If you came early to the "Back to School Dance" hosted by the Hawaii Pacific University Cheerleaders, you were either shocked, offended, or pleasantly surprised. World Café's regular schedule had a male revue called "Heat" to be performed in the evening before the Dance was to begin, and no one at HPU knew about it.

The few HPU students and staff who had come early to World Café were shocked if not offended by some of the erotic games that were played and erotic prizes that were given out.

Fortunately—or not—most people don’t come to student parties on time. According to junior Monica Sanchez, "There’s no point in showing up early because no one is even around. Everyone knows that the party doesn’t start until after midnight," Sanchez said.

Some 600 tickets were sold for the Dance, but according to students who were present, only about 60 people—most of them not HPU students or staff—were there to see "Heat" begin.

Joise Strapple, a former cheerleader, said "It was junk. There was only one cute guy up there." Her response was shared by other women who were interviewed, but who didn’t care to be named.

Many wondered if the revue had been sponsored by HPU. However, according to special activities coordinator Jourel Seatriz, HPU had no idea that a male revue—or any review—was going to occur that night.

"I want to make it clear that HPU did not sponsor the male revue," said Seatriz, who explained that he was not told that World Café had a male revue and was not made aware that any performance of any kind was scheduled until he walked in the door that night.

World Café staff explained that "Heat" happens every Friday and Saturday night and apologized for any inconvenience to HPU students.

Once "Heat" fizzled, DJs CJ Barboza and Rick Rock filled the World Café with music, and by 2 a.m. the smoke was thick, the liquor was flowing, and the beat didn’t stop.

The name might fool you, because it wasn’t a traditional carnival with cotton candy and a ferris wheel, but it had all the excitement that a carnival can provide and plenty of people, food, music, and dancing.

The main objective of Club Carnival is to increase student awareness of the different clubs available to students at the University.

Miriam Ofina, secretary of the Philippine Student Association, said that "club carnival is great for our organization because it increases student awareness of our club, and that boosts our membership." To draw more attention to their booth, Ofina explained, they raffled off a toy car, T-shirts, and gift certificates to TGI Friday’s, a local restaurant.

Other clubs used music, displays, free candy, and popcorn to attract students.

In addition to what the clubs offered for entertainment, the Sea Warrior Band, cheerleaders, and dancers also helped the cause by performing and pumping up the spirit in the atmosphere. Junior Mike Paul said, "Our spirit squads and spirit club are always full of energy making any event more fun to be a part of."

Also HPU’s own singing sensation, Cory Oliveros and his band, performed a few island jams to keep the crowd energized.

HPU has more than 70 clubs that students can be involved in, with activities ranging from service to sports, ethnic foods to electronics. About 40 of these clubs participated in this year’s carnival. Freshman Zak Stephen said, "I was surprised at how many clubs the school has to offer and how diverse they are. It gives me a chance to meet new people, since I am a freshman and don’t really know many." Any student at HPU can join any club.

Club Carnival also provides a number of service and volunteer organizations for students. "We at Student Life try to bring services that are going to be beneficial to the students," says Office Manager Craig Lockwood. Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Bank of Hawaii, and 24-Hour Fitness were a few that participated. About 25 businesses were present.

Dr. John Hart, who just this school year joined the HPU communication faculty, recently received the Lawrence A. Frost Literary Memorial Award for Best Magazine Article for 1998. His piece, entitled "Custer’s First Stand: The Washington Fight," was published in the winter 1998 edition of Research Review, a periodical published by Little Big Horn Associates.

The award is named after historian, author, and founding member of Little Big Horn Associates, Dr. Lawrence A. Frost. Previous winners include Paul Hulton, executive director of the Western History Association, and Robert Utley, former historian for the National Park Service.

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Challenge Grant continues to enhance humanities programs at HPU this spring. Dr. Daniel Headrick, professor of history and social sciences at Roosevelt University, comes to HPU as the first NEH Challenge Grant visiting scholar. In residence through June, Headrick is teaching an honors section of world history and a seminar in western imperialism.

Headrick earned his Ph.D. in history at Princeton University, his master’s degree at The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Italy, and his bachelor’s degree at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania.

Fluent in French, Spanish, German, and Italian, Headrick is the author of nearly 50 scholarly articles and reviews and has presented more than 50 papers at academic conferences and workshops. One of his most recent publications is a two-volume world history text entitled The Earth and Its Peoples: A Global History, co-authored with several other leading scholars in the field.

Headrick has received numerous academic honors and grants. Recent awards include the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, and the Burlington Northern Award for Faculty Achievement.

As the spring term opens, I would like to continue to tell you about the different academic divisions here at Hawaii Pacific University. One of the youngest is International Studies, launched in 1998 as part of our ongoing effort to develop innovative programs that satisfy the demands of both academic rigor and student needs.

International Studies was organized as a division so that the University could offer interdisciplinary approaches to subjects that cannot be effectively studied from the perspective of a single discipline. It accommodates liberal arts programs in five disciplines that deal with international issues: anthropology, geography, international relations, international studies, and political science. Majors in these disciplines include many courses that focus on the global scene, so students within the division are preparing to become citizens of the world.

HPU’s Division of International Studies hosted a highly successful three-day program last November on International Human Rights. The United States Institute of Peace, a federal agency based in Washington, D.C., selected HPU, and the event brought to the community a panel of leading experts on international human rights and focused on human rights abuses and legal and policy solutions to correct them.

Student Reception planned for March 3

This term, the faculty and students in International Studies are busy with several additional interesting projects, beginning with a Student Reception March 3 from 3 to 5 p.m. in Warmer Auditorium, in the Penthouse at 1060 Bishop Street. Here, students interested in international studies can learn about the courses offered and the faculty who teach them, as well as things they can do to forward their careers.

Appointments and awards

The Division is headed by Dr. Jeanne Rellahan, who was recently appointed to a five-year term as chair of the regional (Hawai‘i and the Pacific) Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program. The committee recommended two applicants from Hawai‘i this year, and one from Guam. The Fulbright Program, administrated by an agency of the Department of State, is the United States’ most important international educational exchange program.

Every semester is filled with obstacles and challenges: balancing schedules, finding time to get everything done, meeting financial obligations, dealing with peer pressures—and more. Things build up and come due, and we find ourselves overwhelmed and underenergized. Sometimes we want to just give up!

Remember David, hero of one of the great stories of the Old Testament? As a youngster, David, was picked by the Israelites to do battle with the Philistine giant Goliath. The mismatch of all time! David could easily have run the other way. Instead, he looked the giant right in the eye, used the tools he had available—a slingshot—and hurled a stone that brought down the mighty hulk. David went on to become the greatest king of Israel. He knew God was with him, and he didn’t give up!

Like David, when we face our "giants," we are at our best when we look the obstacles right in the eye and use the strength God gives every day to those who trust him. When you are feeling overwhelmed, take a moment, and ask God to be with you. I believe you will find strength to face any obstacle!

Last year the Hawaii Pacific University English Foundations Program celebrated its 25th anniversary. Dr. Ed Klein has been with the program since its beginning and has headed the program since 1988. This year he returned to teaching full time.

Klein has been succeeded, temporarily, by Assistant Professor of English Bill Potter, who has been named Acting Dean of EFP while a national search is made for a replacement.

Klein headed the English Foundations Program from 1975 through 1977 and again from 1988 until last year. EFP is an academically based English language program designed to help prepare non-native speakers of English become fluent enough to pursue a university education, presumably but not necessarily at HPU. Many of the University’s international students immerse themselves in EFP classes before going on to pursue other HPU degrees, Klein said.

When the EFP began in 1974, it had 54 students, 45 of them from Micronesia, then a U.S. trust territory, and a scattering from Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, according to Klein. The program then had three levels of competency (today there are four) in four basic language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Students who completed the program, according to Klein, generally went on to major in business, travel industry management, or computer science, with occasional students entering liberal arts or nursing programs.

"It was a fluke," Klein said of his opportunity to direct his career and professional development toward the teaching of English. He was a graduate student at the University of Hawaii-Manoa working on a master’s degree in linguistics and English as a second language. "I was on the fifth floor of Moore Hall," he recalls, "and the teacher I was visiting said ‘by the way, you interested in a job this summer?’ It was spring 1973," and then Hawaii Pacific College was looking for an ESL teacher.

"In those days, 1972-73," Klein continued, "linguistics jobs were hard to find," although there was a great job market for English teachers who were able to work in the Peace Corps or the CIA or the U.S. Department of State.

Originally, after earning a B.A. in French from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wis., Klein had planned to become a French teacher. He spent 1966 through 1968 in the Peace Corps, teaching English in Korea. "People who go into the Peace Corps are interested in language and other cultures," Klein explained. "They’re the kind of people who end up in ESL, . . . the kind of people we eventually hire here." He cited current EFP faculty Catherine Sajna, who was in the Peace Corps in Botswana, and Jean Kirschenmann who worked in Yap.

Klein finished his M.A. in ESL in 1974, and later completed a doctorate, also from UH-Manoa. In the early ‘80s he was also a Fulbright scholar in Korea.

Over the years, Klein explained, national and world events have had a large impact on the makeup of the EFP student population at HPU. For example, after the fall of Saigon in the spring of 1975, HPU’s EFP grew from 45 to 88 students. Many were Vietnamese refugees learning English. Micronesian students also continued to make up a good part of EFP enrollment, which grew to 125 students by spring 1976.

In those early days, EFP was located in the then new 1164 Bishop St. building, and Klein remembers one elderly Vietnamese couple who told him, during the 1976-77 school year, that they had to leave the college because "l’air conditione" was too cold.

He also recalls some of the other antics of Vietnamese students in those days. He recalls taking a group of 30 students on a hike in Haleiwa and discovering, after passing through a campground and descending a ridge, that half of them—all Vietnamese—were missing. He found them all back at the top barbecuing chicken. "It was surprising," he explained. "I got into big trouble. The arrangement with the property owners was that we would go through the camp without using the camping facilities."

From spring 1988 to fall 1992 was the largest period of expansion in the program, as the number of students—mostly from Japan, Taiwan, Korea, and Hong Kong, but also from Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia—climbed to 872. Then from 1992 to 1995 a downturn in Japan’s economy reduced the number of students from that country, as well as the total.

By 1996, Klein recalls, EFP was entering a period of diversification, with more students from Brazil and Europe participating. By 1997 nearly 50 different countries were represented, including Argentina, Bhutan, Croatia, Macao, Morocco, Russia, Tonga, Turkey, Venezuela, and many more. By 1998, when the economic crisis in Asia was reducing the number of students coming from the Far East, students from Botswana and the Middle East were making up the difference.

The Program began with one full-time teacher and four adjuncts, Klein explained. Today there are 25 full-time instructors and 16 adjuncts. Klein himself became full time in 1975 when Holly Jacobs, then director of the Program, left the islands.