ALoha Dr. Conklin,
I wanted to let you know that the top levels of UH administration have been asked to address a matter that concerns your forthcoming appearances on campus for the Academy for LIfelong Learning. Over the summer, I've received threatening calls and visits, the most recent visit being this past Wednesday when a large, angry man (possibly Hawaiian) visited my office and
demanded that we cancel your presentations here. He threatened me and the other class participants. It was a distressing encounter and it was reported to my dean and others. I have talked to the class participants about this matter and nearly all of them are quite concerned about their safety and yours. We had hoped for a quiet, intense and civil exchange of ideas. It would appear that disruptions and protests or worse are likely if we proceed.
I have asked for security personnel to be present if we do proceed. Several class participants have asked whether it might be possible to hold the sessions at another location at a later time. I do know that several elders who expressed interest in the class are now reconsidering. All of this is most distressing and worrying.
My dean has invited President Dobelle to attend the classes in hopes of defusing the tension and setting an example. Several of my colleagues expressed doubts that Dobelle would attend. I would be delighted if he would because it would send a strong message that open and civil exchanges of ideas, no matter how controversial, are the essence of a university. No response from Bachman Hall as yet.
I will keep you posted. I would be interested to learn your opinion on this. Would you be averse to rescheduling the talks to another time and locale? Advice and observations are most welcome.
Best regards,
Rebecca Goodman
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*** Ken Conklin’s reply, August 31, 2002, which was subsequently forwarded to many others, including an editor and reporter at the Honolulu Advertiser ***
Aloha Rebecca Goodman,
Please feel free to forward this e-mail to anyone you think should see it, including UH administrators and prospective students.
Thank you very much for alerting me to this situation. Such intimidation must not be allowed to succeed. I will not cancel the course, nor will I change its scheduled meeting time of 1-3 PM on Wednesdays. I will be brave, and I hope the UH administration will also be brave. The room where we meet should probably be changed, however (partly because I am no longer concerned with trying to videotape the classes), and I have a few suggestions for security.
As you can imagine, I have done a large amount of work to prepare for the five class meetings. My lecture outlines and suggested reading "assignments" are nearly complete. I'm hoping to receive from you on about September 11 a list of e-mail addresses for all participants who have e-mail, so that I can send them a list of suggested readings a week before the first class meeting. Nearly all the readings are on the internet, so a printed list might not be very helpful to someone without internet access. However, at the end of this e-mail is a document you should be able to print out on two pages (front and back of one sheet is fine if you'd like to save paper). I hope you can mail that to already-registered students who have not given you an e-mail, and that you can hand it out to walk-in registrants from now on. Hopefully students without e-mail access can use internet access at their local public library or at UH to do some of the readings. I have already printed out 20 copies of some handouts, including this reading list, so there's no need for you to make or deliver any copies to me. In fact, you and I might never meet!
The Hawaiian sovereignty activists have owned UH Manoa for many years. So far as I know, no opponent of the party line has ever been allowed to appear at Manoa or at any of the community colleges for the purpose of presenting scholarly arguments contrary to the sovereignty party-line -- not even for a guest appearance in a class discussion, nor for participation on a panel discussion, and certainly not to make a solo presentation for an hour. That is unfortunately true not only for courses in Hawaiian Studies, but also for courses in other departments which serve substantial numbers of Hawaiian Studies students, such as Political Science, Anthropology, History, Ethnic Studies, Religion, Law, etc. These cognate departments all enjoy large course enrollments from Hawaiian Studies students who would be discouraged from taking courses opposing the party line; and some cognate departments receive federal funding for research projects on Hawaiian Studies or for scholarships racially designated for Native Hawaiian students. For an example of this deep politicization and suppression of opposing views at UH, see the following webpage: a seminar at the Law School on the Rice v. Cayetano decision and its progeny invited only three radical pro-sovereignty professors to be live panelists, ignoring the Honolulu civil rights attorney who represented plaintiffs in three of the most important progeny cases! Fortunately, a published version of the proceedings did include scholarly essays by two attorneys including the one who was intimately involved in the three progeny cases. Anyone who cares about good scholarship will easily recognize who should have been on the panel and who should not.
https://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/riceprogeny.html
I recall that a few years ago Haunani-Kay Trask launched a vicious attack against professors in other academic departments who dared to teach any content about Hawaiian history or Hawaiian political issues unless they were ethnic Hawaiians or had the approval of the Hawaiian Studies faculty. When Thurston Twigg-Smith published his book "Hawaiian Sovereignty: Do the Facts Matter?" I seem to recall that he was scheduled for a campus appearance but was greeted with such an uproar that he was unable to speak. Later, a panel discussion was arranged at the Friends Meeting House where Mr. Twigg-Smith was allowed to present his views but only accompanied by two Hawaiian sovereignty activists to oppose him, and hosted by a moderator and a group (American Friends Service Committee) which is aggressively pro-sovereignty. [*** Note: Thurston Twigg-Smith subsequently contacted Ken Conklin to give a more accurate description of this incident ***]
I would point out that UH Manoa has a record of defending academic freedom for radical left professors. For example, immediately following the terrorist attacks of September 11, Haunani-Kay Trask made public statements that the U.S. was to blame for those attacks because U.S. foreign policy is so evil that the people we oppress hate us and feel they must attack us. In the atmosphere of strong American patriotism then prevailing, Professor Trask's comments were highly inflammatory; but her right to proclaim those opinions was vigorously defended by the UH faculty and administration. Anti-war, anti-U.S. political rallies were routinely held at noon on Wednesdays in front of Campus Center, and were tolerated (indeed, they seemed to be encouraged). The Center for Hawaiian Studies has hosted numerous panel discussions and political rallies which were clearly hostile to America and to civil rights activists in my Aloha For Group; these rallies were later broadcast with many repetitions on 'Olelo TV channel 53. UH campus was used for organizational rallies and fund-raisers for the mostly ethnic-Hawaiian sovereignty political party organized by Vicky Takamine two years ago (I believe the party name was Aloha 'Aina). The names of Bill Burgess, Ken Conklin, Freddy Rice, and Thurston Twigg-Smith have been viciously attacked, and we have been called racists, from the stage of the Center for Hawaiian Studies in rallies that were later broadcast many times.
The content I am planning for my course is nowhere near so inflammatory. But the sovereignty activists and their allies are so accustomed to total control of the UH curriculum and facilities that they cannot tolerate even a small non-credit 5-class-meeting course on "their" campus. That is truly disgusting. Even more disgusting would be any thought that UH would cancel such a course because of intimidation.
That sort of repression simply cannot be tolerated on a campus that wants to call itself a university.
While UH administrators are certainly welcome in my class, I hope they will not think of themselves as either thought-police or hostages against violence. I do not request the presence of anyone other than legitimate students who have paid their fee to participate in the Academy for Lifelong Learning, and I will not modify my course content because of intimidation.
I would suggest that Campus Center 1-3 PM might not be a wise venue for the class. Campus Center is where the anti-U.S. political rallies will probably take place again at noon on Wednesdays. Radical students and professors will surely be in that area and will be inclined to come to the classroom and be disruptive.
You and I had originally settled on Campus Center both because there would not be any issue that the room might not be ready for occupancy by September 18, and because I had suggested the course might be videotaped for later showing on 'Olelo TV. But you have indicated that UH facilities and media students will not be available for such videotaping, and I have been unable to arrange for it on my own. Thus, I am giving up on any videotaping.
So, I suggest that you find a classroom not in Campus Center, and give the classroom location only to students after they have registered and paid their fees. Make sure the room is not in a dark corner of a remote building, and that the room has a door that will automatically lock when it is closed. Ask a couple of registered students to bring cell phones to class [*** material deleted to protect future security, or which is now outdated ***]
I leave it in your capable hands to make whatever arrangements you consider appropriate.
I hope you will reassure current and prospective students that UH actively supports their right to personal safety. I believe that the kind of students who come to the Academy for Lifelong Learning are students who are serious about research and scholarly dicsussion, and who are committed to freedom of inquiry. I believe they will take pride in participating in a course where a measure of personal courage is a prerequisite. They can think of it as a civic responsibility.
Below my signature is the reading "assignment" I hope you can print out and mail to students who have no e-mail, and hand out to students who pay their money and register from now on.
Thank you for your help and you bravery.
Ken Conklin
-------------------------------------
HAWAIIAN SOVEREIGNTY
ACADEMY FOR LIFELONG LEARNING
UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI’I, MANOA, FALL 2002
INSTRUCTOR KENNETH R. CONKLIN, PH.D.
RECOMMENDED READINGS FOR CLASS #1
Who is Ken Conklin?
https://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/aboutauthor.html
Basic commitments regarding sovereignty: Unity, Equality, Aloha For All
https://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/principles.html
Aren’t We All Sovereign Already?
https://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/hanifinallsovereign.html
Overview of sovereignty issues
https://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/seconddialog.html
Full partnership is the history of Hawai’i
https://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/fullpartners.html
Regarding the concept that people with no Hawaiian blood are full partners in Hawai’i, under a social contract with two centuries of history, here are three books worth reading, in order of importance for this topic:
(1) Cahill, Emmett, “The Life and Times of John Young (Confidant and Advisor to Kamehameha the Great) Honolulu: Island Heritage, 1999.
(2) Judd, Walter F., “Hawai'i Joins the World” Honolulu: Mutual Publishing, 1998.
Hawai'i Public Library Call Number H 996.902 J.
(3) Thurston Twigg-Smith, “Hawaiian Sovereignty: Do the Facts Matter?”
Honolulu, Goodale Publishing, 1998.
History of Citizenship and Voting Rights in Hawai’i
https://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/HanifinCitizen.html
History of Statehood, and Current Challenges to Statehood:
https://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/statehoodhistandcurr.html
Voting Rights, Property Rights, Racist Demands of Sovereignty Activists
https://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/racistdemands.html
Overthrow
https://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/overthrow.html
Annexation
https://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/annexation.html
Self-Determination
https://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/selfdetermination.html
Was Hawaiian Language Illegal?
https://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/hawlangillegal.html
Ethnic Cleansing of Hawaiian Holidays
https://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/holidaysethniccleansing.html
================================
You may now visit any of the following:
Expanded introduction explaining how all the below-listed pieces fit into the big picture at the University of Hawai'i
https://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/uhacafreeintro.html
(1) A look at the racial supremacist doctrine which is the CHS party line and which President Dobelle actively supports; and a comparison with the fundamental democratic principles of unity, equality, and aloha for all.
https://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/uhacafreechspartyline.html
(2) A discussion of the UH propaganda factory known as the Center for Hawaiian Studies, and why its monolithic party line in support of racial supremacy has become the unchallenged orthodoxy in every academic department that shares students and curriculum with CHS
https://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/uhacafreechsoctopus.html
(3) A review of the short history of President Dobelle’s tenure as President at UH, focusing on his aggressiveness in pushing the CHS agenda and his recent pledge to politicize UH even further, harnessing UH as a partner in bringing about a racial supremacist government entity
https://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/uhacafreedobelle.html
(4) The first exchange of e-mails between the director of the Academy for Lifelong Learning and Dr. Conklin which then resulted in the newspaper article and editorial
https://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/uhacafreegoodconk.html
(5) The Honolulu Advertiser article of Thursday September 5, 2002, the Advertiser editorial of September 6, 2002, and the articles published in the UH student newspaper “Ka Leo” September 30, 2002.
https://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/uhacafreemedia.html
(6) Other examples of threats, intimidation, property damage and career damage caused by CHS activists and timid administrators
https://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/uhacafreemorebads.html
OR
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(c) Copyright 2002 Kenneth R. Conklin, Ph.D. All rights reserved