O'ahu briefs

Advertiser Staff and News Services

CENTRAL

Sailors, Marines return from Gulf

More than 4,000 sailors and Marines attached to the USS Peleliu Amphibious Ready Group will arrive in Pearl Harbor today as they return from a deployment to the Arabian Gulf.

The group consists of the USS Peleliu with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (special operations capable), USS Comstock and the USS Dubuque. The three San Diego-based ships and Camp Pendleton's 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit have been on deployment since Aug. 31, 2001.

Members of the group helped establish the U.S. Central Command, known as Forward Operating Base Rhino, and raised the first American flag in Afghanistan. The ships will be here for the weekend.

HONOLULU

Law school dean resigns position

Lawrence C. Foster, dean of the University of Hawai'i William S. Richardson School of Law, will step down from his position but continue at the law school as a faculty member, specializing in law reform issues in Asia and the Pacific.

Foster, who has led the law school for 15 years, said he had planned to step down in November but waited until the action would not be associated with the more than 200 termination notices President Evan Dobelle sent to all nonbargaining personnel in December.

"I had no sense it was ever aimed at me personally," he said.

Foster has presided over tremendous growth — but also years of difficulty through the mid-1990s when the law school was threatened with closure.

Under Foster, the school increased applications by more than 50 percent since 1997, implemented its first-ever strategic plan, raised $4.5 million through 13 new endowments, and ranked as a Top Tier law institution in U.S. News & World Report's 1998 listings.

He will remain in the dean's position during a national search for a new dean, which could take up to 18 months.