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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES             H.R. NO.              
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                     HOUSE  RESOLUTION

SUPPORTING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A RESEARCH INSTITUTE AND A
   MASTERS OF ARTS PROGRAM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI'I AT
   MANOA CENTER FOR HAWAIIAN STUDIES.


 1       WHEREAS, the University of Hawai'i system (UH system), as
 2   the only State institution of higher education, has explicit
 3   responsibility to carry out the State of Hawai'i constitutional
 4   mandate which states that "the State shall provide for a
 5   Hawaiian education program consisting of language, culture and
 6   history in the public schools" as a suitable and essential
 7   means in furtherance of the Hawaiian education program; and
 8   
 9       WHEREAS, the University of Hawai'i (UH) should take the
10   lead in researching, developing, and promoting a comprehensive
11   and integrated Hawaiian Studies program of instruction,
12   research, curriculum development, and community service shared
13   throughout the UH system by the Center for Hawaiian Studies
14   (Center) at UH Manoa; and
15   
16       WHEREAS, the UH cites Hawaiian Studies as a foremost
17   component of its Strategic Plan and supports an expanded role
18   for Hawaiian Studies; and
19   
20       WHEREAS, the UH, in its Strategic Plan, also proposes that
21   the University should take advantage of those programs which
22   have achieved or have potential to achieve national or
23   international prominence; and
24   
25       WHEREAS, the UH is the only place in the world where one
26   can study things Hawaiian; and
27   
28       WHEREAS, that fact alone establishes why Hawaiian Studies
29   will make the UH unique among all other universities and
30   colleges in the world; and
31   
32       WHEREAS, the UH should strive to strengthen its position as
33   one of the leading research institutions in the nation, Asia
34   and Pacific Basin; and
35   
36       WHEREAS, the UH, as the only public institution of higher
37   learning, should take the lead in the perpetuation of Hawaiian
38   culture, language and history through research, instruction,
39   curriculum development in Hawaiian and English in order to
40   better serve the community; and

 
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                                  H.R. NO.              
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1       WHEREAS, the Ka'u: Hawaiian Studies Task Force Report of
 2   1986, recommended the establishment of a Research Institute,
 3   with a Director of Research, an Associate Director, Institute
 4   Staff, Research Projects, Library Center Repository and
 5   Publications at the Center; and
 6   
 7       WHEREAS, the UH at Manoa is a class one research university
 8   and is the appropriate campus for graduate study and research;
 9   and
10   
11       WHEREAS, the majority of primary source Hawaiian research
12   materials available for translation into English exist in
13   Honolulu in the Bishop Museum, Hawai'i State Archives, Mission
14   Houses Museum, and the Department of Land and Natural
15   Resources; and
16   
17       WHEREAS, in the past 13 years, the Center has created 19
18   new courses, never taught before at any university in the
19   world, including the first ever two semester course in
20   traditional navigation and non-instrument voyaging; and
21   
22       WHEREAS, curriculum development at the Center for Hawaiian
23   Studies Research Institute will focus on the creation of
24   bilingual curriculum materials in English and Hawaiian for the
25   teaching of Hawaiian language and culture; and
26   
27       WHEREAS, Hawaiian Studies research will include
28   multidisciplinary research in subjects such as navigation,
29   religion, geography, land tenure, resource management, visual
30   and performing arts, oral traditions, science, biomedicine,
31   astronomy, contemporary Hawaiian issues, ceded lands,
32   reconciliation and law; and
33   
34       WHEREAS, a majority of the 48,000 English speaking Hawaiian
35   children in the Department of Education (DOE) public school
36   system who have been identified as at-risk youth could greatly
37   benefit from identity empowerment, resulting from bilingual
38   curriculum development at the Center at the UH at Manoa; and
39   
40       WHEREAS, the DOE statewide Kupuna Program and Social
41   Studies components continually lack adequate curriculum in
42   English for teaching of things Hawaiian to the 187,302 English-
43   speaking children in the DOE public schools; and
44   
45       WHEREAS, the Center for Hawaiian Studies Research Institute
46   will provide training for students, pre-service teachers, and
47   current teachers in the use of innovative new bilingual
48   Hawaiian Studies curriculum materials; and

 
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                                  H.R. NO.              
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1       WHEREAS, there is a demand from alumni of the Center in all
 2   aspects of research and post-graduate levels; and
 3   
 4       WHEREAS, there is an abundance of federal funding to
 5   support a research institute and a graduate program at the
 6   Center at UH-Manoa; now, therefore,
 7   
 8       BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the
 9   Twentieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session
10   of 2000, that this body supports the establishment of a
11   Hawaiian Studies Research Institute at the UH at Manoa; and
12   
13       BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of
14   the Twentieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular
15   Session of 2000, that this body also unequivocally supports the
16   establishment of a Master's of Arts in Hawaiian Studies at the
17   UH at Manoa; and
18   
19       BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this
20   Resolution be transmitted to the Governor of the State of
21   Hawai'i, UH Board of Regents, and the President of the UH.
22 
23 
24 
25                         OFFERED BY: _____________________________
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