University of Hawaii West Oahu Seal

Bulletin No. 34

Date/Time sent: 01/19/2021 8:00 am

E ala! E alu! E kuilima!
Awaken! Come together! Join hands!

*Statement of Gratitude: “Gratitude turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity…it makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”  Melodie Beattie

*NOTE: If you have a statement of gratitude that you would like me to share with our campus community please send to Leila Shimokawa at uhwocomm@hawaii.edu.

Update COVID-19

Aloha mai kākou,

As President Lassner said in his message to the community, the University of Hawai‘i is doing everything we can to expedite the vaccination process so we can drive COVID-19 out of our community and enable a safe return to substantial in-person instruction for fall 2021.

In good news for our campuses, the most recent (January 8) updated DOH vaccination plan prioritized post-secondary education teachers and support staff as essential workers within Phase 1B, for whom vaccination plans are unfolding. With some exceptions, most students will be part of Phase 2, which we expect to begin later in the spring or summer.

Vaccinations will be administered using the State of Hawaiʻi phased priorities, which are based on guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). I am asking all faculty and staff who wish to be vaccinated to complete a short questionnaire (note: this is the same survey linked in President Lassner’s message). This is needed to help the state and UH with the planning and implementation of vaccine distribution.

Vaccination plans and locations will differ by island, but if you have any other opportunity to be vaccinated, such as through your own health care provider, we encourage you to do so.

The decision to be vaccinated is yours. If you have concerns, we urge you to seek out more information so you can weigh any risks for yourself.  Here are some excellent resources from our state health department and the CDC.

While the vaccines provide the first glimmers of light at the end of the tunnel, we are still at high risk. Please continue to follow all safety guidelines in place, particularly those about wearing a face covering and refraining from unnecessary gatherings. And please download and utilize the free and privacy-preserving State of Hawaiʻi notification app, AlohaSafe, which may tell you, anonymously and securely, if you have been exposed to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.

The university and our campus leadership is deeply committed to Hawaiʻi’s vaccination effort and we are doing everything we can to make the vaccines available as quickly as possible. This continues to be an evolving process. We will provide updates on a regular basis as well as post the latest information and instructions on this UH website. If you have further questions, please email COVID19@hawaii.edu.

E mālama pono!
Maenette Benham, Chancellor

Update on our Campus Budgeting and Planning Process

As you well know, we have been working to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our university. I extend my deepest “mahalo nūnui/gratitude” for the work of the Pueo Stewardship Task Force, our Division Chairs and Directors, our student leaders, and our campus leadership for their efforts! Our next steps are to engage our campus in the planning, implementation, and on-going assessment of tangible initiatives – our next step in our campus’ transformation.

UH West Oʻahu will embark on activating four Work Groups: (1) Business Model, (2) Student Recruitment and Student Retention, (3) Student Learning, and (4) Campus Efficiencies. Please see a high-level draft description of the Work Groups. Each Work Group is tasked to generate concrete, research/evidence-proven initiatives for implementation and testing, and if proven to be successful, the action will become practice.

Please consider joining one of these groups and contributing your time, energy, and wisdom to UH West Oʻahu’s bright future. If interested, please contact Chris Neves at cabralch@hawaii.edu, by COB this Friday, Jan. 22. And, please let Chris know your preferred work group.

Should you have any questions please contact your Vice Chancellor or Dr. Walter Kahumoku.

Honolulu Star-Advertiser article: University of Hawaii and Department of Education brace for budget cuts

Please see todayʻs Star-Advertiser, Tuesday January 19, top of the fold, Local Section. Board of Regents’ Executive Secretary, Kendra, Oishi, passes along this correction: “Just FYI that the comment in the first sentence about board meetings is not accurate for UH – there is no BOR meeting this week.”

Here are the UH-specific sections of the article (*UH West Oʻahu students, faculty, and staff have complimentary access to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s digital subscription via a new program exclusive to the campus. To activate, enter your hawaii.edu email at staradvertiser.com/academic-pass.):

Millions of dollars in budget cuts to the state Department of Education and University of Hawaii system are expected to be finalized Thursday during separate board meetings for both departments.

Promised federal aid from Washington, D.C., is both welcome relief but also adds more uncertainty to Hawaii education.

DOE and UH officials have been planning for a financial hit for months since the COVID-19 pandemic began crippling Hawaii’s economy.

Gov. David Ige said UH will have to make a $70 million cut to its 2022 and 2023 fiscal year budgets; and the DOE would have to cut 70 positions and $165.6 million in programs for both the 2022 and 2023 fiscal years.

Kalbert Young, UH vice president for budget and finance and its chief financial officer, wrote that planned reductions in UH base operating costs equal 15% across the 10- campus system, or over $78 million less than the current $526 million general fund base budget.

Of the overall $78.5 million in original, anticipated cuts, UH-Manoa would take the biggest hit, or $35.6 million.

The next-biggest cut would be seen by all community college campuses combined, or $23 million.

The budget for “UH Systemwide Support” would go down by $8.5 million, followed by a $5.7 million reduction for UH-Hilo and a $2.7 million cut for UH-West Oahu.

“The program review being undertaken now may identify some reductions that may have to be permanent in nature,” Young wrote. The UH “administration is committed to the university’s deliberative process to take on the very difficult challenge of finding opportunities for reform, efficiencies and/or reductions, as necessary.”

Ige previously announced that he and his Cabinet members would take pay cuts of 9.23% starting Jan. 1.

In October, UH President David Lassner announced that 216 UH executive-managerial employees also would have their pay cut by 9.23% starting Nov. 1 for managers who make up to $200,000 annually. Others who are paid more than $200,000 saw their salaries cut by 11%.

The managerial pay cuts are expected to save UH $2.2 million in the current fiscal year and $3.4 million in fiscal year 2021-2022.

Lassner said executive- managerial employees make up about 6% of the approximately $600 million in annual salaries paid to 7,342 employees across the 10-campus UH System.

Lassner volunteered to reduce his own total compensation of $395,004 by 20%.