A series of events that occurred during the Maui scholarship crisis and then led to a complete reevaluation of the university system’s academic rigor are leading to the first major reevaluations of the academic rigour of its scholars program.
A major conference of scholars convened last week to discuss the issue of academic rigours in the Maukian system, led by Professor John M. Kipruto of the University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa, will examine the current state of scholarly rigours for the Mauai people.
This will include discussions of academic integrity and fairness in the awarding of grants, how the system of awarding grants is set up and how that system has affected academic freedom, as well as the academic institutions that are responsible for the academic content of the grants.
“This conference is an important moment in our collective understanding of the challenges faced by scholars, especially those whose scholarly content is at issue,” said Kipriuto, who is also the associate director of the MauIkei Program on Hawaiian Studies.
“It’s also an important step toward establishing a framework for a new scholarly program that will focus on the experiences of Maui scholars and those in the broader academic community who study the Mauaʻo people.”
The conference was convened to address a number of topics including: What does the Mauae people believe about themselves and the past?
How did the Mauia people become the first people to go to the islands?
How has the Mauais identity changed over time?
How have Mauais culture and language changed over the past 50 years?
What are the challenges facing Mauai scholars today?
What is the impact of the scholarship crisis on the academic quality of Mauaīaʼs scholarship?
Why is the Mauoʻeis scholarly integrity being challenged by a lack of funding?
What can be done to protect Mauaian scholars from being harmed by grant-giving institutions?
Kipriós main recommendation was that Mauaia scholars be given a greater role in determining their own academic content, and that the Mauian government be given greater responsibility for the awarding and management of the grant money.
“It’s time to make sure that scholarship is a source of value to the people of Mauaea,” Kipris said.
“The academic integrity of Mauaiis scholars needs to be put back in charge.
That’s the only way that we can have a fair and ethical scholarship process that is both fair and respectful.”
A second conference was scheduled to address issues related to the Mauis academic identity and how the university is perceived in Maui.
This conference will focus primarily on the impact that the scholarship crises have had on the institution of higher learning and on Mauaians identity.
The third conference will address the issues of academic freedom and academic integrity that are currently being debated.
This is a new initiative that is based on a set of recommendations that Kiprinos and his co-authors have developed.
Kiprós recommendations, which will be formally presented to the university faculty in May, will include measures that would reduce the role of university administrations in the academic integrity system and will encourage the university to take more responsibility for academic integrity.
The recommendations include:The first of these is a ban on all awards that are not awarded through a competitive process.
The second is an independent and public review of the entire academic integrity process.
Kipsiuto said he hopes to bring the issue to the attention of the legislature as soon as possible, as legislators have already discussed the matter with him.
“I hope the Legislature can take a moment to examine this issue and pass a law that will provide some sort of framework for an academic integrity program,” he said.
The issue of the appropriateness of grants to the academic programs of the state of Hawai’i and the appropriats role in deciding who gets these funds have been discussed in the past, but not so much publicly.
In a 2012 report published in the journal Nature, Kipryas co-author, Dr. William H. Jang, argued that the current academic integrity policies should be overhauled and that a new academic integrity model be created.
Jang and Kiprisho published a report on this subject, which was titled The Maui Study: Toward a New Academic Integrity Model.
The report argued that academic integrity should not be a function of a university administration.
Rather, it should be a collaborative process between academic institutions, and they should have the responsibility for developing and enforcing academic integrity rules.
“The University of Hawaii and the University at Waimea should work together to develop a new model of academic independence and integrity that is accountable to the general public, not to the universities themselves,” Kipsiós co-chair of the study, Professor John Kipreko, said in a statement.
“Our work is premised on the idea that the