Opposition to General Wiercinski as UH President
Thursday, May 8th, 2014I and Somerset Wong wrote a 600 word “Guest Letter” to the Star-Advertiser that is attached below. It is not just a law school letter. We worry that it might not be published. If you and others agree with the points we made, in the attachment, please send an email to the star advertiser expressing your support for our “Guest Column”. The Star Advertiser is reachable at letters@staradvertiser.com. Such support could be short and could go something like this:
“Please add my name and affiliation [describe status: faculty, department or student: year and department] as supporting the Chang-Wong letter submitted May 7th as a proposed Guest letter. If you can’t include my name, please note me as one of the numbers against hiring the General.”
More letters: It is the Board of Regents that we must convince. They were not at the Presentation. Our only way of reaching them [as an organized group] is by letters to the media and press conferences. We encourage others to write letters. Word limitations forced us to leave out many topics. The rules of the star-advertiser — letters to the Editor [150 word max], guest letter [600 words] max. Other very important topics to raise inter alia are the following:
A. Process: The process was inadequate:
a.Students were studying for finals.
b.Faculty were traveling and or, for other reasons not on campus.
c.The time window to make our opinions public was very short—five days.
d. The lack of an open-mike style of presentation did not allow the audience to fully engage the candidate and prevented the candidate from fully facing and being compelled to answer truly important questions.
e. As this is a public university, the only one in the state, important stakeholders were left out [not enough room and not invited} such as alumni, unions, legislators, the Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Community, Filipino and other ethnic communities, as well as the Windward, Kapiolani and Hawaii Community Colleges.
f. We need further time to vet him on various issues, particularly as to:
B. Military Issues:
a. What did the candidate mean when he said “Once a military man, always a military man?”
b. Does this mean he would support, in all respects, military research at Manoa, as, for example, UARC and UH contracts as to Drone testing in Hawaii?
c. Does this mean he would oppose campus wide protest and concern as to the failure to clean up Kahoolawe,
the military expansions at Pohakuloa, use of Makua, and continued military use of ceded lands by the military which are not necessary to the military, such as Fort DeRussy, Fort Ruger and Bellows Airfield?
d. Does he even understand, or oppose the conclusion of many that Hawaii is “occupied” by the United States? Was he aware that such that believe Hawaii is occupied that he as commander of army forces in Hawaii was part of the governing authority of this occupation?
e. As a combat commander did he lead units or engage in occupation in Iraq or Afghanistan? What was his record and what was the record of troops under his command?
C. Native Hawaiian Issues:
a. He stated that 85% of the student population at UH was “Hawaiian”– Does he think that Native Hawaiians and “Hawaiians” [residents of the State of Hawaii] are the same? Does he know that most military in Hawaii are not officially domiciled or residents of the Hawaii? Does he know that state law, including environmental laws, do not apply to military “enclaves” and that as such, the military is not obligated to observe state constitutional rights of Hawaiians, or state jurisdiction over such things as the recent contamination of the waters of Red Hill?
b. He mentioned the forthcoming Native Hawaiian “Aha”— how would he respond to strong initiatives arising from that convention as to complete independence for Hawaii—resulting in the substantial reduction or elimination of the military in Hawaii?
c. Does he understand what was meant, during his presentation by “Hawaiian values?” Does he understand, and what is his position on Native Hawaiian opposition to the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea.
Twitter and Social Media:
Finally, can someone organize a twitter or face-book campaign with a short but catchy message. The media is always aware of what’s trending.
Please pass this to interested persons.
Aloha, Williamson Chang [956 7136] and Somerset Wong
