One of the dancers, a friend of the composer, confided in her classmates some of the hidden meanings of the song (not for publication, please, she added with a smile).

Such exchanges — in this case, the sharing of knowledge usually kept within one hula halau — underlie the Hawaiian summer series that began last week at Chaminade University (see box). It is, in fact, the impulse powering a growing network of partnerships between the campus and the Hawaiian community.

Last week's centerpiece event was the six-day "Aha Hula Le'a Kumu Consortium," that brought a different kumu each day to the campus. On Wednesday, Alquiza and two of her students arrived from Kaua'i.

"What's interesting is to see all these styles pop up," she said. "You see beauty in many other ways. I just stand back and think, 'That's what hula is: sharing your gifts.'"

"It's like a rebirth, rekindling the fires that were smoldering embers," he said with a laugh. Then he remembered a Hawaiian proverb that seemed to describe the ethic of sharing, in hula and in other facets of Hawaiian life.

"Pa'i ana na pahu hula le'a, eia ka'u mele," he quoted, then translated: "Enjoy the beat of other drums, but this is my song."

The summer series is only the latest effort by Chaminade to connect with the Hawaiian community, a campaign intended primarily as a service to the university's student population.

"In the last 10 years or so, slowly, almost unnoticeably, the Hawaiian student enrollment started going up, to the point that it's now between 16 and 18 percent," said Henry Gomes, Chaminade associate provost.

About two years ago, the U.S. Department of Education designated Chaminade as a "Native Hawaiian-serving institution," a designation that qualifies the university for certain federal grants. Three have been secured:

• The Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs petitioned the Administration for Native Americans for a $350,000 grant, which began last August, to fund a two-year Hawaiian leadership training program at the university.
• The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in October gave Chaminade a three-year, $799,000 grant for a cooperative venture with the civic clubs to develop a community center on a site yet to be chosen.
• The U.S. Department of Education has authorized $2 million for the campus under its Title III program for facility upgrades such as computer system improvements.

Sue Wesselkamper, university president, said the aim is not to compete with Hawaiian programs at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa but to be responsive to Chaminade's own students through programs suited to a smaller campus.

"We look to the more mature programs, and you get some insights from them," she said. "But this is who we are; it's us trying to respond to the reality."

The effort also fulfills Chaminade's broader mission "to reach out to the church and civic communities," she said. And, because the school's total Pacific islander enrollment is about 30 percent, Chaminade is looking for ways to extend similar partnerships with the community of Samoans, Micronesians and other groups.

It made sense to start with the host culture, however, Lake said.

"We want to give our students background in the Hawaiian culture as a basis, having them understand who they are and what they are, no matter what field they go into, so they don't lose sight of cultural resources that will help them," he said.