honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Sunday, May 1, 2005

UH protesters try to keep takeover polite — and clean

 •  UH tries to defuse fears of secrecy, arms research

By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer

University of Hawai'i students, faculty and others prepared to spend another night in the Bachman Hall offices of UH interim president David McClain yesterday, but first reminded one another to not bring in food and to take off their shoes before entering.

Vigil today

The UH/Stop UARC Coalition will hold a prayer vigil at 1 p.m. today in the courtyard of Bachman Hall.

Even in their anger over a UH proposal to develop a Navy research center, the 40 or so protesters want to be polite intruders in their takeover of Bachman Hall.

They even hung oversized garbage bags to recycle their leftover cans and bottles.

McClain, who has moved his work to his College Hill residence, offered to meet with small groups of protesters yesterday.

McClain vowed to listen to their individual concerns and address specific issues "and perhaps clarify any misunderstandings," he said.

Instead, the group protesters — known as the Save UH/Stop UARC Coalition — rejected McClain's offer.

"We feel that he should negotiate with our entire group," said group member Sarah Farr, a graduate student who opposes a Navy University Affiliated Research Center, or UARC.

Reading from a statement, Farr said, "Our demand that Dr. McClain officially turn down a UARC at UH-Manoa still stands. We realize, however, that at the present moment Dr. McClain does not have sufficient time or space to make that decision."

So the group plans to spend the weekend developing a new plan, which it will unveil Monday at either 9 or 10 a.m., Farr said.

The sit-in at Bachman Hall has been going relatively smoothly and the protesters have been polite, said Sgt. William Okamura of UH campus security.

Officers have stayed in the suite of administrative offices along with protesters.

But sometime between Friday night and yesterday morning, someone stole four Hawaiian flags that had been flying upside-down on the Dole Street side of Bachman Hall as a sign of protest over the Navy plan.

And perhaps a different group of vandals drew graffiti on one of the outside Bachman Hall pillars between 3 and 3:30 a.m., Okamura said. Protesters tried several different chemicals to scrub away the graffiti yesterday morning.

As students set up residence outside in nine tents Thursday night, others flopped down in McClain's office on futons and sleeping bags. They turned the president's conference room into a study center to prepare for final exams and write term papers.

Outside, the walls of Bachman Hall were hung with sheets and banners proclaiming "Invest in Education Not Militarization" and "Ain't Gonna Study War No More."

But taped to the glass door that leads to the suite of administrative offices, and eventually McClain's office, organizers hung another sign with a decidedly different tone.

"Mahalo for coming," it reads. "Please kokua:"

• No food

• Do not damage property

• Do not remove or leave anything

E Komo Mai