Posted on: Friday, January 17, 2003

Gladys A. Brandt: a true ali'i of Hawai'i

To read the rŽsumŽ of Gladys 'Aiona Brandt would be to conclude that she was a very pillar of the establishment: regent, educator, trustee, tireless community volunteer and so on.

And so she was. But in ways perhaps more important and lasting, Gladys Brandt was a truth teller to the establishment, a voice of reason and dignity that would be fearlessly raised when the establishment lost its way.

Brandt died this week at 96, her life as full and fulfilling at the end as it was when she first emerged on the public stage.

There was something about her approach to things — a combination of dignity, rascal humor and clear-headedness — that caused people to stop and listen. She knew the power of her personality and was unafraid to use it.

In recent years, Brandt was perhaps best known as a co-signatory of the essay, "Broken Trust," which was a major contributor to the outcry that led to the ouster of the former Bishop Estate trustees and the reform of Kamehameha Schools.

That she would contribute to a work that would criticize and help fundamentally change her beloved Kamehameha Schools might have seemed out of character. But it wasn't. Brandt was often most bold in confronting those she loved.

In the 1960s, working with Nona Beamer, Brandt challenged the policy of Kamehameha Schools, which then prohibited the teaching of, and performance of, the standing hula. This was a direct challenge to a longstanding policy of moving away from ancient Hawaiian cultural traditions and practices.

Brandt prevailed, as she usually did, and her actions at Kamehameha should be marked as an early milestone in what is now known as the Hawaiian renaissance.

It must be remembered that Brandt confronted this policy not as an outsider, but as a teacher and administrator at Kamehameha, where she served as administrator of the School for Girls and first director of the merged high school.

Education, in fact, was Brandt's life's work. A public school teacher, principal and district administrator before she moved to Kamehameha Schools, Brandt's last direct educational assignment was as a member of the University of Hawai'i Board of Regents, where she served six years. During that period, Brandt brokered a dispute that cleared the way for the construction of the University of Hawai'i Center for Hawaiian Studies, which was rededicated in her honor just last year.

Not through with public service, Brandt accepted two temporary appointments on the board of trustees for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, where she again represented a voice of moderation and conciliation.

In Hawaiian tradition, it is said that true ali'i know their role is not to rule or command, but to serve and care for others — their people.

If that is the definition, then Gladys Brandt was in every sense of the word a true ali'i of these Hawaiian Islands.