University of Hawai'i faculty leaders voted yesterday to oppose a $50 million Navy research center planned for the Manoa campus.

The Faculty Senate voted 31-18 after two hours of debate for a resolution asking school administrators to reject what would have been the first such new military research center on an American campus in more than 50 years.

After two hours of pointed, yet civilized debate, the UH-Manoa faculty senate voted 31-18 to unequivocally oppose the Navy-UARC contract for UH.

The members of the Save UH/Stop UARC Coalition are heartened that yet another key component of the UH community took the time and effort to make a well-informed decision about their position on this controversial proposal.

A non-competitive contract with the Navy to do secret research at UH is incompatible with the principles that continue to make UH a leader among international educational institutions.

We have faith that Interim-Chancellor Denise Konan will heed the advice of the faculty’s elected representatives. We expect Interim-President David McClain and the Board of Regents to do the same.

This controversy has endured far too long, dividing our campus and distracting from the university's educational pursuits. It is time to withdraw the Navy-UARC proposal and to restore balance to our university.

A proposal belatedly making the rounds and raising blood pressure of faculty at the UH Manoa campus would transform the educational atmosphere of the university in the name of heightened security.
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Some faculty say the plan appears to reflect the kinds of security measures necessary to administer classified research projects envisioned for the proposed Navy research center now being debated.

But it would also abruptly put an end to free faculty-student interactions as well as routine contacts between faculty in different departments, remaking the educational and work environment. Faculty, for example, apparently would not be free to visit offices of faculty in different departments without advance administrative approval and appropriate security clearances, despite the number of university activities that rely on free exchange of ideas between those based in different parts of the campus.