CENTER FOR CULTURAL AND TECHNICAL INTERCHANGE BETWEEN EAST AND HEST DI HAWAII ! (c) AMOUNT OF CONTRACT DEPARTMENT OF STATE-CONTRACTUAL FISCAL REPORT SUMMARY, FOR THE PERIOD OCT. 25, 1960, TO SEPT. 30, 1961-Continued The following capital contracts, allowances, and other cost items are in force: (a) Design and contract administration: McAuliffe, Young & Associates and I. M. Pei & Associates, joint venture: Design of equipment, site work, and landscaping---- $481, 694. 85 Flambert & Flambert, food service consult- Pietro Belluschi: Consultation and review of (b) Reimbursables: 32, 000. 00 6, 008. 80 1, 152. 90 4, 000. 00 $526, 099. 73 (d) Construction contracts: Hawaiian Dredging & Construction: Access roadway_. Total___. 998, 177.82 OPINIONS ABOUT THE EAST-WEST CENTER CONSULTATIONS WITH ASIAN AND PACIFIC SCIENTISTS ATTENDING THE 10TH PACIFIC SCIENCE CONGRESS Report by W. Edgar Vinacke, professor of psychology, Project Coordinator for the East-West Center, with the assistance of Gerald Meredith, Kenneth Fujii, Dora Shu-fang Dien. University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, September 1901 I. INTRODUCTION The following pages set forth the results of consultations with members of the 10th Pacific Science Congress held on the University of Hawaii campus during the last 2 weeks of August 1961. These discussions were held principally with scientists to whom the East-West Center gave grants, but a considerable number of other individuals also, in one way or another, have contributed to our impressions. This project is the first concerted effort made by the Center to establish direct professional contact with academic and research people in the other countries of the Pacific. Heretofore, the pressing demands of policy clarification, selection procedures, publicity, and other essentially administrative problems have had to be given top priority. As a consequence, our consultations have several important implications. In the first place, they provide a large number of rather -specific suggestions about the University of Hawaii and the Center. We shall attempt to organize these points below. In the second place, the character and value of personal contacts between our own staff and comparable persons in other countries can be assessed and brought into balance with relationships established at other levels. In the third place, the possible ways in which the East-West Center can operate as a particular kind of international institution can be evaluated. Each of these general topics will be treated in succeeding sections. The aims of our consultations in general were to discover the character of opinion about the Center from the standpoint of the visiting scientists and their institutions, as well as to elicit from them proposals about the future development of the Center. We also endeavored to determine their attitudes toward the University of Hawaii and its curriculums. We sought to orient the thinking of our consultants toward the particular kinds of need felt by their own countries. We did not limit ourselves to any fixed set of questions, but rather engaged freely in conversation about whatever problems of mutual interest might come up. It should be remembered, however, that our consultants represented principally the biological sciences and, secondly, the social sciences; thus, our conclusions do not necessarily pertain to all aspects of academic and professional interests. It should also be remembered that the combination of good will, engendered by presence in a foreign country, plus insufficient experience about the University of Hawaii, may be reflected in many of the comments. The point of view of the writer is to a large degree that of a naive observer who tried to maintain an objective attitude in all of the issues discussed. The following report presents in an organized way as much of the information obtained as possible. Undoubtedly, there will be many points which are already quite familiar, as well as proposals for activities which may already be planned. Where such duplications exist, our remarks may be treated as additional evidence on those matters. Two considerations made us focus upon matters of an academic and professional character rather than upon selection procedures, student affairs, and other problems of concern to the Center. In the first place, the writer did not feel qualified to go into these questions nor did the delegates themselves appear to be the appropriate objects of such inquiries. In the second place, the voluminous data assembled by the Center team last fall, and by subsequent representatives of the Center, appear to be concerned in large part with these technical issues. Therefore, we felt that our time could better be spent on topics not only of more direct interest to the scientists but also on which less information is presently available. II. ARRANGEMENTS Contact was initially established with East-West Center grantees by letter. They were sent a list of the questions in which we were interested, along with printed material setting forth the objectives and programs of the East-West Center. It was suggested that grantees might profitably prepare themselves ahead of time by acquainting themselves as much as possible with the Center and the university and, if feasible, by conferring with their own colleagues. This advice was carefully followed in a high proportion of the cases. As a result we may accept much of the information given as representative of a wider perspective than that of the particular individual concerned. Consultations were held in offices near the Pacific Science Congress headquarters. This was a great convenience and proved to be highly satisfactory. In addition to the writer, three graduate students in psychology served as paid assistants: Mr. Gerald Meredith, Mr. Kenneth Fujii, and Mrs. Dora Shufang Dien. These three assistants proved to be excellent choices, since they performed an astonishing variety of services without which our project might have been severely hampered. Among such services were the arranging of conferences with all sorts of people in whom the delegates were interested, including officials of the Center, members of the staff of the university, and other people in the outside community. We believe that this function should be regarded as a very serious responsibility of the Center, deserving explicit attention. One of our recommendations will be concerned with this point. Since we could not clearly anticipate the character of our consultations, for a variety of reasons, an effort was made to plan a flexible program. Most of our contacts fell into one of the following categories: A. Orientation and briefing session.--All delegates were invited to attend a meeting on the afternoon of the second day of the Congress, at which time our expectations were outlined and questions were answered. B. Personal interviews.-We were careful to indicate that grantees were under no fixed obligation, since their primary function was to participate in the scientific programs of the Congress. Nevertheless we welcomed private conversations and succeeded in meeting in this way with most of the grantees. In some instances more than one conversation was held, typically during the Congress and following the end of the Congress. C. Scheduled discussion meetings.—On two afternoons, delegates met to deal with questions arising in: (1) The physical and natural sciences, (2) the arts and humanities, (3) the biological sciences, and (4) social sciences. All of these discussions were active and profitable, although attendance varied widely. We were fortunate to secure the services of four outstanding faculty members to act as chairmen of these discussions. These people were Dr. Albert Tester, chairman, department of zoology; Dr. Shelley Mark, director, economic research center; Dr. Richard Kosaki, chairman, department of government; and Dr. Albert Bernatowicz, associate professor of botany. These four persons prepared themselves carefully for their responsibilities and deserve the gratitude of the East-West Center. D. Special conferences with Center officials and university faculty members.— In order to answer questions for which our office was not well suited, we arranged for many special conferences ranging from matters having to do with selection of students and grants to senior scholars, to special programs or courses in university departments. In evaluating these arrangements, it must be admitted that there was considerable duplication of content between the personal interviews and the larger discussions. Nevertheless, each of these two basic procedures has much to recommend it, resulting in different but significant psychological benefits for the Center. Thus the personal interviews permitted a free and, in some instances, confidential, interchange under quite comfortable circumstances, and also enhanced the sense of personal identification in the participants. On the other hand, the discussion sessions may have exemplified some of the emphases in American society upon free and open problem-solving processes. Furthermore, I believe that the four chairmen played an essential role by demonstrating the direct stake of the university faculty in the program of the Center. These psychological and social advantages of our conferences should by no means be minimized. A few remarks prompted by our role in the Congress itself may be in order. As the discussion proceeded, we gained strongly an impression that the East-West Center is and will increasingly become an international institution and thus holds a legitimate place in any meeting or conference of an international character. It might be well to consider the means whereby the Center can, at suitable times, be given a formal place in the programs of conferences, conventions, and so forth. This could take several forms which we shall not elaborate here. But we feel that this is a matter that deserves careful attention in the future. III. GENERAL FINDINGS In the sections below the remarks have been organized in terms of several general topics. These areas represent the most commonly mentioned views expressed by the visiting scientists. It will be convenient to discuss each one in order. Comments pertaining to specific countries which have not otherwise been included will be found in the appendix. A. The East-West Center Even the most casual conversation with educated persons from Asian and Pacific countries sharpens in the mind of the listener the great challenge posed by the East-West Center. There is no doubt that the impact of the Center even at this early stage is incalculable. One scientist commented that he had first heard about it on shortwave radio in the midst of the jungle. There are high hopes and pronounced good will apparent in the reactions of Asians. Of special significance is the hope that the Center may become genuinely a mutual venture. It is essential that the Asian scholars and scientists be made to feel that they have a direct stake in the Center. How this may best be accomplished, of course, remains an open question. Some suggestions will be forthcoming in various contexts below. There is no expectation that the Center will merely cater to the whims of foreigners, and it will be a problem to avoid creating this impression. At the same time it is imperative that there be genuine consultation with Asians and that our interest in their needs be made clear. A |