Solid UH-West O'ahu plan now taking shape
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The University of Hawai'i's West O'ahu branch has been more dream than reality for decades. In the 1970s, what was then called West O'ahu College was seen as a poor relation of the university system, sharing the Leeward Community College campus.
Recently, the future of UH-West O'ahu has begun to solidify, and what's taking shape holds considerable promise.
In September, its first 100 freshmen and sophomores will take their seats in the four or five classrooms the campus administration will rent at a private school, Island Pacific Academy.
But beyond those interim accommodations, a final agreement is expected in the next few weeks on the sale of 300 university-owned acres to Hunt Building Corp.
This will help finance construction of the first phase of the permanent Kapolei campus. Most of the remaining cost is contained in the state budget bill that passed the House and deserves passage in the Senate.
An even more encouraging development is its newly clarified mission. The West O'ahu administration has pledged to create a four-year institution that complements the existing campuses, closing remaining gaps in the educational landscape. For example:
Some critics in the Legislature have proposed the state consolidate Leeward with West O'ahu, but the two institutions are not interchangeable and serve a different constituency. Further, development of the West O'ahu offerings creates a magnet on the west side that could reduce some of the town-bound traffic flow.
But for the new university to become a truly powerful draw, it must be developed as an institution that can contribute meaningfully toward Hawai'i's workforce development.
Sharpening that focus should help defuse criticism that it's merely Manoa's mirror image, and amplify the calls for its success.
