The Hawaii Legislature has taken the unusual step of terminating a tenured professor at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa through the legislative budget process. It’s not unheard-of for a legislature to eliminate empty positions at different agencies, but the professor affected by the Hawaii Legislature’s decision is still occupying the role and has worked at the university since 1999.Senator Donna Kim, chair of the higher education committee, said the effort to sweep the position at the university was part of cost-cutting measures. The provision is in the main budget bill for the university. “We need to control the costs and we need to make sure that our students in Hawaii are being able to afford higher education,” she said.
