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Kenneth P. Mortimer, President of the University of Hawaii, returned to Price of Paradise in April 1998 to address the question of how the university could sustain its academic mission during a prolonged period of financial contraction. The central issue was institutional autonomy: Mortimer described legislation then before the state legislature that would give the university greater freedom from state procurement rules and budgetary controls, allowing it to act more entrepreneurially. He reported that proposals to eliminate entire units—including rumors about the law school and European languages departments—were premature, while acknowledging that the full range of programs could not be maintained indefinitely. Mortimer announced a major private fundraising campaign co-chaired by several community leaders, and argued that private philanthropy must not be used as a pretext for future state budget reductions. He cited the cancer research center and the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology as evidence that sustained decade-long investments could yield significant returns. How the university balances institutional contraction against the need to build new revenue streams remains the central challenge.
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Companion newspaper commentaries
Commentaries by the guests, published in The Honolulu Advertiser around the broadcast.
