestigious journals.

“;We're very good at what we do, and it's unfortunate that we have to justify our existence to our own administration,”; he said.

He said the facility was just inspected and is “;perfectly sound,”; and the roof is being patched out of the laboratory's budget.

The four faculty members won $5 million in grants last year, and “;essentially we break even,”; Martindale said. “;We pay all of our expenses off federal grants (excluding faculty salaries).”; The researchers would find other funds, but “;we've been stymied in that process as well, which has been extremely frustrating,”; he said.

Ostrander said overhead expenses from Kewalo research grants do not cover operating costs. He said he gave Martindale $150,000 to fix some things so the building “;is safe today if we take care of these (health and safety) issues. But it is clearly not going to be OK in 10 years. You can see it literally falling apart. It has been there over 40 years without significant upgrades.”;

Diane Chang, communications director in the chancellor's office, also cited “;severe budget constraints”; in maintaining two marine research labs and lack of resources to renovate the Kewalo facility, which has 20 years left on the lease.

Closing the laboratory “;demonstrates a lack of fiduciary responsibility on behalf of the university stakeholders (students, faculty, staff, local and federal governments, the Hawaii and Pacific Island communities and taxpayers),”; the resolution says.

“;The constraints on KML faculty submitting research grants to use the facility in which they were hired constitutes an unacceptable burden since ... the faculty are required to obtain extramural funding as a key criterion for their evaluations.”;