The University of Hawai'i-Manoa took a step toward becoming a U.S. Navy "university affiliated research center" yesterday when officials released a draft contract for the consideration of the faculty senate, administration and UH Board of Regents.

If the contract is approved by the regents, UH would become the fifth such Navy center in the nation.

The document, negotiated by UH and Navy officials, was met with caution and mixed reaction by faculty and community members, some of whom said it fails to address key concerns and others who said it meets their expectations.

"I've actually said all along that some people will be disappointed in the contract today because this is basically a document on how you do business," said Gary Ostrander, vice chancellor of research and graduate education, at a meeting on the Manoa campus yesterday.

The contract reiterates the four areas the UH UARC would be involved in: ocean science and technology; astronomy; advanced electro-optics and sensing; and sensors, communications and information technology. These are all areas in which UH has been deemed to have a particular level of expertise, said Ostrander.

"This is largely the same type of research we've been doing all along for four decades with military funding at this institution," said Ostrander.

UH officials have said that the center could bring in an estimated $50 million in research funding, but the proposal has generated a fervor rarely seen on campus since the Vietnam War. Opponents fear that the research could involve development of weapons, and some Native Hawaiian students in particular object because they say it represents a stronger military presence in Hawai'i.

Roy Wilkens, a researcher at the Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics who also sits on the ad hoc faculty senate committee reviewing the contract, said the document largely addresses the key concerns of faculty members: intellectual property, publication rights, dual use of equipment and the right of faculty to accept or reject research requests from the Navy.

The degree to which these issues are addressed and whether that will meet the satisfaction of the faculty as a whole, he would not say.

"It looks like it is doing what we were told it is going to do," said Wilkens.

He said the section on conflict of interest may answer some of the key questions about intellectual property and who the research actually belongs to. "From what I gather, it looked like there was a fair amount of latitude," said Wilkens.

He also said the section that deals with publication outlines the rights of the researcher to be able to publish research. "That area seems pretty explicit to me," he said.

According to the contract, researchers may not release findings from unclassified research without written approval from the Naval Sea Systems Command's Office of Public Affairs, among other terms.

A timeline to request disclosure is also outlined in the contract. Wilkens said the contract makes it clear that the Navy "has the right to ask if something should not be published."

Joel Fischer, a professor of social work at UH-Manoa and a member of the Save UH/Stop UARC Coalition, disagreed with some of Wilkens' assessments.

"Overview of this contract simply does not address almost all of the issues that the faculty and community is concerned with," said Fischer.

He said some areas of the contract explicitly mention that there would be sonar testing on whales and other mammals; classified research; and what he considered interference with the faculty's right to publish research.

Ostrander said there would be some level of classified research. But he said UH is already involved in military research and that the new research would be similar.

For Keli'i Collier, a member of the Native Hawaiian group Hui Pu and the Save UH/Stop UARC Coalition, an agreement with the Navy represents a stronger military presence and more military funding at the university, the university's potential involvement in the development of weapons for war, further "militarization" of Hawai'i and a clash with the university's core value as a Hawaiian place of learning.

Yesterday's news conference became heated when Collier repeatedly asked Ostrander if he is still committed to holding public hearings about UARC. Ostrander said he was.

When Collier pressed for a date and how it would be publicized, Ostrander said he needed to attend another meeting and began to gather his papers.

"It'll be in the Ka Leo (the campus newspaper)," Ostrander said as he walked out.

The administration has said it is committed to full discussion on UARC.

Collier said he took time before the press conference to review the contract.

"What the contract did for me was it reaffirmed the secrecy and insincerity of the UH administration," he said.

Reach Loren Moreno at lmoreno@honoluluadvertiser.com.