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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES             H.R. NO.              H.D. 1
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________


                     HOUSE  RESOLUTION

ENCOURAGING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A RESEARCH INSTITUTE AND A
   MASTER 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 the
 3   explicitly established responsibility to carry out the State of
 4   Hawai'i constitutional mandate that "the State shall provide
 5   for a Hawaiian education program consisting of language,
 6   culture and history in the public schools"; and
 7   
 8       WHEREAS, the University of Hawai'i (UH) should take the
 9   lead in researching, developing, and promoting a comprehensive
10   and integrated Hawaiian Studies program of instruction,
11   research, curriculum development, and community service shared
12   throughout the UH system by the Center for Hawaiian Studies
13   (Center) at UH at Manoa; and
14   
15       WHEREAS, the UH cites Hawaiian Studies as a foremost
16   component of its strategic plan and supports an expanded role
17   for Hawaiian Studies; and
18   
19       WHEREAS, the strategic plan proposes that the University
20   should take advantage of those programs which have achieved or
21   have potential to achieve national or international prominence;
22   and
23   
24       WHEREAS, the UH is the only place where one can study
25   things Hawaiian, making the UH unique among all other
26   universities and colleges in the world; and
27   
28       WHEREAS, the UH should strive to strengthen its position as
29   one of the leading research institutions in the United States,
30   Asia, and the Pacific Basin; and
31   
32       WHEREAS, the UH, as the only public institution of higher
33   learning in the State, should take the lead in the perpetuation
34   of Hawaiian culture, language, and history through research,
35   instruction, and curriculum development in Hawaiian and English
36   in order to better serve the community; and

 
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                                  H.R. NO.              H.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

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

 
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                                  H.R. NO.              H.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1       WHEREAS, the Center for Hawaiian Studies Research Institute
 2   will provide training for students, pre-service teachers, and
 3   current teachers in the use of innovative new bilingual
 4   Hawaiian Studies curriculum materials; and
 5   
 6       WHEREAS, there is a demand from alumni of the Center in all
 7   aspects of research and post-graduate levels; and
 8   
 9       WHEREAS, there is abundant federal funding to support a
10   research institute and a graduate program at the Center; now,
11   therefore,
12   
13       BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the
14   Twentieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session
15   of 2000, that this body encourages the establishment of a
16   Center for Hawaiian Studies Research Institute at the UH at
17   Manoa; and
18   
19       BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this body also unequivocally
20   encourages the establishment of a Master of Arts degree program
21   in Hawaiian Studies at the UH at Manoa; and
22   
23       BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this
24   Resolution be transmitted to the Governor of the State of
25   Hawai'i, the Chairperson of the UH Board of Regents, and the
26   President of the UH.