Praise for Irwin
I applaud our new chancellor at the University of Hawaii, Bonnie Irwin, for her recent editorial, “The recipe for student success” (Tribune-Herald, Sept. 15).
While there are many reasons that some students may struggle to be successful, their success contributes to the community, and the community can also contribute to their success. UH-Hilo is not only a most culturally and linguistically diverse campus, it has also historically provided financial aid to a higher percentage of students than any other four-year campus in the UH system.
The UH-Hilo mission remains dedicated to offer “hands on learning, service and leadership opportunities.” Our campus continues to be a “special place” for Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islands students.
In my 30 years of teaching and service at UH-Hilo, and 12 years of flunking retirement with some continuing engagement on campus, I have watched UH-Hilo grow from tiny Hilo College into a comprehensive, small university with graduate programs and perhaps four times the enrollment and five times the faculty and staff.
UH-Hilo continues to be a major economic engine for the Big Island, and the federal agencies with links to campus and shared research have also grown tremendously. Student internship, research and service opportunities have grown apace.
Our island’s geologic, biological and cultural diversity has provided many opportunities for community-based research and service that may help support community needs. As a community, it should be our task to let community needs be known and to reach out to engage faculty and students in community-based research and service.
UH-Hilo faculty should also reach out to the community and share their expertise, whether it be in the natural and health sciences, agriculture, the social sciences or the humanities. Let’s all support our new chancellor and both old and new initiatives for community engagement.
Craig Severance
Hilo
Limited demand
Hotel occupancy rates are getting back on track on the west side of the island, but those promoting a renewed expansion of hotel capacity on the east side should take note: It would be throwing good money after bad, and the taxpayer ought not to be asked to subsidize any of it on Banyan Drive or elsewhere.
East Hawaii overbuilt hotels in the 1960s, and in the 1970s several of them went broke — this fact speaks louder than anyone’s memories of how Banyan Drive was “really hopping” back then.
We have many things to like here in East Hawaii, but the interest for traditional tourists is limited; whether that is a blessing or not is a matter of opinion, but it is a fact.
Carl Oguss
Pahoa
