A bill that could have cut dozens of degree programs at University of Hawaii campuses across the state was deferred Thursday by the House Education Committee.

HB 555  would have eliminated UH undergraduate degree programs that have less than 10 graduates per year, except programs that are self-sustaining. Committee Chair Isaac Choy deferred the bill, even though he had proposed it.

An amended bill could re-emerge requiring UH to report data on graduation rates, but not requiring any programs to be eliminated.

Rep. Isaac Choy listens to testimony Thursday opposing his bill that could have eliminated some University of Hawaii programs.

Cory Lum/Civil Beat

The bill was a response to UH Manoa’s $31 million deficit for its current fiscal year.

More than 300 people submitted written testimony, and dozens of students and professors spoke against the bill Thursday. No one spoke in support of it.

“It makes me very, very upset,” UH alumni Willow Chang said. “It does not make sense.”

Students agreed in sometimes tearful testimony, saying that cutting the majors would destroy their dreams.

Considering that UH is the largest secondary education system in the state, it’s important that it offer a wide variety of majors so they don’t have to leave the state, students said.

Willow Chang testifies in opposition to the bill: “It makes me very, very upset. It does not make sense.”

Cory Lum/Civil Beat

Dr. Betsy Fisher, a UH dance professor, said the bill would have been “really detrimental” and put the student body and professors in “an agitated and difficult space.” Dance could have been cut as a major had the bill passed in its original form.

However, an amended bill won’t necessarily prevent UH from cutting programs with few graduates. Choy said that the university cutting programs on its own accord would be like “a scalpel, rather than a sledgehammer.”

“We’re looking at both costs and revenues,” UH President David Lassner said about the possibility of cutting majors. “We don’t generally support a blunt-edged hatchet.”

“We’re looking at both costs and revenues. We don’t generally support a blunt-edged hatchet.” — UH President David Lassner

When the conversation turned to how UH could reduce spending without harming students, professors and students agreed budget cuts should focus on school administrators.

In addition to raising tuition, the UH has already proposed cutting graduate teaching assistant programs in the College of Natural Sciences. This could leave many graduate students without a means to pay for school.

In another attempt to address UH budget woes, Sen. Josh Green has proposed SB 808, which could hold taxpayers responsible for funding the University of Hawaii Cancer Center. UHCC has an “operational deficit” and a “flawed” business plan, according to a recent report by a UHCC review task force. Currently, it operates solely off of grants and tobacco tax income, which has decreased in recent years.

Another Senate bill, SB 1303, would establish funding for four full-time positions in UH Manoa’s College of Agricultural Science and Human Resources. The bill would appropriate funding to hire one external crop advisor, one field advisor, one extension agent and one workforce development official.