The GSO represents the academic interests of over 5,000 graduate students attending the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the flagship campus of the University of Hawai'i System.

The GSO places a particular emphasis on fostering excellence in research at both the PhD and Master level. As such, the GSO endeavors to facilitate research initiatives from graduate students through its grants and awards program. The GSO anticipates awarding over $130,000 to graduate students for conducting research and attending conferences worldwide for the academic year 2008-2009.

The GSO provides input on all issues affecting University of Hawaii graduate students and the University of Hawaii at Manoa campus. It has representatives seating on over 40 university committees and participates in a wide variety of graduate student, campus, and community events.

Honolulu, May 13, 2008

GSO Elections 2008-2009 ratified.

Honolulu, October 18, 2007

The GSO Executive Council meets with Dr. Virginia S. Hinshaw, Chancellor of the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa

Topics discussed:

1. TA Salary

GSO President Marc Le Pape pointed out that Teaching Assistants salary increase are overdue for a pay raise. The last pay raise occurred in 2003 and all TAs have since incurred an effective annual pay cut in a context of rampant inflation and increasingly inaccessible housing in the State of Hawaii. A pay raise was supposed to take effect in Spring 2007 but has not yet come into effect. GSO President Marc Le Pape pointed out that there where at least two issues associated with the current status of TA pay levels: UH Manoa fails to attract, and fails to retain, the best graduate students as TA salaries are non competitive on a nation wide basis. Furthermore, there is an outstanding equity issue with having some TAs on the most richly endowed programs payroll being paid 3 times as much money for similar services as less richly endowed programs. The current situation is inequitable, unhealthy, and stands in marked contradiction with the rhetoric of the UH Strategic Plan. GSO President Marc Le Pape asked the Chancellor to move all TA[s] who have not receive a raise in the last year 2 steps up the pay scale and to remove step 1 and step 2 for all TA[s] altogether.

2. Tenure Promotion Review Committee

GSO President Marc Le Pape made the case that the TPRC, to the great consternation of graduate students, has been remiss in the way it handles its duties. There is currently at least one documented case on the Chancellor desk of inappropriate tenure denial by the TPRC. The TPRC recommendation for denial went against both the recommendation of the Dean, and the recommendation of the Department Chair. After review by the hearing committee, the TPRC decision was deemed inappropriate in its conclusions and recommendations. Consequently, the hearing committee decided to by-pass entirely the TPRC and sent this professor's tenure application directly to the Chancellor for appropriate action. Graduate students ask the Chancellor to consider that a denial of tenure for this professor would result in an irreparable loss for undergraduate and graduate students in the department of origin and trust the Chancellor will exercise due diligence in reviewing this tenure application submitted by a professor with a consistently outstanding students' evaluation record.

3. Security

As mentioned to the Board of Regents (BOR) by GSO President Marc Le Pape, the GSO would like to see security cameras installed at all strategic locations at UH Manoa. This would allow for cheap and efficient security and also provide indisputable evidence to the Honolulu Police Department (HPD) whenever necessary. GSO President Marc Le Pape pointed out the total drop in crime rate in the Computer Sciences department after security camera were installed 4 years ago and related these benefits to potentially address in a similar manner the unacceptably high level of threat and crime directed to female students at UH Manoa. He indicated that the savings incurred by the use of campus wide video cameras and the concomitant decrease in required security personnel, and security personnel training, should be channeled in remote surveillance facilities, the training of emergency security personnel, and fewer yet better trained security officers.

4. ASUH Amnesty Program

GSO President Marc Le Pape introduced to the Chancellor the ASUH Amnesty Program and gave the Chancellor a copy of the program's objectives forwarded to him by ASUH President Christina Stidman. GSO President Marc Le Pape indicated its full support for the ASUH Amnesty Program, explained to the Chancellor its potential benefits for all undergraduate and graduate students, suggested that the Chancellor help ASUH refine the Amnesty Program's goals and objectives, and recommended the Chancellor to take a leading role in the formal implementation of the Amnesty Program at UH Manoa.

Honolulu, February 5, 2007

Dr. Gary Ostrander, Vice-Chancellor for Research & Graduate Education
Dr. Peter Garrod, Graduate Dean
University of Hawaii at Manoa
2500 Campus Road, Hawai‘i Hall 211
Honolulu, HI 96822

Ref: Graduate Assistants Salaries

The UH Strategic Plan states “Social Justice” as one of its core commitments. Yet, while faculty salaries have increased every year since 2000, Graduate Assistants’ salaries have remained unchanged since 2003. This effectively means that in constant dollars, and without even taking inflation into consideration, all Graduate Assistants have seen their salary shrink every year since 2003. The University of Hawaii Strategic Plan cites “Educational Effectiveness” as one of its strategic imperatives and the University of Hawaii Final Proposal to WASC cites “Educational Effectiveness” no less than fourteen times. At the same time, a significant number of undergraduate classes are taught by teaching assistants who fail to understand how the university can boast of, let alone promote, educational effectiveness when it effectively pays its teaching assistant less and less every year.

The University of Hawaii Strategic Plan cites recruiting, rewarding, and supporting top students as one of its strategic imperatives and the University of Hawaii Graduate Council cites attracting and retaining top students in graduate programs as one of its major objectives. However, there is a widespread failure to acknowledge the need to adequately compensate Graduate Assistants in order to meet these commendable objectives. On behalf of almost 5000 graduate students, I respectfully request the Vice-Chancellor for Research & Graduate Education and the Dean of Graduate Division to take immediate steps to resolve the undisputable contradictions between the University of Hawaii’s stated educational commitments and its Graduate Assistants’ effective levels of compensation, by granting a just and equitable salary increase to all Graduate Assistants and releasing a timeline stating precisely when such pay increase will take effect.

Respectfully,
Marc A. Le Pape, President
University of Hawaii Graduate Students Organization

Honolulu, Friday, March 2, 2007

Denise Konan, UH Manoa Chancellor
Dr. Gary Ostrander, Vice-Chancellor for Research & Graduate Education
Dr. Peter Garrod, Graduate Dean
University of Hawaii at Manoa
2500 Campus Road, Hawai‘i Hall 211
Honolulu, HI 96822

Ref: Graduate Assistants Salaries

Aloha Denise, Gary and Peter:

I am trying to understand if there anything else you and graduate division could do before this long overdue TA & GA salary increase degenerate into open conflict across graduate programs at UH Manoa – a situation I have been at great pains to avert as you all know. GAs are getting unusually restless on this issue and understandably so.

Furthermore, it seems that the letter I officially sent to you and Gary and that you subsequently distributed to the Deans at the MET meeting failed to generate any concrete action so far except for a sudden and substantial GAs salaries increase in the most wealthy colleges such as SOEST and IFA and coincidentally enough at a time when graduate programs under these colleges seek to attract the best graduate students to UH.

Unfortunately, , this piece-meal, ad hoc implementation of what should be a UH Manoa wide effort only adds to the sense of injustice all GAs in other programs already feel, making the matter worse than it already was.

Adding insult to injury, the evidence is around that the statement made publicly to me last week by one of the selected applicants to the Chancellor position, (namely that "Grad students can sleep at the beach if they lack funding") pretty much summarizes the attitude of the UH Manoa Deans and faculty.

Please let us know what concrete steps you can take to address this issue without delay including, but not limited to, making appropriate recommendations to the Board of Regents, and asking for this whole issue to be put on the Board of Regents' next meeting agenda

Thanks and Aloha,
Marc A. Le Pape, President
University of Hawaii Graduate Students Organization

Honolulu, Friday, March 5, 2007

Denise Konan, UH Manoa Chancellor
Dr. Gary Ostrander, Vice-Chancellor for Research & Graduate Education
Dr. Peter Garrod, Graduate Dean
University of Hawaii at Manoa
2500 Campus Road, Hawai‘i Hall 211
Honolulu, HI 96822

Ref: Graduate Assistants Salaries

Dear Chancellor Konan, Vice-Chancellor Ostrander and Graduate Dean Garrod:

" As you know, we have included a biennium budget request that would support GA faculty adjustments through an increase in our general fund appropriation."

Yes, I read the biennium budget request and I do know we have a $750,000 budget line listed in the biennium budget request. However, this is not guarantee; it is simply a request to the legislature. So for all we know it might never materialize in the actual budget.

" graduate students would be welcome to testify in favor of this request."

This is exactly what I intended to do, and I discussed this option with the Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Neal Smatresk last month. However in a follow up conversation last week with UH Manoa Chancellor Executive Secretary Heather Crislip, I was told this was actually not an option as students cannot testify on this specific budget item.

" I don't believe board action would be required as we were recently delegated more authority in the area of GA salaries."

This is presumably good news. I take note that the decision for a GA salaries is then entirely dependent on the good will of the UH Manoa Administration and the Deans of Colleges who report to it.

" Thus a broad discussion of the issue is critical, and will take some time."

This to me is a contradiction in terms. Actually it is a " fallacy of language" . How can you logically argue that something " is critical" as the predicate of a declarative sentence yet postpone action to the vague and indecisive distant future in the subordinate clause " and will take some time" ? " Critical" suggests quick, urgent action. Not indecision and delay.

" The issue is not one of Board delegation, but rather of finding funding sources."

Understood. However, and since by your won admission this is a UH Manoa issue, don't you find it somewhat unethical that Chancellor, Vice-Chancellors and Deans of Colleges who are paid anywhere in the range of $300,000 to $500,000 specifically to raise funds AND to make sound and quick decisions on critical issue, consistently failed to raise funds to address the issue AND repeatedly chose to ignore it – while complacently looking down on GAs typical $13,000 salary, asking GAs to hang on there in the vague hope that somehow, someday, an unfriendly legislature considers a GA line item in a conjectural biennium budget?

" Thank you for calling these issues to our attention."

Rather than keep calling attention to the issue, the time has come for me to request a meeting between yourself, the Vice-Chancellor for Research $ Graduate Education and the Graduate Dean, to discuss options, agree on specific actions, and define specific timelines for their implementations.

Since you agree " the issue is critical" and since you " understand (my) desire for a quick response" , let's add substance to this claims by taking immediate action and schedule this meeting at your earliest convenience.

Please let me know what time and date is most suitable to you, the Vice-Chancellor for Research & Graduate Education, and the Graduate Dean.

Respectfully,
Marc A. Le Pape, President
University of Hawaii
Graduate Students Organization

On Mar 3, 2007, at 10:10 PM, Denise Konan wrote:

Dear Marc,

I understand your desire for a quick response to your letter concerning graduate student salary increases. We are in the process of considering your request and the options before us.

I assure you that Dean Garrod and Vice Chancellor Ostrander are considering options available. As you know, we have included a biennium budget request that would support GA faculty adjustments through an increase in our general fund appropriation. Graduate students would be welcome to testify in favor of this request.

We have not had a MET meeting since your letter arrived. GA salaries are largely determined at the level of the deans, and so this discussion is an important one. Many graduate student positions are funded through departmental allocations, research grants, and special endowments. Thus a broad discussion of the issue is critical, and will take some time. We are not able to add agenda items to the upcoming BOR meeting at this time, as we have passed the deadline to do so. However, I don't believe board action would be required as we were recently delegated more authority in the area of GA salaries. The issue is not one of Board delegation, but rather of finding funding sources.

Thank you for calling these issues to our attention.

Best regards,
Denise Eby Konan, Interim Chancellor
University of Hawaii at Manoa