Alumni, activists await trustees' next move
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| • | Kamehameha CEO says admissions policy flawed |
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Should Kamehameha Schools admit non-Hawaiians? Join our discussion |
By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer
As alumni and Hawaiian activists statewide organize in opposition to a Kamehameha Schools decision to admit a non-Hawaiian student, many are waiting for the five-member board of trustees to answer one question: What next?
Members of Na Pua a Pauahi, an 800-member alumni group that was instrumental in organizing the 1997 march that ultimately led to the replacement of previous trustees, have written a position paper on the issue and said yesterday they want to hear what trustees will do now.
School trustees have apologized for poor communication and said admissions procedures to the elite campuses must change but have remained tight-lipped since an explosive meeting Monday night with alumni. They said they are protecting the trust's tax-exempt status, and the decision to admit the non-Hawaiian student will stand.
Jan Dill, a member of the CEO's Advisory Board and president of Na Pua a Pauahi, said members realize that the decision to accept a non-Hawaiian student on the Maui campus likely can't be undone.
"They violated a trust with the Kamehameha 'ohana. Where do we go from here?" Dill asked. "We haven't heard yet. What are the specific steps the administration and the trustees are going to take to address the significant breach of trust? The ball is in their court."
Many Kamehameha Schools alumni have accused the trustees of betraying the promise of Bernice Pauahi Bishop's will. School alumni and others are organizing statewide petition drives and holding discussion forums on the issue, pressing trustees to act quickly.
Former Kamehameha Schools trustee Oswald Stender will meet today with board chairman J. Douglas Ing and present a critical seven-page letter that compares the current trustees to the previous board that was forced out in disgrace.
"They don't have an obligation to talk to the alumni, but you would think they would have learned from the other trustees," Stender said. "You would hope they would at least have a dialogue and share. I know each one of the those folks, and I really expected more of them. I don't think people are going to go quietly."
Ing issued a statement yesterday, saying that it was his hope that the breakfast meeting with Stender would be a chance to "privately discuss the issue between personal friends." He said he will share the letter with the other trustees but won't attempt to respond to it in his conversation today with Stender.
"As to extending our programs to reach more Hawaiians, the trustees have committed to the implementation of our Strategic Plan. In that plan, Kamehameha Schools will increase education spending to $200 million annually and our programs will reach more Hawaiians than ever before," Ing said.
Toni Lee, the alumni association president, said she does not think trustees will change the admissions policy, which has been upheld as legal by the IRS in the past. But the CEO's advisory panel was starting to look at ways to change how the admissions process works, she said.
Lee and others have characterized the Maui decision as a fluke, caused by the doubling of the size of that campus this year. Normally, Kamehameha Schools receives far more qualified applicants than the schools can handle.
"All alumni have expressed disappointment in Kamehameha admissions for years, and this just broke the camel's back," Lee said. "That's why in the advisory board it was decided that we should have a committee looking at the process. We didn't know this would all hit us in the eyes this soon. This committee is not going to change policy, but we can look at the admissions process and see what we can do."
At 6 p.m. a forum at the Center for Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa will open the floor to anyone interested in the range of issues brought out by the admission of the non-Hawaiian student to a Kamehameha campus.
Organizers have invited the trustees to attend but don't know yet if any of them will and hope the crowd can come up with a plan for where to go next.
On Maui yesterday, alumni continued to gather petition signatures at shopping centers and Hawaiian homesteads in hopes that trustees will amend admissions policies now. They have gathered more than 300 signatures and hope to collect at least 1,000 before forwarding the petitions to trustees sometime next week.
Attorney Cynthia Kanoholani Wong, class of 1986 and an author of the petition letter, said she hopes something will change before thousands of students statewide go through the process this fall of applying for entrance next year. "It's difficult for the kids," Wong said. "They understand that a non-Hawaiian got in over them."
Within a few weeks, retired Circuit Court Judge Boyd P. Mossman, president of the Maui chapter of the Kamehameha Schools alumni association, said he hopes the alumni group can meet to come up with a recruiting plan for their island.
He said alumni need to act now to recruit more qualified children because it will take time for trustees to alter admissions procedures or requirements.
"It's really a hard issue and people get very emotional," Mossman said. "We definitely do not expect the trustees to come up with something in the very near future. We need to go ahead. The only thing I can think is to get enough applicants. Maybe by next year the trustees will have a new policy."
Reach Jennifer Hiller at jhiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.
