A K LEO T H E
V O I C E
Ser v i ng t he st udents of t he Un iversit y of Hawa i ‘ i at M ā noa si nce 1922
Cool Kava
DR. KALVIN Y. HUR, DDS
Delightful Drinks
“Quality and Caring Dentistry You Can Trust”
Page 3
OPENING SPECIAL: 10% off ALL treatments in the months of October and November 2010.
Bullying Business
(Offer cannot be combined with other clinic offers and /or specials)
Discrimination against dignity
Located at Kahala Mall, next to American Savings Bank Monday - Friday 9am-6pm, Saturday 9am-3pm (or by Appt.) (808) 735-7777 • WWW.KALVINHURDDS.COM
Page 7
F R I DAY, O C T. 8 to S U N DAY, O C T. 10 2 010
w w w. k a leo.org
Volu me 105 Issue 31
Resistance to electric cars shocks one professor C HRIS M IKESELL Senior staff writer
Last month, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa accountancy professor John Wendell took the first step towards sustainable driving: he put down a $100 reservation on a Nissan Leaf. Yet it wasn’t the electric vehicle’s $32,780 MSRP that gave him sticker shock - that happened when he found out that the university’s parking office intended to illegally charge him for the ability to park his electric vehicle on campus. “I was checking with parking about the free parking for electric vehicles, which is required by state law, to see how I’d go about it, and they said it’s not required by state law,” said Wendell, who had originally estimated that he would be able to save around $600 in permit fees. “They deny having any responsibility about letting electric vehicles park for free.” The statute Wendell was referring to, Act 290 , was a state law passed in 1997 which stipulates that no government agency, aside from the federal government, may charge parking fees to electric vehicles with special state-issued EV license plates. The section of Act 290 subsidizing the fees associated with registering a special EV license plate expired in 2002, five years after the act’s pas-
sity General Counsel is also looking into the matter, though he says there have been no records of any electric vehicles being charged parking fees, thus far. But for Hawai‘i Hall, Shito’s status quo attitude doesn’t do enough to help fi x the problem. It’s also bound to become more complicated as Nissan rolls out its Leaf to Hawai‘i consumers at the beginning of 2011, with the help of a $7,500 federal tax credit. UH Mānoa Chancellor Virginia Hinshaw affirmed in a statement that she supports dropping parking fees for electric vehicles because she wants to encourage the use of advancements in clean-energy technology. Kathleen Cutshaw, Vice Chancellor for Administration, Finance & Operations, issued a similar statement, adding that her offi ce is looking for ways to implement an electric vehicle parking policy that can put UH Mānoa into comCHRIS MIKESELL/ KA LEO O HAWAI‘I pliance with Act 290. But for aspiring electric vehiUnder a 1997 state law, electric vehicles with special license plates, like this one parked at Kahala Mall should get free metered cle owners like Wendell, the switch parking at any city, county, or state stall or facility. However, the Parking Office at UH Mānoa intends to charge parking fees to cannot come soon enough. the drivers of electric vehicles in defiance of state law. “I have no doubt that at the end “We contend that the stat- of the day they’re going to be forced Parking Operations Manager sage. The parking office, however, appears to have misinterpreted the Raymond Shito maintains that utes provide the university with to follow state law,” said Wendell. law to mean that the entire act ex- Act 290 doesn’t stop the univer- the authority to make rules and “Sustainability is part of our mispired, leaving consumers like Wen- sity from making its own rules on control parking on the campus,” sion here at Mānoa. They should be dell stalled when they go to apply for whether or not to charge parking Shito said in an e-mail statement. supporting sustainability, not putShito added that the Univer- ting up obstacles, said Wendell.” parking passes for their electric cars. fees to electric vehicles.
English class campaigns for textbook alternatives JANE CALLAHAN Associate News Editor The students of English 306 are on a mission to make education cheaper. When assigned to work collectively on a campaign for a cause, a democratic vote led to the choice of tackling the cost of school textbooks. Joon Park, a senior in political science at the University of Hawai‘i
at Mānoa, said his research revealed that “from 1986 to 2006, the cost of textbooks has risen 186 percent.” Justin Clapp, a sophomore in English, said the cost of textbooks has gone up 40 percent in the last fi ve years alone. “Our program is meant to create an awareness,” said Park. “There has to be an awareness among faculty and students if we are going to act on this problem.”
The class titled this problem “textortion.” They brainstormed various solutions ranging from ebook programs, textbook exchanges, further use of Laulima, the university’s web-based resource tool for teachers and students, to a total boycott of the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Bookstore. In order to promote awareness of increasing “textortion,” the class created a Facebook page and
a Twitter account where students and faculty can comment, make suggestions, and learn about textbook alternatives. Students cited several factors that prevented them from acquiring their books in an economical way. New editions of textbooks prevent students from selling their books back. On average, every three years, a new edition is released,
whereas in the past there was a fi ve-year gap. The class conceded that they noticed very little difference between editions. Even when students can sell back their books, the return is only a fraction of what they spent. Pua Uyehara, a senior in political science, said that she spent $600 on her textbooks last year See Textbook alternatives, next page