UH Hilo Hawaiian language college disputes commission's concerns

By T. Ilihia Gionson / Ka Wai Ola

An organization that accredits schools and colleges has warned a newly formed doctorate program in Hawaiian and Indigenous Language and Culture Revitalization at the University of Hawai'i at Hilo that improvements must be made, or the school could face sanctions. Leaders of the program, however, said that many of the organization's concerns have either been addressed or require additional funding from the UH system.

The doctorate was established in Fall 2006 as a program of Ka Haka 'Ula o Ke'elikōlani, the Hawaiian language college at UH Hilo. The degree is not only the first doctorate in the Hawaiian language, but it is the first Ph.D. in a native language in the United States and the first degree in indigenous language revitalization in the world.

The concerns brought up by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges regarding the doctorate program included an apparent lack of objective oversight over the curriculum and a potential for conflict or interest as four of the five current doctoral students also hold rank in the Hawaiian language college.

However, the college maintains that the concerns stem from the commission's misunderstanding of the structure of the college. “It's important to note that WASC has not found fault with the academic quality of our Ph.D. program, nor has it questioned our widely acknowledged national leadership in indigenous language revitalization,” said professor Pila Wilson, program leader for the doctoral degree.

Regarding the lack of objective oversight, Wilson says that the Ph.D. proposal was reviewed by more entities than any other degree program at UH Hilo. In addition to entities on the UH Hilo campus, the proposal was reviewed by the UH Mānoa graduate council and Hawaiian Studies program, faculty senates across the UH system and the UH Board of Regents. Also, the college's proposal stated that faculty from other universities would be brought in to teach courses, ensuring external oversight. “We will ask for clarification of this concern when the WASC site team returns next fall,” Wilson said.

Because of the relatively small pool of faculty with advanced degrees in the Hawaiian studies community, the inclusion of the college's faculty was always a possibility. “The original proposal to WASC stated that the program would be the first of its kind in the world, and therefore be used to address faculty development for the college itself as well as other Hawaiian and indigenous entities,” Wilson said.

Another issue regarding the faculty is that the UH system has not made good on its commitment to fully fund the 1997 budget creating Ka Haka 'Ula o Ke'elikōlani, according to Wilson. The college is the only college in the UH system without a dean or dean's office, and the teacher-student ratio is much higher than in other language programs in the system. For example, UH Mānoa's Chinese program has a ratio of almost five students per faculty member, versus Ka Haka 'Ula's nearly 13 students per teacher.

“The lack of full funding at all levels has required our faculty to juggle a huge number of responsibilities including those normally carried by secretaries and administrators,” Wilson said.

Wilson concluded that the college will be able to or already has addressed the concerns over which the college has control. “Our greatest concern is the area over which we have no control: assuring that the resources long promised to the college are actually delivered, a critical matter to be addressed by the UH system.”