Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 19, Number 8, 1 August 2002 — Kamehameha's admissions policy denies Hawaiian applicants on Maui, admits a non-Hawaiian [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Kamehameha's admissions policy denies Hawaiian applicants on Maui, admits a non-Hawaiian

By Manu Boyd Hundreds flocked to the Ke'elikōlani Auditorium at Kamehameha Schools July 1 5 to express eoneem over the decision to admit a student to the schools' Nlaui campus who was not of Hawaiian ancestry. Virtually all of the testimony gKen spoke in sharp disapproval of that decision, however, trustees and KS CEO Hamihon VIcCubbin stated that they would stick by their decision. A board of five trustees creates policy, runs the Kamehameha Schools and manages the assets of the multi~billion dollar estate as directed by the will of Princess Bernice Pauahi, who died in 1884. Current trustees are Board Chair J. Douglas Ing, attomey; Nāinoa Thompson, master navigator and educator; Ret. Admiral Robert Kihune, businessman; Constance Lau, CEO of American Savings

Bank; and Diane Plots, general partner of Hemmeter Investment. OHA Trustee Oz Stender, former KS trustee, was outraged by the decision. "Many of them (Hawaiian

applicants on Maui) now feel inadequate because they have been to ld in the last few days that thos e who were not admitted do not have the 'potential for success' and are not good enough. Does this kind of statement spur more Native Hawaiians to apply? I think not," he wrote in a letter to KS Board Chair J. Douglas Ing. According to CEO Alerts, an email informational network gen~ erated by Kamehameha Schools, "The Mlaui decision was made in accordance with KS standard admissionpolicy. After allHawaiian applicants selected for the Mlaui campus 8th grade were exhausted, including those on the waitlist, one vacancy remained. The vacancy was offered to the remaining qualified applicant, who was a non-Hawaiian, in eomplianee with KS' preference policy." "Why didn't you leave the vacan~ See KAMEHAMEHA on page 13

'Man y of them now feel lnadequate because they have been told in the last few days that those who were not admitted do nothave the 'potential for success and are not good enough. Does thls klnd of statement spur more Natlve Hawaiians to apply? I think not. — Trustee Oz Stender

COMMUNITY OUTCRY — Mlehanaokalā Hind addresses KS trustees from the audience at the July 15 informahonal meeting at the schools' Kapālama campus.

KAMEHAMEHA fr om page 1 cy open?," asked a concerned audienee member at the three-hour meeting. "It is our policy to fill all vacancies," answered VIcCubbin. "I have a policy to propose," said Dr. Lilikalā Kame'eleihiwa, director of the U.H. Kamakakūokalani Center forHawaiian Studies. 'Take care of the 48,000 Hawaiian children in the D.O.E. system." Central to the discussion was Kamehameha's high standards of academics, described by the schools' as "very rigorous and intended for students who dernon~ strate the potential for success in the program." That notion was challenged by Kupuna Bill Aila: "Pauahi's wish was to turn boys and girls into industrious men and women. Pauahi made a contract with the children of Hawai'i. You can't decide when the child is 12 if he is going to be a success. I ask you not as a kupuna, not as a graduate, but as a lawyer. Youmustundo what you did," he said, urging the trustees to reconsider their decision. "You violated her simple wish the ehildren of Hawai'i ean be educated and become industrious men and women, not when they enter Kamehameha, but when they puka from this school," he said.

Ka Lāhui Hawai'i spokesman Keali'i'olu'olu Gora posed a ques~ tion to the trustees that no other audience member vocally consid~ ered. "What are your plans for nationhood to protect our assets?" Chairman Ing responded, "We have not been devoting resources toward nationhood. Our resources are specifically for education." Early on in the meeting, Trustee Thompson, whose father, VIyron "Pinky" Thompson, served as KS trustee for 20 years, openly apologized for hurting so many Hawaiians. "Our duty is to protect this institution. We are at risk. We are at risk," he repeated. As a result of community outciy, Kamehameha CEO and trustees are organizing statewide community meetings. "In our strategic planning process, we identified that the

admissions policy needed to be looked at," said O'ahu Alumni Association President Toni Lee. "We put together an advisory group in March to review the policy, and never expected that something like this would happen so fast. It's time for us to take some kind of owner~ ship of this issue, and the eommunity meetings will allow for that input," she said. Kamehameha currently operates three campuses: Kapālama on O'ahu, Kea'au on Hawai'i and Pukalanion Mlaui. 3,500 students in grades K-12 comprise the combined student body. An additional 28,500 Hawaiians are semed in outreach programs throughout the state. For information on the statewide community meetings, eall 8428211, or visit on line at www.ksbe.edu ■

KAMEHAMEHA OFFICIALS - L-R Dr. McCubbin, CEO; Chairman Ing; Trustees Lau, Thompson, Plots and Ki'hune. Photo: Manu Boyd