UH tuition increase gets final approval
| • | Poll finds strong support for UH strike |
By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Staff Writer
A controversial tuition increase plan received final, unanimous approval from the University of Hawai'i Board of Regents yesterday over the protest of students, raising the cost of a college education about 3 percent a year over five years.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
The tuition plan is similar to one that was defeated last year by the board, and students, especially those at community colleges, were still as passionately opposed to the measure as they were the first time it was discussed. They argue that it will cut off access to education for those people least able to afford it.
Keikilani Meyer, left, threatened to lobby for the removal of the university regents because of their support for tuition hikes. The regents voted unanimously for the raise.
While about 100 students attended an emotional and heated hearing on the Manoa campus Thursday night where regents recommended approval of the increase, about 20 showed up at the regents' meeting at Windward Community College yesterday.
Many students said it was the lack of discussion by regents, even after hours of testimony, that upset them the most.
"They weren't hearing us from the beginning," said Vicki Whitehead, vice president of the UH West O'ahu student government. "They had their minds made up."
The approved plan raises the cost of one year of undergraduate tuition at UH-Manoa from $3,024 for Hawai'i residents this year to $3,504 by 2006. Graduate students and out-of-state students would also pay more. The increase would raise $2 million to $3 million each year for computer technology, university officials have said.
The national average for tuition and fees for four-year public universities is $3,362.
UH last raised tuition in 1999, when Manoa students paid about 3.3 percent more than the year before.
The students who objected to the latest tuition increase saved much of their anger for Sat Khalsa, the student member of the Board of Regents.
"You have let us down," said Keikilani Meyer, a graduate student in urban and regional planning. Meyer told regents she will register with the Republican party and lobby in the next gubernatorial election to try to have them removed. Board members are appointed by the governor.
"That's not related to the subject," said board President Lily Yao, gaveling Meyer down. Yao and other university officials have defended the tuition increases, saying that the 3 percent is modest and necessary to show that the university is trying to help itself through a hard financial time.
"I think it's very reasonable," Yao said. "The tuition is really their investment in the future. To get an education at the university is a great value."
Students who were at the regents' meeting yesterday at Windward Community College were also upset because the measure passed before they were given an opportunity to testify. Students arrived at 7 a.m. expecting to testify at the 8:30 a.m. meeting, but there was no sign-up sheet.
By the time the regents' staff had put together sign-up sheets, regents had already voted. They told the students they had heard testimony at the committee hearing Thursday and did not want to hear the same testimony again.
"It's so frustrating," said Troy Baker, the student government president at Honolulu Community College. He said students have been calling him since last night, crying and telling him they won't be able to pay for college. "We couldn't testify before the board voted. I think it's because it became so radical last night. They brought a lot of university security today."
Jane Yamashiro, a graduate student in sociology, told regents she was shocked by their decision.
"The next time you see someone unemployed or down on their luck, can you live with yourself knowing that your vote denied that person access to education?" she said.
University President Kenneth Mortimer said he was disappointed by inaccuracies in the testimony of students about the cost of the tuition increase as well as personal attacks in foul language used by some.
"We respect the right of people to stand up and advise us and tell us how the university should be run," Mortimer said. "I regret the loss of civility and I don't think it has any place in a university. Some people have mastered the art of not just disagreeing but of being disagreeable."
Enrollment has dropped since tuition was increased in the early 1990s, but administrators have said there is no direct correlation. Administrators have said the university is underfinanced and they need to raise tuition in small increments each year so that students can plan for the increases.
Last spring, regents rejected a similar tuition increase because of pressure from student protesters. Then, campus frustrations spilled over into angry rhetoric and protests surrounding the proposed tuition increase.
Last year's tuition debate occurred shortly after the controversial Rice vs. Cayetano decision was handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court, angering many Native Hawaiian students on campus.
At the same time, the university was starting to deal with the academic and cultural clash over use of resources on Mauna Kea, where some of the world's most powerful telescopes are on land considered sacred by some Hawaiians.
Dozens of students took part in an overnight rally and spoke against the tuition increase at the regents' meeting. The board overwhelmingly voted it down.
