Leeward college defends transfer
By Will Hoover
Advertiser Leeward O'ahu Writer
The Leeward Community College administration yesterday defended its decision to transfer the head of its Wai'anae satellite campus, saying she was needed elsewhere to alleviate a shortage of counselors and assuring angry residents that the community's needs would be met.
Residents have been upset since learning that Lucy Gay, 58, was being transferred from the campus that they say she has improved dramatically during her 11 months at the helm, and they have mounted a campaign to have her retained at Wai'anae.
GAY
The college had refused comment on Gay's transfer, but yesterday issued a statement explaining the action.
The statement came from LCC's interim dean, Douglas Dykstra, who touched off a storm of protest after he informed Gay on May 30 that she would not be needed at Wai'anae after the end of this month.
"The decision to recall Ms. Gay to the main campus takes into account college-wide needs including those of the counseling and guidance department in which she holds her original faculty appointment," said Dykstra in the statement.
"The team of college administrators working together with the new chairperson will take all possible steps to assure that the interests of students and the community in Wai'anae are served."
Jean Hara will replace Gay as faculty chairwoman at the Wai'anae satellite campus. Dykstra praised Hara as a national awarding-winning former professor with vast experience as both an educator and administrator.
In deciding not to renew Gay's one-year contract as satellite campus coordinator, LCC reduced her contract to nine months and will send her back to the main LCC campus in Pearl City as a counselor — a position she started out with 32 years ago.
Dykstra said Gay was reassigned because the college is down three counselors and she is needed in that capacity. He emphasized that the move is neither a demotion nor a punishment.
The interim dean questioned claims made by Gay and her supporters that she had doubled enrollment and quadrupled programs in her time as head at Wai'anae, saying that recent improvements are a result of LCC's "sustained team contributions over the years."
He ended his statement by saying, "We ask the community to trust our judgment in this decision with the reassurance that we are sending a known and committed educator and manager to work with them."
Dykstra's response did little to soothe the ire of people along the Wai'anae Coast, who vowed to press on with their campaign to keep Gay at the satellite campus.
"With regard to what Dykstra is saying, that the community should trust them — well then how come the community was not allowed to come into discussion about this decision?" said Lilette Subedi, executive director of Ka'ala Farm in Wai-
'anae, which works in partnership with LCC's satellite campus.
Maralyn Kurshals, chairwoman of the Wai'anae Coast Neighborhood Board's Education Committee, was equally unmoved.
"There is still no justification for this action," she said. "It's insulting and degrading to the intelligence of the community. They want to keep people in ignorance and disempowered, so they can control. And that doesn't work anymore."
Both women, who were involved yesterday with a community group discussing Gay's fate when they received word about Dykstra's statement, said they would continue their efforts to alert Gov. Linda Lingle, the University of Hawai'i Board of Regents, UH President Evan Dobelle and the area's legislators to their concerns.
Gay, who was not told why she was being transferred, likewise was not satisfied with Dykstra's statement.
"What they're (the administration) saying is that Pearl City is more important," said Gay. "They are saying that Wai'anae comes second. Why are we being penalized out here?
"This just shows again that they have a true misunderstanding of this community."
