Student Walkout Protests UH Management of Maunakea

Students walked out of class and congregated around UH Hilo’s University Center Building flagpole on Tuesday, Nov.12 at noon, and gathered in a circle to participate in “pule,” traditional Hawaiian chants and prayers. The walkout was staged as a reaction to the results of the Nov. 6 University of Hawai’i Board of Regents (BOR) meeting at UH Hilo (see The Mauna Rules), where Regents unanimously passed a resolution containing various controversial Maunakea management action items, with the exception of one Regent abstaining.

After the pule, the demonstrators walked to the sidewalks on Kawili St., taking up both sides of the street with signs, and continued chants while cars drove by. Students, many from the Ka Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikōlani College of Hawaiian Language at UH Hilo, protested while donning colorful flags and eye-catching red and yellow shirts reading, “Kū Kia’i Mauna,” Hawaiian for “Guardians of the Mountain.”

The phrase is a symbol of Hawaiian self-determination, as well as the movement led by Hawaiians opposing the Thirty Meter Telescope’s (TMT) construction on Maunakea. The kiaʻi, composed of various Native Hawaiian groups who view the telescope’s development on mauna as desecration to a sacred site, set up a roadblock that has limited access to the summit since July.

From the street, the group walked back through UH Hilo’s Campus Center to the Chancellor’s office, where organizers requested an audience with UH Hilo Chancellor Bonnie Irwin, only to be informed that Irwin was out of town on business for the rest of the week. Instead, Interim Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Kaleihiʻiikapoli “Kalei” Rapoza stood with the crowd of demonstrators under the afternoon sun and listened to speakers bear their grievances with the university.

One student, Grace Bezilla, expressed the trauma she felt throughout the semester while dealing with the events transpiring around TMT’s proposed construction. She stated that the university should administer passing grades to affected students who could not keep up with their coursework because of the cultural trauma induced by UH Hilo’s actions concerning Maunakea, adding that UH Hilo has failed to accommodate or rectify such students’ hardships through other means.

“There’s been discussions--there hasn’t been actions. There hasn’t been a psychologist flown in that knows intergenerational or historical trauma,” said Bezilla, implying she had requested such action by UH Hilo in June.

“I just woke up one morning and said, ‘I’ve got to take a stand,’” said demonstration organizer Yvonne Kahikina, who expressed her gratitude to students who participated in the walkout.