Fiscal and personnel policies (9) The center should be accorded much greater flexibility in fiscal and personnel matters than is now possible under university policies. The center cannot operate effectively and dynamically under present university personnel and fiscal policies. The center, and the university, for that matter, are faced with serious problems in the procurement of qualified staff. The center, because of its status as a national institution, may in some respects face this difficulty in a more acute form. The high cost of living in Honolulu, the difficult housing situation, and the relative isolation from the broader academic community compound the current problem of keen competition for talented persons. The university's salary scale for faculty members appears to be fairly adequate at the lower and middle levels but far from adequate at the higher levels. The present pattern of line item budgeting has a stultifying effect on the dynamics of the university's development. The legislative approach to the university's budget needs modification so that attention is focused on programs and subprograms, as is done with most of the strong universities in the United States, rather than on specific items. Once the budget is allocated, the university should have considerable flexibility in carrying out its programs and should be held accountable for program accomplishment under the broad guidelines of budget allocation. The success of the center will be greatly enhanced if both it and the university generally can be accorded such flexibility. Content and focus DEVELOPMENT OF PROGRAMS (10) The center should focus its programs on certain subject areas rather than diffusing its activities throughout a great many fields. The center will dilute its effectiveness if it seeks to provide programs in all possible subject areas which might be of interest or need to Asian and American students and scholars. Instead, the center should identify a relatively few fields in which the university can develop a distinguished program. The fields actually selected will reflect (a) the judgment concerning present areas of strength within the university, and (b) the judgment concerning the needs of Asians which may best be served by the center. Some of the fields which merit consideration are: Marine biology, tropical agriculture, education, public health, nutrition, social work, anthropology, race relations, geophysics (particularly meteorology and oceanography), Pacific islands studies, art, drama, music, philosophy, and Asian studies (select areas). Focus on these areas of strength should be reflected in problems to be studied, research programs, technical training programs, the type of student scholarships awarded, the acquisition of library materials, the development of conferences, and other enterprises of the center. Strengthening university offerings (11) The center should assist in the development of a university program that will attract highly qualified graduate students and senior scholars to Hawaii. Among steps which the center might take in this vitally important area are: Use of center funds to accelerate the university's distinguished visiting professorship program. Experience of the last few years with this program shows solid accomplishment upon which to build. The visiting professors have given fresh enthusiasm to local faculty members and have brought the university in closer contact with leading groups in higher education, greatly reducing the university's social isolation and insularity. The center should encourage and help finance joint appointments of university staff with mainland and Asian universities. People who would not normally wish to leave their own institutions permanently might be enthusiastic about a cooperative appointment involving a commitment of part of their time and which would give them greater access to other scholars interested in Asia. Out of the relationships established by such joint appointments might emerge a consortium of other universities for support of the center. A number of mainland institutions have academic programs related to various parts of Asia and some of them already have extensive cooperative relationships with Asian educational institutions which would be helpful to the center. Special "chairs" should be created and financed in part or whole by the center, in some departments of the university to increase the departments' abilities to offer outstanding graduate study. Professors holding these chairs should receive higher salaries than the university is now able to offer. Relations with other local institutions 12. The center should strengthen its programs wherever possible by maintaining close working relations with associated institutions in Hawaii. These institutions tend to be specialized, but they constitute a basic resource for the center and the university. Among them are the Experiment Station of the Hawaii Sugar Planters Association, Bishop Museum, Honolulu Academy of Arts, Pineapple Research Institute, Biological Investigation Laboratory of the Fish and Wildlife Service, and other scientific agencies of the Federal and State Governments. Certain of them-in particular the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association, the Academy of Arts, and Bishop Museum-have been running their own specialized Asian programs for years. Their experience, their library and research facilities, and the network of institutional and professional relations throughout the Pacific and Asia constitute a significant resource. International Training Agency 13. To meet Asian needs, great emphasis should be placed upon the functions of the International Training Agency. The Agency will need to make use of community facilities for its inservice training programs. Local businesses, public health agencies, schools, the State legislature, agricultural organizations and other groups can help provide the training facilities desired by many Asian countries. Involving the community in this manner will also add to public understanding and acceptance of the center and its purposes. Translation 14. The translation bureau should concentrate on translations not otherwise available that will facilitate other aspects of the center's program. The bureau's program should be developed slowly, deliberately, and selectively. Much work is being done throughout the Nation on translations. The bureau should become well acquainted with this work so as to avoid duplication of effort. In its early development, the bureau should concentrate on those activities which will best facilitate the center's overall program. Publications 15. The center should clarify its programs before proceeding further with plans for publications. STUDENTS 16. Award of student scholarships should be the responsibility of the center, collaborating with other units of the university. The University of Hawaii would then instruct the students in those areas where it is qualified to do so. In other areas, joint instructional arrangements might be made with the university and with other institutions on the mainland and in Asia or the Pacific basin. This would apply to American as well as Asian students. 17. Emphasis should be placed upon the training of graduate students rather than undergraduates. The supply of students at the graduate level is high in many Asian countries. In addition, undergraduate students are finding their way to U.S. institutions in large numbers under one sponsorship or another. Thus, the resources of the center will contribute more in the long run if used for graduate training. However, exception could be made in the case of those Pacific islands and Asian countries where there are meager training opportunities for undergraduate students. 18. The ratio of American students to Asian students should be increased from the contemplated one-fifth to one-third of the total number of students. The need for the American student to study Asia and its problems is great. Furthermore, a larger ratio of American students would place the program on a more reciprocal basis. 19. Asian students should be integrated into the general university student community. The proposed plan of dormitory quarters for center students should be changed so that Asian students do not live isolated from the general student body in large center dormitories. They should be dispersed throughout the university's dormitory system and treated like other university students. In addition, community hospitality should make it possible for each visiting student to know American family life. This will give the Asian students a better conception of American culture as well as greater personal attachment in a strange country and culture. SENIOR SCHOLARS 20. The annual number of senior scholars should be reduced to approximately 50 from Asia and 25 from the United States. The present senior scholar program is too ambitious. Recruiting and servicing 200 scholars a year represents an almost impossible task. Many of the scholars should be selected and their programs planned to permit group exploration of special subjects or problem areas. For example, the center might bring together a group of scholars to explore problems of rapidly developing higher education in Asia and the United States. Scholars from Asia should be encouraged to spend a substantial portion of their time on the mainland; and scholars from the mainland should be given the opportunity to schedule a substantial portion of their time in Asia. NAME 21. A more appropriate name, such as Asian-American Center or Pacific International Center, should be considered. The formal name of the center is too long; its logical reduction East-West Center is too dichotomous or divisive in implication. INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES 22. The center should soon sponsor and publicize widely a series of international conferences with distinguished international participants. Two such conferences—the Pacific Science Conference and the Philosophers Conference of 1962-have already been planned. Two other conference topics which might be especially suitable are The Pacific Ocean, including its oceanography, geography, marine biology, botany, and agriculture of its islands, etc. A Pacific Festival of the Arts, featuring nonverbal arts such as painting, sculpture, decorative art and design, music, dance, and other art forms whose communication would not be blocked by language barriers. Other possible topics include education, public health and nutrition, anthropology, race relations, geophysics, and Asian studies. Conferences should be designed to dramatize the long-range interests and goals of the center, and should be an important part of the long-range program of the center. EXPRESSION OF DIVERGENT OPINIONS 23. The rights of students and senior scholars to express divergent political views and to espouse divergent ideologies should be rigorously protected. The center should anticipate the public relations problems which will undoubtedly arise as visitors from other countries express views unpalatable to the public and the Government. It is important that the visitors' rights to speak be scrupulously guarded, both to demonstrate the American concept of free speech and to illustrate the American commitment to the free and unhampered investigation of ideas. GOVERNMENT SUPPORT AND APPROPRIATIONS 24. The Federal Government should commit itself to indefinite, long-term basic support of the center. The center is a significant new program and needs a commitment for Federal support beyond the few years now planned. Once the center reaches a significant level of programing, it will be impossible to finance on the basis of private grants and donations. 25. Appropriations for the center should be made for terms of 3 years rather than annually. Annual appropriations hamper effective operations. For instance, the center is now awaiting this year's appropriations to make staff and scholarship commitments for September, though the time is already past when such commitments are normally made. 26. The center's current 3-year appropriation should be reduced from $30 million to $25 million. If a 3-year appropriation is not possible, then the 1-year appropriation should be $8.5 million, or $1.5 million less than the nearly $10 million now requested. Under existing budget proposas, the magnitude of the program is too great and effective and orderly development within the next 3 years. The recommended reductions should be achieved by a decrease in the number of student scholarships and senior scholar grants, with commensurate reduction in buildings and facilities. The committee wishes to restate that the center as an educational program needs to be closely associated with an educational institution. And it is its belief that the approach suggested by this report will make it possible for the center to derive strength from the university and for the university to gain in its broad educational growth. THE COMMITTEE OF CONSULTANTS, JOHN W. GARDNER. HERMAN B. WELLS. RÉSUMÉ OF PROGRAM TO DATE Mr. COOMBS. It might be useful to take just a moment to recall how we got where we are on this particular appropriation item. In 1959, an amendment to the provisions of the Mutual Security Act directed the Secretary of State to prepare a plan for the establishment in Hawaii of a cultural center, and to present that plan to Congress on or before January 2, 1960. The Secretary of State did so, and presented a plan which would have required an appropriation of $8.3 million. Congress in examining that plan, and examining also a plan which had been prepared by the University of Hawaii and which had been endorsed by the government of Hawaii, chose the latter plan in preference to the Department's proposal. The University of Hawaii plan covered a total period of 6 years and a total cost of just under $70 million. The first 3 years of that plan would have required appropriations of $31 million, giving $10 million the first year and roughly $10 million each year thereafter. In 1960, Congress appropriated $10 million for the first year of what was envisaged as a 3-year package of $31 million. The program was put underway. During the first year of the new center in Hawaii, considerable progress was made, first in preparing plans for necessary structures, and also in actually bringing to Hawaii some 100 students and 5 scholars and moving forward to the second year of selecting and inviting scholars and students. In the first year, out of the $10 million appropriated, $9,459,000 was committed. Of that, $1,120,440 actually was spent. ITEM DEFERRED UNDER REGULAR BILL As you know, Mr. Rooney, when I assumed office for the first time in March and found that it was my responsibility to oversee this activity and to come before Congress and request a further appropriation of $9,693,000, I did not feel at that time that I was sufficiently informed to answer the questions which I should be able to answer in requesting an appropriation of that sort. Mr. ROONEY. How much had been actually expended at that time? Mr. COOMBS. There had been granted in cash up to that time $1,404,000, in round figures. Mr. ROONEY. I asked you how much had been expended. |