Board of Regents Meeting: Housing, Military Connections, and the Search for UH’s New President

By Alesi Meyers-Tuimavave
Dorm Photos submitted anonymously to Ke Kalahea
BOR Photos taken by Alexi Jimeno
Written testimonies provided by Lennie Espinoza

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Over the last two years at UH Hilo, since returning from COVID-19 restrictions, there have been numerous issues brought forward by students concerning housing: black mold and/or mildew growing in the dorm bathrooms, rusted pipes and kitchen appliances, power outages, gender equality issues concerning the rights of LGBTQ+ students, flooding in the dorms from sinks or toilets, and broken laundry units.

Students have also taken issue with the lack of communication by administration in the search for UH’s new president. Last September, current UH president David Lassner reported to the Board of Regents via email that he would be retiring at the end of 2024. Four months later a survey was sent to UH students, faculty, and staff, asking for input on the desired qualities in UH’s next president.

The survey was initially sent out Dec. 17, 2023 after commencement, and again on Jan. 8, 2024. The survey closed on Feb. 15th, a tight turnaround that provoked talk. Another issue on the mind of students has been the extensive evidence of military presence and/or connections to that of individuals on the UH System’s BOR or administration, as well as to the UH system in general.

These issues were brought to the Board of Regents on Feb. 15, when they visited the UH Hilo campus and interacted with students at the Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy, Hale Kiho‘iho‘i.

What is the Board of Regents?

UH Hilo is a part of the University of Hawaiʻi (UH) System, meaning that the campus is governed by the Board of Regents (BOR) and Administration. This same government makes decisions concerning campus affairs on all ten UH campuses across the islands of Hawaiʻi: Big Island, Kaua‘i, O‘ahu, and Maui.

According to the UH System Leadership page, the BOR is described as “composed of eleven regents, nominated by the Regents candidate Advisory Council, appointed by the governor [of Hawai‘i] and confirmed by legislature. They serve for staggered terms, without compensation,” and thus can be described as the “government” of the UH system. The BOR is also granted “full legal power and authority to manage and control the affairs of the university and the responsibility for the successful operation of the university and the achievement of the purposes as prescribed in the statutes rests exclusively with the board.” (UH System Website).

The 2023-2024 BOR meetings schedule, along with the Committee Meeting schedule, and meeting minutes for each, can be found on the UH System website, BOR page. According to these schedules, there were two meetings planned in February 2024; a Committee meeting on Feb. 15, 2024 and a BOR meeting on Feb. 16, 2024. Both meet- ings were held at UH Hilo’s College of Pharmacy.

Housing: Black Mold/Mildew

UH Hilo alumnus Lennie Espinoza lived in Hale ‘Ikena from Aug. 2022 until Dec. 2023, when he graduated. Espinoza was housed in the F building and provided written testimony, read by Kyla Marie Kauhaihao at the meeting.

“I talked about the quality of the housing itself which is really not good,” Espinoza stated, “which is insane considering our appliances are falling apart and rusted, we have rust dust on the floor that’s getting into our food, and we have mold in our bathrooms. When we brought it up, that it was black mold and not mildew to the housing staff, they said that there’s nothing they could do about it.”

Kauhaihao shared that Christopher Holland, the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs at UH Hilo, gave an overview report on housing at the BOR meeting. She recalled one of the regents asking Holland something along the lines of ‘is there actually black mold happening?’ where Holland responded, ‘not to our knowledge.’

Holland then stated that if there was anything growing, it would be “mildew” because we live in a “humid” town, which is notably still not safe for students’ health, especially not in their homes.

“The major issue for me is the dirtiness inside the dorms,” Espinoza stated. “We can only clean so much. Unless we bring in a ladder, we can’t get up there and clean the pipes that has layers and layers of dust and dirt.”

Housing: Flooding and Broken Laundry Units

Espinoza shared horror stories from other UH Hilo students who had similar experiences with housing. One of these accounts was back in February, when Espinoza stated that his friend had to be relocated “because the entire dorm flooded from the kitchen sink.”

This student was dealing with said relocation during midterms and while performing with multiple groups for international night. As of Feb. 8, the student had asked for some kind of refund or support from housing, where they told him there was nothing they could do.

“As for the laundry units, I know for ‘Ikena our dryers [didn’t] work,” Espinoza stated. “I stopped after the second round because it’s expensive; our laundromats are more expensive than the ones in town. Since they don’t dry our clothes, a lot of students are starting to go out in town. Or when the laundromats stopped working, students were being told to go to other dorms, having to lug their laundry around.”

Espinoza explained that students have to pay $2.50 for both washers and dryers. Laundry units at the dorms don’t take cash, operating on card only. On top of already paying $2,607 per semester to live in the dorms, this adds up very quickly.

Espinoza expressed that the laundry issue was time-consuming and cut into studying time. Similarly, it would take up gas to get from campus to the laundromats in town, and students without cars would have to take public transportation, walk, or get rides from other students.

Housing: Gender Equality and Student Safety

Espinoza also wrote about LGBTQ+ rights and gender equality issues within housing. Espinoza was former President of the Pride Hilo club, and is proudly transgender.

Additionally, Espinoza sent two written testimonies to the BOR on Feb. 26, 2024 requesting their opposition to the approval of regents Neil Abercrombie and Alapaki Na-hale-a (find attached). Espinoza addressed the flooding, dirtiness, and equality issues within housing, along with how both of these regents have neglected to take these issues, and students’ voices, seriously.

“I had to put my gender as female because they put your sex markers as your gender on the application, which is just scientifically wrong, and I had to use my legal name,” Espinoza stated.

“On my roommate profile it has my given name instead of my chosen name, and my gender marker as female,” Espinoza went on. “When other people are looking at my profile, they have no idea that I’m trans, which is very dangerous.”

“I ended up going to UHHSA and had a conversation about it,” Espinoza stated. “I asked them to update the application. They said that it’s been brought up to them several times, but it’s a ‘long process.’”

Espinoza mentioned knowing multiple students and/or alumni that reached out to Holland, and had personal meetings with him about the gender equality issues concerning housing.

Espinoza shared that when reapplying for housing the next semester, they added a space where you can put your “self-identified gender,” “chosen name,” and a question where you could choose from three options:

• You want to be housed with other queer people
• You’re comfortable being housed with other queer people
• You don’t want to be housed with other queer people

These options were a step in the right direction, but when roommate profiles were made that semester, given names and gender markers were still used.

Similarly, Espinoza stated that even more dangers for his community could arise as students who don’t support LGBTQ+ rights could easily lie on the application and thus be housed with someone they could potentially harm. Espinoza went on to mention that this additive still didn’t leave space for transgender or non-binary students to be housed with whom they’re comfortable living with.

Transgender students that have gone to housing and expressed uncomfortability with their roommates are either “isolated to their own rooms,” where there may or may not be another student in the other room, or they’re told that staff can’t do anything about it.

Espinoza stated that the main issues he dealt with living in the dorms were “isolation, not being called by our preferred names, and being misgendered even when corrected.”

Kauhaihao shared that Neil Abercrombie, an Interim Honolulu County regent, asked her some surface-level questions pertaining to gender equality and LGBTQ+ rights in housing. Abercrombie stated that students should “speak up” when such issues arise.

“I literally said to their faces, ‘Lennie is not somebody that wouldn’t talk about these issues’,” Kauhaihao responded. “He is not a person that wouldn’t address these head on. The fact that we’re still having these issues is showing some kind of disconnect, and that’s just the truth.”

Another safety issue both Espinoza and Kauhaihao mentioned was a sexual assault that happened in the dorms on Nov. 2, 2023. The sexual assault was reported via email by campus security, which read:

REPORTED OFFENSE: A sexual assault (Rape) was reported to have occurred on November 2, 2023 in the early morning in one of the UH Hilo Residential Facilities. The Hawaii Police Department is overseeing the investigation. Information about the suspect has been transmitted to the police. To our knowledge, there have been no arrests.

Espinoza recollected receiving the email and being scared because there was no other communication on the matter. Kauhaihao expressed similar concern, as none of the students knew what was going on. Students don’t know who they’re being dormed with until move in day, which Espinoza pointed out could lead to even more dangers for students if they’re not comfortable and/or safe living with their roommates.

Espinoza points out that dorms are meant to be students’ “home away from home” and “safe space,” but that’s been neglected and ignored by administration and housing staff.

Kauhaihao had similar feelings while recollecting on giving Espinoza’s written testimony, and adding her own concerns in at the end.

“These are the people [administration] serve, and they deserve better,” Kauhaihao stated. “This is their home away from home, and [housing] needs to be taken care of in a much better way than it has been.”

Search for UH’s New President and Military Presence

Kauhaihao, currently working on her M.A. in UH Hilo’s Cultural Heritage Management program, is also work- ing as a youth commissioner, among other roles.

She had the opportunity to write her own testimony for another BOR meeting that took place in Jan., concerning the search for UH’s new president and connections to the military within UH’s “government.” In this testimony, Kauhaihao was asking for multiple things; one being the rewording of “Hawaiʻi-experienced search firm” to “Hawai’i/Pacific-based search firm” in the search for the new UH president.

Kauhaihao shared that ‘Hawaiʻi-based’ or ‘Pacific-based’ better encapsulates what the UH system needs; commu- nity-based individuals who are aware and respectful of the culture, history, knowledge, and ways of life in Hawaiʻi.

“My biggest thing for this is, why is the University of Hawaiʻi not centering itself, in Hawaiʻi?’,” Kauhaihao stated. “There’s so many great projects that are coming out of our Pacific Islander students and programs. [PISC] does a great job of gathering Pacific Islander students, so why is that not being reflected in bigger decisions, made at the admin. level?”

“They say ‘public for public’ and that we’re a public university, but they’re making deals with the military and people outside of Hawai’i to find the next president for Hawaiʻi,” Kauhaihao went on, “This decision is going to affect Hawaiʻi, whether you view it that way or not.”

In Lassner’s biography on the UH system website, it reads: “[Lassner] is principal investigator for the Maui High Performance Computing Center and for the Pacific Disaster Center, major long-term U.S. Department of Defense programs based on Maui.”

Kauhaihao made note of Lassner’s military connection, also restating that the state of Hawaiʻi government (which is also connected to multiple military projects) is the one who appoints the BOR, who then appoints administration - including the UH president.

“[The UH System] is invested in everything the state of Hawaiʻi is invested in, as much as the state themselves, if not more,” Kauhaihao stated. She also pointed out UH’s connections to tourism, which is also embedded in military programs.

Some regents rejected students who tried to speak out and question them about these military connections during the BOR meeting held at UH Hilo. Notably, Abercrombie yelled at students telling them they don’t know what they’re talking about.

“You can’t sit here and say that you want to hear student voices and then when students question you and question who’s pocket you’re in, you start yelling at them and raise your voice because that’s how you know how to shut people up...” Espinoza stated. “If you’re not going to hold space for conversation, you’re not here for indigenous students. That’s how we make change, talking to each other... even if it is misunderstandings... it’s [the BOR and administrations] responsibility to make that clear in a productive way.”

Kauhaihao wrote in her testimony that “the timeline feels very rushed” in the search for the new UH President. She mentioned that in Jan., the BOR stated they may or may not split the UH president and Mānoa Chancellor positions, as Lassner currently holds both.

Kauhaihao stated there’s still been no update on the matter, yet the BOR is discussing possibly having found candidates for the dual-position.

Kauhaihao explained that if they do split this role in the near future, new applications and position profiles would be created, thus having to repeat the process. She understands the rush given that Lassner is retiring at the end of the year, but Kauhaihao expressed that there are more efficient ways of doing that, for example appointing an interim president.

Another issue with the search for the new UH president, is the lack of communication to students; the one’s whom said president is meant to serve. Similarly, the lack of accessibility to the BOR and administrators.

“In my mind, they are purposefully not making these things accessible for students to understand,” Kauhaihao stated, “Because why the hell would you have a board of regents meetings up at the pharmacy, away from the heart of this campus, and be talking about all these issues at a time and a place where students don’t have easy access to?”

Speak Up, Be Loud, Be Heard

Ke Kalahea also had the opportunity to interview Chris-topher Reichl, an anthropology professor at UH Hilo. Reichl had concerns pertaining to campus construction (see CC Construction Article).

Reichl addressed the administration’s lack of communication on where exactly money that’s being used for construction and other projects is coming from. Reichl made note of the lack of accountability, where he suggests the following to UH Hilo students:

“I think we need a union of university students that would be independent, not funded by the university,” Reichl said. “In cyberspace, they would hash out positions and then be able to speak to administration with a unified voice about issues that impact students. They couldn’t be brushed off anymore, because that’s what happens now. Any complaints are just brushed off; ‘oh, we’re working on it’, or ‘we’re doing the best we can’. They know they’re not going to be held accountable. But they would be if there was a union of university students.”

Reichl goes on to share that if UH Hilo students did start this union, they could expand to even more schools. Although students are busy with classes and day-to-day life, it’s important to point out that they are the ones who are and will continue to be affected by these issues, more than anyone else.

“Get angrier and be louder,” Espinoza shared. “I know when you’re in school it’s really hard to put your energy into anything else, but if you see something that upsets you, cause a ruckus. Be loud, be annoying. Make admin. uncomfortable because that’s the only way they’re going to listen to us, unfortunately. Students’ voices are important and should be heard; even if you have to scream it. You deserve to be heard.”

“It’s hard to get into all of this on top of studies and classes...” Kauhaihao sympathized, “but my biggest thing is for everyone to do what’s in their capacity. Do what you can do that day; it might make a world of difference later on. Even the smallest things can make a huge difference. Like writing testimony or posting about a certain talk-story event... that’s enough.”