Plans to demolish former PBS building provoke tempers at UH Board of Regents

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The University of Hawaii Manoa campus building that housed PBS for decades is finally headed for demolition. But UH Regent and former Gov. Neil Abercrombie fought the plan, which provoked anger from UH President David Lassner.

In a Regents meeting last week, Lassner told the board that the building was ridden with mold and unsafe for occupation. Abercrombie accused the administration of wasting the building to make way for commercial campus-related development, drawing an angry retort from Lassner.

“That is false. And I will not engage with you here on this,” Lassner said.

Abercrombie responded, “I have the proof because the truth hurts; I know the truth hurts.”

However, the truth has become fuzzy over time, especially with decisions made years ago by prior boards, administrators, and legislators.

For the Manoa School of Cinematic Arts, often called the Manoa Film School, the truth is its movie equipment mashed into tiny offices in a portable building enclosed by a construction fence.

Manoa School of Cinematic Arts Chair Christine Acham said she’s been asking for adequate facilities for the five years she’s been chair.

“Facilities of the program are really sort of, I would say they’re poor,” she said. “They are inadequate for the students that we have.”

The school has about 300 Manoa students producing films; many focused on diverse themes and communities. Despite its size, the school is often confused with the smaller West Oahu University Academy of Creative Media. The smaller West Oahu academy is housed in a brand-new $37 million building at the Kapolei campus, which was mandated by the legislature without the university’s input.

“I’ve heard numerous times, but there’s a $37 million building. Why aren’t you using it,’ Acham said.

“So, the practicality of using it, I don’t think if that was actually thought through.

Acham said the campuses are too far apart for students seeking a degree at Manoa to use the West Oahu facility, and the Manoa program could not move without disrupting the educational plans of hundreds of students and violating the faculty contracts that attach them to the Manoa research university.

The Manoa film school occupied the PBS building for several years until Acham said air conditioning and mold issues forced them out. Abercrombie says Lassner arbitrarily ejected the film school, contrary to the campus leadership’s plans at the time, because Lassner sees the area west of University Avenue as an opportunity to develop a commercial university village.

Lassner said Abercrombie mischaracterized the university’s development plans as motivated by revenue.

“The proposal to develop that portion of campus is not purely monetization,” Lassner said. “It is about building life for this campus, a place where people can go after hours. It is about housing, which we have both acknowledged is a desperate need of the state.”

Abercrombie said he objected to demolishing the PBS building when those plans had not been finalized, and he said the administration is not being honest about how it decided not to keep it as the home for the School of Cinematic Arts.

“I already know what the presentation is most of it’s not true,” he said at the meeting, to which Lassner responded quickly.

“Regent Abercrombie, I greatly resent your characterizations of dishonesty and misleading by senior members of the administration and myself.

Lassner said Abercrombie has a personal interest in the Manoa program because Abercrombie’s wife, Nancie Caraway, a screenwriter, audited screenwriting classes. Abercrombie said that had nothing to do with his position.

“I want to be on record as defending the integrity and honesty you have maligned publicly,” Lassner said.

Near the end of a more than half-hour discussion involving multiple university officials, Abercrombie apologized but did not back away from his assertions.

“I’ll say to President Lassner if you felt offended by that, and I’m sorry. Looking in the eye right now, I say, I’m sorry about that,” Abercrombie said.

The regents did not move to block demolition, so it will take place, but administrators did say they’ll come up with a plan for a new home for the film school at Manoa sometime early next year.