New UH chancellor enjoying a taste of dorm life
By Michael Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
This is the true story of one university chancellor who chooses to live in a dorm to find out what happens when people stop being administrative and start getting real.
Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser
Something like that.
Reporters followed UH Chancellor Peter Englert as he checked into room 8-B at Gateway House, a dormitory on the University of Hawai'i-Manoa campus.
Newly appointed University of Hawai'i-Manoa Chancellor Peter Englert might not be a viable candidate for MTV's "The Real World," but the 52-year-old nuclear chemist is nonetheless embarking on an interesting journey into student life as a full-fledged — though temporary — UH dorm resident.
Englert moved into room 8-B of UH's Gateway House yesterday, where he'll stay for at least three weeks. He's alone in the facility for the moment, at least until the UH football team moves in for late-summer practice tomorrow. Youth groups attending a conference are also scheduled to move in soon.
Fall semester students will arrive Aug. 24. If space permits, Englert said he might consider staying at the dorm until Labor Day. Gateway House, on Dole Street, usually houses graduate students.
Englert said his idea to spend time in the dorm came from wanting to "see how the Manoa campus welcomes student residents and how it supports them in cultural and nonacademic ways."
The first Manoa campus chancellor in 16 years, Englert said he's more concerned about gleaning insight than hard facts during his stay in the one-room unit.
"Once I've actually been in there, I think I'll be able to make decisions about the residences with much more authority," he said. "I just wanted to demonstrate my commitment to supporting our students and to helping maintain an environment that is conducive to their academic goals."
There have been complaints over the years about drinking, drugs, noise and fights at dormitories on the campus.
Englert, whose wife and children will remain in San Jose, Calif., until the end of the year, arrived at the dorm with three pieces of well-traveled luggage. Following standard procedure, he signed up for his access key and took a walk-through inventory of his room with resident advisor Christopher O'Brien.
It was his first experience in a dormitory — an impractical two-hour ride from campus when he attended college in his native Germany — and was clearly enjoying the novelty. Flanked by UH housing director Darryl Zehner, UH vice president for student affairs Doris Ching and a handful of reporters, Englert struggled to get his access key to activate the elevator.
"Happens to everybody," said O'Brien, a senior English major and five-year resident of the hall.
Englert's room is one of 12 units equipped to meet Americans with Disabilities Act standards. Small but clean, it is furnished with a pair of wardrobes, a small desk and chair and single bed. The private bathroom is equipped with a shower chair and railings, though the athletic Englert likely won't need them.
There is no cable and no Internet connection.
Common areas of the dorm are newly cleaned, but clearly worn from decades of hard use. The walls are covered with the sticky residue of scotch-tape postings, bulletin boards are graffiti-scrawled, and parts of the surrounding grounds are littered with cigarette butts, soda bottles and other detritus of student living.
Still, Englert was upbeat.
"The views from here are better than any of the hotels I've been staying at in Waikiki," he said.
Englert lingered at the railing outside his room to enjoy a panoramic view of the lower campus facilities, including the football practice field, soccer field, softball stadium, the right field of the baseball stadium and the tennis courts. The view from inside the room includes the upper campus and the misty backdrop of Manoa Valley.
"Being here will help me see how the physical facilities work with each other and how integrated we are with our neighbors," Englert said. "In addition to supporting our students with their academic and nonacademic goals, I want to see what we can do to be good neighbors to our surrounding neighborhoods."
