HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

59

TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2005

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

REQUESTING THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII TO ESTABLISH AN OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT FOR COMMUNITY COLLEGES.

 

 

WHEREAS, in 1964, the Legislature passed Act 39, which statutorily created in law Chapter 305, Hawaii Revised Statutes, entitled "Community Colleges"; and

WHEREAS, the law dictates that the Board of Regents shall "administer a system of community colleges"; and

WHEREAS, in 2003 and against the better judgment of state law, former University of Hawaii President Evan Dobelle proposed a systemwide reorganization that eliminated the systemwide Vice President for Community Colleges; and

WHEREAS, the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, Western Association of Schools and Colleges recently informed the interim President of the University of Hawaii system that it is concerned that the community colleges "continue to lack an integrated system-wide program review, institutional assessment and improvement process that sets the expectation that campuses develop a culture and practice of assessment and that supports improvement in campus practice at the system decision-making level"; and

WHEREAS, the Commission also reported that confusion continues about the respective roles of campus and system administrators in determining campus priorities and that this lack of distinction continues to challenge the ability of each college to meet accreditation standards, and furthermore, a lack of clarity persists about operational decisions distinct to the role and mission of the community colleges within the University of Hawaii system; and

WHEREAS, the Commission felt that a possible solution was that the community colleges and the University of Hawaii system should identify more clearly the community college system functions and the authority assigned to the two associate vice president offices; and

WHEREAS, the Legislature observes that, in contrast to the present decentralized governance structure in which each community college is headed by its own chancellor, the community colleges were formerly united under a single chancellor and were not criticized in the manner that they are criticized today; and

WHEREAS, consolidating the chancellors of the several community colleges under a vice president for community colleges would eliminate the current fragmentation that exists and provide a cohesive voice to assist in determining policy and ensuring the equitable distribution of resources of and for the community colleges; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2005, the Senate concurring, that the University of Hawaii is respectfully requested to establish an Office of the Vice President for Community Colleges to oversee the offices of the chancellors of the several community colleges of the University of Hawaii system; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Chair of the Board of Regents of the University of Hawaii and the interim President of the University of Hawaii.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

Report Title:

University of Hawaii