Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 14, Number 8, 1 August 1997 — Alumni support KSBE [ARTICLE]

Alumni support KSBE

For more than 100 years, the students, parents and alumni of Kamehameha Schools have faithfully supported the Bishop Estate in all of its endeavors. The sense of 'ohana within the school community at Kamehameha has been genuine. I'he sense of pride amongst students, parents, teachers and alums to be part of the Kamehameha experience has been heartfelt. Now in a remarkable departure, that sense of 'ohana has eroded. Ad while the pride is still there, it has been overshadowed by an overwhelming, palpahle and pervasive loss of morale. What went wrong? The students, parents, alums and even the faculty have been s struggling to meet with the trustees to find out how to fix the problem: to repair relationships, restore trust, develop new policies that are equitable to all. So far, all requests to meet with the trustees in any meaningful way have been turned down. Among the more dramatic and telling events that have led to this point are: • the stripping of authority of the school president despite undeniable support for him continued on page 3

by the student body; • the off-campus inquisition of the student-body president by a trustee; • the cancellation of Kamehameha's Hawaiian language program; • a letter to the Supreme Court justices from Nona Beamer, a Kamehameha alum and former teacher and respected Hawaiiana authority, expressing grave eoneem over the school's ādministraHon; • the massive march on May 15 by Kamehameha Schools' supporters expressing their eoneem for the problems at the school; • refusal by school officials to see Kamehameha T-shirts to those wishing to wear them in the march that day; • Kamehameha students booing one of the trastees at Sbng Cbntest rehearsal; • the overwhelming applause for Kamehameha's president at Song Contest and GraduaHon; • the refusal of a trustee to jpin in that applause at Graduation in full view of everyone, including the media; • an unprecedented press release from Kamehameha faculty articulating their eoneem for the well-being of the students and the loss of the school's sensc of community; • and ihe resignation or threatened resignaHon of top KSBE teachers. Rather than sit down with the concemed groups to discuss resoluHon, the trastees chose to take their case to court. The trastees, admitting there was a serious intemal problem, selected a fact-finder and asked the court to authorize him to conduct an inquiry and provide a secret report for their review. The group responded to the trustees aeHon in court by asking the

court to make the fact-finder's report public. To allow the fact-finding process to go forward and to avoid a confrontation with the trastees over who the beneficiaries of the trast are, Nā Pua a Ke Ali'i Pauahi agreed to temporarily set aside its argument that the students, parents and alumni are the rightful beneficiaries of the Estate. The trastees vehemently insist that the only beneficiary of the estate is the physical school itself, a ridiculous argument given the intent of ke Ali'i Pauahi's will. Enough. It is time for the trath to be known. It is Hme for all those who for years have professed to have incriminating evidence against the trusteēs, estate or school officials, to step forward to the fact-finder openly or in confidence. If Kamani Kuala'au, a courageous 18-year-old Kamehameha graduate, ean step forward to speak the truth at great peiil to himself and his future, so ean we, and so ean you. It is up to us as Hawaiians to shed light on the trath. This is one issue that all of us as liawaiians ean i agree upon. Nā Pua a Ke Ali'i Pauahi membership applications are available bv eontacting the Membership Committee at P.O. Box 3225, Honolulu, HI 96801. There is no membership fee although tax deductib1e contributions are weleome. Checks should be made payable to Native Hawaiian Legal CorporaHon with a memo notation "Nā Pua A Ke ® Ali'i Pauahi, ine." / J Jtē * : Toni Lee, Kamehameha Class of 1959 President of Nā Pua a Ke Ali'i Pauahi, ine. /i Beadie Kanahele Dawson, Punahou Class of 1947 Attorney for Nā Pua a Ke Ali'i Pauahi, ine. ' J ^ M /£■ i // - f ījf §T ,

Na Pua a ke AliN Pauahi continued from page 1