Mānoa Budget Protest Continues Overnight
News Release from Fix UH Manoa November 18, 2014
Honolulu, HI: Graduate students have began a sit-in at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Campus Center to protest sudden and drastic budget cuts. Almost 100 students rallied and marched the first morning, and hundreds of students stopped by the sit-in to learn more information about the protest throughout the day. The sit-in carried on overnight with 8 people sleeping in tents at the Campus Center.
The administration has responded to the protests; the chancellor's office has announced that the College of Natural Sciences (and only the College of Natural Sciences) will be allowed to go into the red for Spring. The TA positions and core courses in the college will not be cut for Spring. But the students are still very concerned about what this will mean for Fall 2015.
The students note that other colleges already cut positions before the start of this year, and that those cuts have not been restored. Arts and Sciences is a primary engine for revenue generation. Covering the associated costs so A&S can grow will increase revenue for the university as a whole. Furthermore, the cuts in the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology have not been addressed. For example, Geology Geophysics faculty have taken a voluntary pay cut to save 3 out of 4 positions for Spring 2015. The students feel this is a disturbing precedent for them to set and should be discussed with University of Hawaii Professional Assembly.
The students have decided that the concessions granted by the interim Chancellor are not enough. They are continuing the protest through today, tonight, and as long it takes, and invite members of the media to visit their ‘tent city’ in the Campus Center.
Fix UH Mānoa:
BACKGROUND: Manoa Graduate Students Spur Campus-Wide Protest
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