UARC foes say UH balks

By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer

The coalition to stop a Navy University Affiliated Research Center at the University of Hawai'i accused the UH administration yesterday of refusing to release important documents, some of which show negotiations were under way in 2003 to bring a Navy UARC to the university.

The coalition said one of the few documents released was a letter dated April 16, 2003, from Manoa Chancellor Peter Englert to Adm. Jay Cohen, chief of naval research. Englert's letter, released two weeks ago by the university to coalition member Joel Fischer, indicates the university at that time had submitted a management plan for a Navy UARC.

A mission statement for that proposal, dated June 27, 2003, and prefaced with the notation: "As the war on terror continues ... ," states "the Pacific/Hawai'i-based DoD commands and activities and the University of Hawai'i are well positioned to leverage existing facilities and University of Hawai'i Applied Research Programs to address myriad DoD requirements."

Among those requirements, the mission statement continues, is "to facilitate testing, rapid prototyping and eventual production of sensors, weapons, and command and control systems."

UH spokeswoman Carolyn Tanaka, associate vice president for external affairs, said that was the original proposal and is no longer operative.

"That was almost immediately taken off the table," Tanaka said. "That was the first management proposal. We're not proposing to develop weapons or weapons of mass destruction. "

A second document released by the coalition was a memorandum dated July 8, 2004, from Ronald Sega, director of defense research and engineering at the Pentagon, approving the Navy's request to designate UH as a Navy UARC. In it he said: "I look forward to seeing this intriguing basic and applied ocean science and astronomical technology improve system performance of DoD weapon systems."

The Manoa administration has never denied that the proposed research center would conduct some classified research, but Gary Ostrander, vice chancellor for research at Manoa, has said it would be a small part of the research accepted under a Navy affiliated center.

Ostrander said yesterday that "clearly the military has expectations about how the research will be used and what directions it will go. ... But I have said all along there would be no work on weapons of mass destruction."

During a news conference yesterday, Ikaika Hussey, a coalition leader, said interim UH President David McClain is failing to follow through on agreements made when the coalition ended a six-day sit-in and left his office.

"He pledged to support our request for the release of all relevant documentation," said Hussey, reading a statement from the group, " ... but now hides behind lawyers to deny us the very transparency he promised."

Tanaka said the university "could have done a better job in replying in a more timely manner to his (Fischer's) requests. However, it was released to him," she said of the Englert letter to Cohen.

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