Wendy Hensel, the new president of the University of Hawaii system, continued her statewide tour of universities, community colleges and education centers last week at the Hawaii Community College Manono campus.
While the open forum Monday afternoon attended by about 30 people saw some previously discussed topics revisited, an event before the forum introduced Hensel to new experiences.
All nine previous Kipaepae welcoming ceremonies at each campus left Hensel with warm feelings and clear examples of the Hawaiian protocols that are the heart of the UH system, but the Ho‘olulu Council of Hawaii Community College’s I Ola Haloa Center for Hawaii Life Styles went by the adage of, “Ho‘okahi no la o ka malihini” (“A stranger only for one day”), offering a more hands-on experience that showed what students of Hawaiian Studies at the community college can expect to enjoy.
A collection of pahu drums and several beautiful pu shells on woven mats with a row chairs facing the lawn that surrounds the Papa‘a Hale, the open-air building where I Ola Haloa teaches, set the stage for Hensel’s first lesson: the power of sound when connecting with the ‘aina.
Hawaii Community College Chancellor Susan Kazama joined the group who beat the pahu once, then twice, then in rapid succession, creating the sound of falling rain, during which others blew the shells with the pursed lips of trumpeter on the call of “Pu!” This combination is an ancient way of calling for rain, and a higher wind did blow cumulous clouds toward the Papa‘a Hale, as if on cue.
A lesson on how inquisitive Maui lassoed the sun was followed by lau kapala (stamping with a ti leaf) on a kihei (traditional cloth wrapped and tied over one’s shoulder), with guidance on how the section of the leaf stem and the angle at which it is cut create stamps of different shapes and sizes, from small fish scales to wider hook shapes.
Hensel was curious and joyful during the whole Kipaepae, from her timid first pahu hit to her focused creativity with the lau kapala.
The Kipaepae closed with two mele with hula performed by Kuku‘ena, the dance halau that featured Kazama, I Ola Haloa Director No‘el Tagab Cruz, Chair Akea Kiyuna, and representative Hau‘oli Viritua, along with Yuna Inoue, a Hawaii Community College grad who returns often to reconnect through hula.
After moving from Tokyo to Hilo in 2020, Inoue fell so in love with Hawaiian culture and ‘Olelo Hawai‘i that she is now a junior in Hawaiian Studies and Linguistics at UH Hilo with dreams of becoming a teacher someday, which she calls “my contribution back to the community in Hawaii.”
Ioune’s example displayed the goals of growth, life-path discovery and easy transition through the levels of higher education that Hensel touched on during the 45-minute open forum following the Kipaepae. The major themes from previous speeches revisited included: a baseline standard of care; leveraging technology for maximum benefits; streamlining the path between two-year colleges, four-year universities and employment; and advancing the use of artificial intelligence.
“I really like to use data much more intensively to understand how resources are distributed across the campuses,” Hensel explained of attaining that baseline care in response to a question about potential redevelopment of the campus. “It shouldn’t be that there are wonderful resources in one place and a real dearth of them in another place.”
A streamlined path from two-year to four-year schools, and onward into the workforce, came up in many questions posed to Hensel on Monday.
She received resounding applause after stating, “It’s a moral imperative that every class should transfer from a community college to a senior college,” and then shared a relatably frustrating experience her own son faced regarding articulation agreements.
On the need for streamlining into jobs, she said, “I’m hearing from employers across the state that to work with our campuses requires 10 different entry points. The truth is, the system can create a unified front door so that our community doesn’t have to navigate through that complexity in order to be a partner, to receive employees, and to really be able to communicate and influence our curriculum.”
Several questions about whether or not faculty and the community at large would have input on the path ahead for the community college led back to a topic Hensel has discussed often since fielding Executive Orders from President Donald Trump earlier this month that demand institutions comply with DEIA (diversity, equity, inclusion and access) policy bans or face funding cuts: the Advisory Council she aims to assemble to tackle these issues from a united front with a chorus of harmonizing, diverse voices.
“We are deliberately, proactively setting up the channel of communication before the moment of crisis, before the moment of decisions, to ensure that our community’s voice is truly represented as we make these decisions,” Hensel said, stating that representatives of students, staff and identity groups will be joining UH officers and chancellors on the new Advisory Council.
The final recurring theme of the forum was a hot topic in today’s world: the necessity of artificial intelligence.
Hensel has spoken about it often because she believes the potential it unlocks cannot be ignored. She quoted from a recent Microsoft talk she attended: “Not using AI is like using your finger to drive a nail into wood when there’s a hammer right there.”
“If we’re not partnering with that expertise to bring them in to help our professors stay current and to help us infuse it into our curriculum, we’re going to permanently just be behind and really widen the digital divide,” Hensel said.
The question of AI’s environmental impact through its gargantuan water usage was brought up, but Hensel admitted that, while she recognizes the importance of that issue and would like to see it solved, the answer was beyond her wheelhouse to give at Monday’s forum.
This answer dismayed one student in attendance, Solimár Sanchez, who studied Environmental Science at UH Hilo before transferring to the community college to study Liberal Arts in his journey to find the perfect major for him.
Sanchez, a trans man whose descent is both Mexican and Native American, was also upset that Hensel ran out of time before she could directly address how the community college would protect people like him if the DEIA bans that worry LGBTQIA individuals become an inescapable mandate.
“I just need something that’s representative. I need something that’s conducive to our environment. I need something that’s beneficial and has input from the students. I need something that’s simple to understand and accessible, something we can grasp and hold on to,” he said. “I need a human, I don’t need a computer.”
Hensel’s tour continued Tuesday at Hawaii Community College’s Honoka‘a and Palamanui campuses.
“This is just the beginning of the conversation. It’s not the end,” Hensel assured the forum crowd as her available time drew to a close. “It’s really important that your leadership show up in your space, and I pledge to do that.”
Email Kyveli Diener at kdiener@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
