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Spring 1994, Roth speaks with Michel Oksenberg, President of the East-West Center, and Bud Smyser, columnist for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, about the Center's history, current direction, and importance to Hawaii. Oksenberg traces the institution's origin to a 1959 deal brokered by then-delegate Jack Burns and Lyndon Johnson and describes its evolution through a student-exchange phase and a research-assistance phase for developing nations into a third phase now focused on treating Asia-Pacific countries as equal partners. He outlines his own administrative reforms: peer review for researchers, a broadened agenda that includes political-military security issues alongside environment and population, and a new research cluster on AIDS in Asia — though he firmly rules out any connections to intelligence agencies. A federal budget cut of roughly $1.5 million, nearly 10 percent of the Center's appropriation, threatens further reductions, and Oksenberg describes efforts to broaden congressional support. Smyser argues the Center's value to Hawaii is inestimable, tying it to the state's long-term international economic role, and likens the current internal controversy over Oksenberg's changes to earlier turbulence at Bishop Museum that ultimately made that institution stronger.
Transcript
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