West O'ahu campus won't be closed

By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer

More than 100 students who marched across campus chanting "Save West O'ahu," were reassured yesterday that their tiny school would not be closed down.

University of Hawai'i-West O'ahu students marched past Leeward Community College yesterday in protest of new opposition to a long-awaited four-year campus in Kapolei. But the students were told the current campus will stay open. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

"This institution serves a unique mission, access to education for the nontraditional student," Lee said. "We recognize the excellence of your faculty and your programs."

But the future of an expanded four-year campus to serve the growing needs of Kapolei and the Leeward plain was not so clear, with Lee admitting "the question is how, where and when."

While state Sen. Norman Sakamoto, D-15th (Waimalu, Airport, Salt Lake), told the concerned students and faculty their campus "deserves to expand," he also said he could not tell them when or how. But he said "the discussions will continue about how we can move forward sooner rather than later" when the Legislature convenes in January.

"I'm a builder, I'm not here to break anyone's dream," said the Senate Education Committee chairman, after a half-dozen students had told emotional stories of how the small school had changed their lives.

"We've put a lot of dollars out there (in Kapolei) and the university is looking at a better plan (to expand)," Sakamoto said.

Meanwhile, from Washington, U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie pledged support for a West O'ahu campus, calling it "the future of higher education in Hawai'i" and called on the governor and Board of Regents "to embrace and nourish that future."

The rally came in the wake of last week's Board of Regents meeting in Hilo in which four of the 12 UH regents spoke strongly in opposition to building a new West O'ahu four-year campus in Kapolei, citing its high projected cost and the backlog of repairs needed throughout the 10-campus system.

What hit the small campus hardest, though, was regent Ted Hong's motion — quickly tabled — to close down the campus altogether next April unless the UH administration comes up with a solid plan to finance a four-year expansion.

The crowd booed Hong when he was introduced, but, in speaking with a small group afterward, the Big Island regent said he would welcome a public/private partnership to build a four-year campus but wanted a concrete proposal from the UH administration.

"If they tell me, 'We have someone who is interested, we're negotiating,' I'd be interested," he said.

Hong's opposition centers on the cost, and he repeatedly pointed to current needs, such as at the UH-Hilo campus where buckets in classrooms catch drips from leaking roofs. The systemwide repair backlog is $180 million, but $57 million in state money has been committed to start addressing that.

As they stood in a withering sun, West O'ahu students and faculty called for "equity" within the system, pointing to perks other campuses are receiving while they learn in temporary buildings. Student body president Xavier Foster gave an impassioned plea for the regents to "help us find a way to get it done.

"West O'ahu is a vital functioning unit of the system," Foster said, "and as part of it we want to be taken into account.

"Merit is not the issue," Hong said later. "The amount of money is the issue."

Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8013.