Students protest against UOG tuition hike

WEDNESDAY, 14 SEPTEMBER 2011 04:49 BY GERALDINE CASTILLO | VARIETY NEWS STAFF

EMOTIONS ran high for students yesterday as they diplomatically voiced their opposition against the University of Guam's proposed tuition rate increase.

A public hearing organized by UOG President Robert Underwood and the Board of Regent's Budget, Finance, Investments and Audit Committee and the Student Affairs, Scholarship, Alumni Relations and Honorary Degree Committee was held yesterday at the School of Business and Public Administration Building.

Nearly 100 students filled the room to support one another as some took the opportunity to present their views and arguments before the board.

Proposed changes to the university's tuition rates include a 10 percent increase to resident undergraduate and graduate students beginning Spring 2012, with a 5 percent increase in Fall 2012, and another 5 percent again in Fall 2013.

The current resident undergraduate tuition rate per credit hour is $190. With the proposed 10 percent increase for Spring 2012, the new cost would amount to $209; by Fall 2012, $220; and in Fall 2013, $231.

For non-residents, the rates would decrease in Spring 2012 and then increase 5 percent in each of the next two academic years.

Since Fall 2009 to current, tuition for non-resident undergraduates cost $565. By implementing the new rates by Spring 2012, tuition would drop to $435, then increase to $457 by Fall 2012, and again to $480 by Fall 2013.

Shortage

The tuition changes stem from a shortage in the amount the government appropriated for the university's budget for next fiscal year.

According to Vice President of Administration and Finance David O'Brien, UOG had requested a $29.9 million appropriation for FY2012 general operations. The Legislature, in turn, came up with Substitute Bill 145-31, which appropriates only $26.7 million. This leaves the university short $3.2 million.

In order to meet the budget cut, O'Brien said the university estimated $1.9 million to come from cost-reduction and energy-conservation measures. They also are contemplating salary cuts.

To fill in the remaining $1.3 million gap, UOG proposed the tuition increase. According to the UOG Proposal for Tuition Rate Changes and Economic Impact Statement, the increase in tuition is to also accommodate the growth in student enrollment.

“Revenue generated by the proposed tuition increase will benefit academic quality and support student learning,” the proposal and EIS stated.

Protest

Minutes before the public hearing, dozens of students rallied together with posters. Organized by FITE Club – Fellows for Inquiry Towards Enlightenment – the student activist group wanted to make clear that despite their struggles, they were willing to compromise.

“We hope to find solutions to mitigate our financial situation,” said FITE Club President Kenneth Gofigan Kuper. The 20-year-old senior majoring in Psychology insisted, “We're willing to compromise ... we're not necessarily here to say no to everything.”

The students then began their march, hoping to later echo their rhetoric during the public hearing.

“We are here to listen to your opinion ... we're not only asking for your understanding but your assistance,” said President Underwood to the students.

Earlier, Underwood stated that in order to avoid a tuition increase, the university needs to secure additional support from the government of Guam either through legislative appropriation or reprogramming by the government.

“I'm so glad that you're here today, in helping make the case and the university's case ... not only in your name, but in the name of educational opportunity for incoming students,” Underwood told the students.

Over a dozen students each voiced their concerns with passion and conviction.

“I'm not a math major, but I know we're short,” said 20-year-old student and junior Jesse Quenga. “And because we're short, that's why we're seeing that the $1.3 million is gonna come out of somewhere, but why does it have to come out of our pockets?”

Quenga, who is also president of the 60th Student Government Association, spoke matter-of-factly on behalf of all the students.

“We're just one demographic ... we're just one student who's probably a single parent, who's probably working three jobs, who's probably trying their best to prove to their parents ... that this is the best decision for now,” he said. “What they need to remember is that this is an investment – an investment that we're going to see later on in the future.”

Not only did the students highlight the reality of their economic or personal struggles, they also proposed suggestions and solutions in hopes to find compromise. Among those suggestions was the idea of utilizing e-books or making textbooks available online instead of purchasing expensive textbooks. Another suggestion was influencing a more sustainable culture at the campus, and finding more ways to be more efficient.

“If education is so vital, if education is such a staple to success, then allow us to absorb that success,” Kuper urged the board. “Provide us that opportunity to pave the road to success. ... Let us know that you are doing your part as well.”

Feds return excess land

THURSDAY, 03 MARCH 2011 04:53 BY THERESE HART | VARIETY NEWS STAFF

The federal government yesterday returned 450 acres of land in South Finegayan to the government of Guam

Governor Eddie Calvo prepares to sign the proclamation returning 450 acres of excess federal property back to the Government of Guam. Photo courtesy of Delegate Bordallo’s office.

This comes 17 years after the passage of H.R. 2144 introduced by former Congressman Robert Underwood and signed into Public Law 103-339 by President Bill Clinton on Oct. 6, 1994, known as the Guam Excess Lands Act.

The turnover, held yesterday in Washington D.C., included the ancient Chamorro village of Hila’an.

Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roger Natsuhara and General Services Administration Chief of Staff Michael Robertson presented Governor Eddie Baza Calvo with the deed to 450 acres in the South Finegayan property.

The land constitutes the remaining available properties identified in the public law. The General Services Administration is the repository of federally held lands.

Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo, Governor Eddie Baza Calvo, Senators Rory Respicio, Judi Guthertz and Frank Blas Jr. were on hand to witness the historic event.

Governor Calvo signed the Memorandum of Agreement with GSA, returning the land to the government of Guam. The signing occurred shortly before the start of the Interagency Group on Insular Areas meeting at the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Victory

“Team Guam sent a victory home today. This is a step forward in the right direction. It also demonstrates the federal government’s commitment to honor longstanding and important agreements with Guamanians. Our negotiations will continue until the promise of the shrinking of the federal footprint on Guam is met. The federal government recognizes that Team Guam is speaking with one voice. We know what we want and we have the courage to fight for our future. Our people fought for decades for this,” said Calvo.

Crown lands

Joey Leon Guerrero from the Guam Ancestral Lands Commission said yesterday that the returned lands consist of Spanish Crown Lands and lands owned by original landowners. The Commission will be the guardian of the property.

Leon Guerrero said some of the lands could be used for commercial development and some could be returned to the original landowners, depending on the policy of the current administration and the Guam Legislature.

Congresswoman Bordallo clarified that the 450 acres are not part of the Navy’s commitment to have a net negative footprint on Guam as part of the military build-up. She said this is just a transmittal of the remaining available property identified in Public Law 103-339, the Guam Excess Lands Act, to the government of Guam.

Calvo and Bordallo recognized Assistant Secretary Tony Babauta for his leadership in ensuring that the requirements of the Guam Excess Lands Act were fulfilled.

Assistant Secretary Babauta has been working with Congresswoman Bordallo in Washington, D.C. to finalize the terms of the land return.

“Today’s ceremony, which returned 450 acres of excess federal property to the people of Guam, was a meaningful and symbolic act resulting from years of hard work. Beginning with former Congressman Robert Underwood and later shepherded by Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo, the process of implementing the commitments made by the Guam Excess Lands Act, to return former Navy and Air Force property at no cost to Guam, has now been completed by the Obama Administration,” said Babauta.

In a joint statement the Guam senators said in 2006, the property was appraised at $14 million, “so clearly the return of these lands are significant.”

Today, during additional meetings with the Department of Defense, the senators will present Resolution No. 30-31 (LS), which further outlines Guam’s concerns and presents a solution for addressing these issues. The senators and the governor are in Washington D.C. to meet with the Interagency Group on Insular Areas (IGIA) regarding the Guam Military Buildup

UOG gets materials for engineering school

By Lannie Walker from KUAM.com

Guam - The University of Guam received $250,000 in materials for the construction of its School of Engineering Annex. Hawaiian Rock Products made the donation of materials including ready-mix concrete, installed asphalt pavement, concrete blocks and concrete pipes.

UOG president Dr. Robert Underwood says the donation will help the university successfully launch the engineering program.

Underwood says he can't endorse candidates

by Sabrina Salas Matanane from KUAM.com

Guam - University of Guam president Dr. Robert Underwood wants to clear the record. While his speech given during former president Bill Clinton's visit to Guam 12 years ago has been used in political advertisements, he says he cannot and does not endorse any candidate for governor or senator.

In a statement issued today, Dr. Underwood said, "The recent unauthorized use of my voice and words in a political television advertisement and e-mail letter taken from an event held 12 years ago...is not appropriate." He has asked the Democratic gubernatorial of Carl Gutierrez/Frank Aguon to remove his voice and words from their commercials.

As part of his contract with the university and as a Government of Guam employee, Underwood is unable to participate in political activities.

University of Guam President Underwood Expresses Willingness to Partner with DoD on Research for Island Sustainability

Written by Jeff Marchesseault, Guam News Watch Anchor
Monday, September 20, 2010

GUAM - It's a delicate balance between the viable defense of a "free Pacific" and the quality of life rite here at home. As with anything worth having, there are trade-offs. Something's always got to give. As they say, freedom isn't free.

To balance the high cost of that freedom, local leverage and say-so are priceless tools for helping Guam's community get what it needs out of the buildup – namely affordable and sustainable supplies of energy, water, and land.

Perhaps that's one reason University of Guam (UOG) president Robert Underwood is pushing so hard to establish UOG as a Research and Development resource thru the university's center for island sustainability.

Underwood addressed Rotary Club of Northern Guam at the Hyatt Regency today, telling Rotarians that UOG aims to ensure we're able to use our resources today in ways that don't keep future generations from using those same resources.

"So, as we go through this process of creating the Center for Island Sustainability, we're reaching out to the broader community and we're creating a series of advisory councils. And we're inviting members of the business community, members of the activist community, just village mayors, anybody who's interested to become members of these advisory councils. So that as we set up our research and our educational, and our outreach activities, we get good faith participation from all of the sectors of the island and that it would have the desired effect."

"The University of Guam is willing to be a partner in the research. And I think it would really behoove the Department of Defense to engage us in a partner because when you have researchers who are from here, and researchers who are committed to a life here, then I think they'll do the very best by both the island and give the military honest research. And so our point in setting up the Center for Island Sustainability is to provide a venue for that."

Underwood told Guam News Watch that local officials' concerns over the potential radioactive contamination of Apra harbor is a case in point. That if qualified Guam-based authorities are concerned that dredging Apra could disturb suspected radioactive waste left over from nuclear testing in the Marshalls in the 1940's, then they could help the university solve the dilemma, through the Center for Island Sustainability.

UOG May Have to Cut Programs

UOG may have to cut programs
By Brett Kelman
Pacific Daily News
October 14, 2008

Yesterday, University of Guam associate professor of nursing Kathryn Wood said her department had no choice but to grow in the near future. The coming military buildup will increase Guam's need for nurses and the UOG faculty must increase to cope.

"The nursing program is in critical condition and that is not a cliché. It's the truth," she said.

Wood spoke out yesterday at a UOG faculty meeting led by President Robert Underwood.

On Friday, Underwood announced that the Legislature didn't fund "growth initiatives" that would have allowed the university to prepare itself for the buildup.

The military buildup will bring at least 30,000 service members, dependents and laborers to Guam over the next few years, according to Pacific Daily News files. Wood said UOG nurses will be needed.

"Because of the nursing faculty shortage worldwide, if you can go down the street to another nursing program and get a job, why would you uproot and come halfway around the world to an area you are not familiar with?" she asked.

"(Nurses) don't have to all be from here, but we know there will be consistent care if people come into the system, they are with us and we don't have to worry about needing to scramble each year to hire," she said. "We want to have a stable health-care system."

Wood said the nursing program has had the largest increase in enrollment of any program on campus in recent years. More than 80 people have applied to the college this year and more than 60 should be accepted, she said. Unfortunately, for the first time, the shortage of professors may force the program to cap how many students the nursing school accepts, she said.

Wood said the nursing college employs six full-time faculty members and at least as many part-time members. The part-time faculty members work at full-time nursing jobs.

"They are getting tired," she said. "And the full-time faculty are pulling overloads every semester. We can't keep that pace up to produce more nurses. We are stretched to the limits."

Wood said a study by the nursing college determined that UOG needs to produce about 60 nurses a year to meet local demands.

This year UOG will only graduate about 20 nurses, she said. Last year 39 graduated.

To cope with the military buildup, UOG will have to graduate about 80 nurses per year, Wood said. To do so, it needs to fill two empty positions and hire about four more professors.

Underwood's growth initiatives included the hiring of six new professors for the college.

Shortfalls
During a presentation Friday, Underwood said the funding cuts affected almost every part of UOG's budget. In total, UOG requested about $40.5 million but was only appropriated about $31.2 million. Financial aid for Regent scholars, the Reserve Officers' Training Corps and Marine Lab graduates weren't funded. Yesterday, Underwood said the programs may be phased out.

"We will try to find a way to continue the programs for at least another semester," he said. "But over the long haul, unless they are funded specifically, they will no longer exist."

Underwood's growth initiatives would have spent $1.4 million on new faculty and supplies to help develop Guam's professional workforce, including the hiring of 21 new faculty members.

UOG requested another $1.5 million to raise faculty salaries to "recruit and retain the best minds" to lead Guam's development, Underwood said.

Yesterday, history professor Donald Platt said the university would struggle to recruit competitively without more funding. Platt is the chairman of the UOG Faculty Senate.

"If the growth initiatives aren't funded, we will be able to survive, but we can't improve much," he said. "We can't attract faculty."

Underwood asked faculty members to brainstorm over the weekend about how the university could save money to pay for some of growth initiatives. Although the Legislature didn't give UOG any money to expand, he hoped to still spend about $300,000.

"Every society that is on a growth cycle invests in its human beings. Every society that is in decline will always cut education," he said.

Lee Yudin, Dean of the College of Natural and Applied Sciences, suggested UOG might allow its current professors to teach more classes so fewer new hires were needed.

"It allows us a little bit of flexibility to offer more classes to our students when we deal with not being able to hire," he said.

Underwood said UOG could sustain its current population of 3,200 students, but may not be able to handle growth without more funding.

"While we are an open enrollment institution, we may face the day where we can't admit everyone we'd like to a given program at a given time," he said.

Underwood said he will weigh input from his faculty and propose a balanced budget to the UOG Board of Regents. He said the budget must be reviewed by Oct. 23.

Funding
Yesterday, Sen. Eddie Calvo said he tried to provide more funding for the university in his original budget bill, but the money was moved elsewhere. Calvo is chairman of the Committee on Finance. He is running for re-election.

Calvo said his original bill provided an additional $400,000 to the university. Had that bill passed, UOG would still have been short of its no-growth base budget and growth initiatives still would have been unfunded.

Calvo said he supported Underwood's goal of transforming the university into a factory for local professionals, but he had to prioritize the university's operations costs.

"We had to focus on meeting that base," Calvo said. "You are in need of a stable institution before you start to expand to the types of service and growth initiatives ... requested."

If Guam's "revenue picture" changes because of additional spending by tourists or the military, the Legislature could revisit the budget, he said. The Legislature also could re-appropriate funding from another agency, or the governor could use transfer authority to move money to UOG, Calvo said.

UOG Dealing With Budget Cuts

University Of Guam President Dealing With Budget Cuts, Shoots Down Tuition Surcharge
Written by Phillip Leon Guerrero,
Pacific News Center -
Guam, Saipan, CNMI, Asia-Pacific
Monday, 13 October 2008 07:20

Guam - The University of Guam continues to speak out on the effects of its budget cuts for this fiscal year. President Robert Underwood argues the University is a good investment.

“I don’t think people understand that for every dollar the government puts into [UOG] we get about $1.65 back. Because the faculty, the hard working faculty, administration and staff are able to turn that over, and get a lot of extra funding, whether it’s research grants, foundations,or federal funding,” he says.

The University will be giving out less financial aid, and fewer Yamashita Education Corps scholarships as a result of the under funding. Although UOG didn’t ask for any more money for operations compared to last fiscal year, the Legislature cut that aspect of the budget by over $2 million.

A number of ideas are being considered over how to deal with the shortfall, but a higher tuition, or an added surcharge isn’t one of them

“That’s probably not going to go through. I don’t think anyone is interested in that. I just don’t see how the students should bear the burden of the fact that [UOG] hasn’t been funded adequately,” Underwood says.

Underwood Stresses Importance of UOG

Underwood stresses importance of UOG
by Clynt Ridgell, KUAM News
Wednesday, June 25, 2008

The Guam Chamber of Commerce heard from University of Guam President Dr. Robert A. Underwood on how UOG is the best investment for Guam's future. Underwood stressed that the university generates graduates who have helped to strengthen the economy and the island by filling the professional ranks of places like both the hospital and island schools.

The UOG President told chamber members, " When the island ignored the University and failed to fund it adequately, we all paid a price. We failed to cultivate our people's talents and some of the best minds of our island left the island. We didn't squander our money. We wasted our human resources."

The new president's mission is to make the University of Guam the natural choice for higher education in Guam and the region.