The first day is memorable because during my first class of the day (Sociology 100), the professor Dr. Peter Manicas was doing what he's known for, walking all over the lecture hall in a loud manner and he was going up to people at random, this day talking into a female's face. Later it turned out he also did this to male students, like he did one time to one of the men's basketball players, with his teammates laughing at him.
Needless to say, Dr. Manicas probably wouldn't have lasted if he was still teaching in the #metoo era. He passed away in 2015.
(previous blog posts mentioning Dr. Manicas)
https://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2016/02/in-memory-of-dr-peter-manicas-1934-2015.html
https://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2019/04/joe-biden-and-personal-space.html
Some of the freshmen (me being one of them) chose to be a part of the small learning communities which we shared a few classes. Later on the first day of school, we all met together in the Campus Center Ballroom.
It took a while to decide on a major being that I entered the university without having a specific career path in mind (which many would advise against now being that there's more awareness of the perils of college debt), but I did eventually settle on sociology (yes, the subject of the crazy professor) because that was the most interesting subject there is.
Basically, much of the time as an undergraduate student was basically stalling for time until I have to enter "the real world".
College did have its perks including the big libraries (which I spent some time as a student employee), the cafeterias, sports games, parties, campus controversies and much more!
The Campus: Then & Now
Being that I still live near the campus, I can pin-point what has changed on the campus since Fall 1999.For example, the area around Campus Center has changed. There used to be a small building that housed the school's newspaper (the Ka Leo O Hawaii, which has since moved to Hemenway Hall), the printing press, and other small buildings. Much of that has since been replaced by the big gym (opened in 2014), a small grass field, and other structures..
The first floor of Campus Center once included a gameroom and a Taco Bell. Both are now gone. Taco Bell has been replaced by Stir Fresh.
Also within the Campus Center is the bookstore. Still there! What I did notice when I first visited there was a huge section for magazines. I was fascinated. However, the magazine industry drastically declined in the last 2 decades due to competition from the internet. The last time I visited the bookstore, I don't even think I even saw a magazine section.
Hamilton Library was still going through its expansion, with the Addition (where the science section & the archives currently are) opened in 2001. The flood would come in 2004, basically damaging the basement (where the Library & Information Science program is located).
Sinclair Library had the computer lab where the Honors program is currently located. At the time, computers were using floppy disks. The computer lab has since modernized and moved to a different section of the library. The Sinclair Library is currently going through another transition, with its music books and audio-visual collection moving to Hamilton Library. Sinclair Library is being repurposed into being more of a collaborative study space instead of a repository of information formats. Hamilton Library will remain the repository of information formats as well as a quiet study space.
Not far from the Hamilton Library was Henke Hall, Edmonson Hall, and Snyder Hall. Edmonson Hall was recently renovated. Henke Hall was recently torn down to make way for a new Life Science Building. Snyder Hall will likely be renovated once the new Life Science Building is done.
Being a sociology major, the department headquarters is in Saunders Hall. When I started at UHM, the building was called the Social Science Building, which was its temporary name after people protested its previous name Porteus Hall, named after a social scientist whose writings include racist stereotypes. The building became Saunders Hall in 2001, named after a married couple/social scientists Allan & Marion Suanders who advocated for racial equality.
Articles on Porteus Hall name controversy
“Saunders Hall (Porteus Hall),” University of Hawaii,
http://libweb.hawaii.edu/names/porteus.html.
Editorials (Rename Porteus Hall),” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, November 25, 1997,
http://archives.starbulletin.com/97/11/25/editorial/editorials.html
The following link is for an article paying tribute to the couple for whom Saunders Hall is named
Richard H. Kosaki, “Allan Saunders Helped Shape Modern Hawai'i,” Honolulu Advertiser, April 21, 2002,
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2002/Apr/21/op/op06a.html
Just south of Bilger Hall were portables that have since moved out of the way to make room for a modernized Information Technology building that opened in 2014. Before that, the I.T. department was headquartered in Keller Hall, a building still in need of modernization.
As for the dorms, Frear Hall as we know it now didn't yet exist. The Frear Hall that was there was a smaller building that was shut down for years. It has since been replaced a taller, more modernized dormitory building.
The other dorms are still either being renovated or soon to be renovated. Some people called the dorms "the ghetto", which I thought was ridiculous because I actually lived in a public housing complex before living in the dorms.
Entering the New Millennium, Joining the Internet Age
When I entered the university, the world was going through a major transition. The new millennium was only a few months away. Y2K was coming. But more importantly, the internet revolution has recently begun.
The internet started to become mainstream when I was in high school. However, I never had it at home and I rarely ever used it at school. I even told a few friends in my senior year that "I don't give a f--- about the internet".
When I was looking forward to college, my mind was thinking about reading lots of books, whether it was textbooks or doing independent research by searching through the library stacks. The computer was going just be for typing papers and using the library catalog to find books.
Email? Never used it in high school at all! (note: Email was still a new thing to the general public back then) When I entered UHM, the university provided me my first email address. I had to ask for help in learning how to use it. When I found out that my friends also had email addresses, I learned that it was much more convenient than calling them on the phone. Email was a better way to share information with friends than trying to call them, hoping they had time to talk now. (note: this was years before texting & smartphones became part of mainstream life)
What really got me into using the internet was people that I met through a print publication. The school's newspaper, Ka Leo O Hawaii (aka the Ka Leo) used to have an edgy opinion section, and I wanted to join in the fun. Before college, I hardly read opinion articles in the newspaper, now I became addicted. I joined Ka Leo to write opinion articles. One of the writers I've met introduced to his high school friend who went to HPU (Hawaii Pacific University), and they both sent me links to even more interesting opinion articles on the internet. THAT was what got me hooked to the internet. A few years later, while still attending UHM, I learned about Blogger, an online platform that I'm using now to write this blog.
Expanding the Social Circle
I wasn't ready to leave high school. Academically, I did well enough to graduate and gain admittance to the university. But socially was a different story. I really wanted another year! I always felt like I could've done more in high school if I had a little more time.Right before high school, my parents moved house to a different part of the island, and I used my grandma's home address to attend the high school where my friends are. This required a lot of commuting and evasiveness. It was only until the 4th quarter of my final year that I lived in my grandma's home full time. So I felt like I really didn't get a chance to do many things. Don't get me wrong, I did pep rallies and talent shows in my senior year, but I felt I could've done even more.
Well, anyways, when I went to UHM, I was spending more time thinking about "what could've been" instead of looking at the possibilities right before me. I spent too much time comparing UHM to high school rather than just appreciating college for what it is.
I did stay in the dorms for the first few years at UHM. Had my parents not move to the other side of the island, I would've stayed at home (just like my oldest brother) while attending UHM.
I did meet a lot of interesting people while living in the dorms, but I was happy to leave the dorms when my parents found an off-campus studio apartment.
I wrote more on this topic in the following articles from the Ka Leo
Pablo Wegesend, “Former Dormer Asserts Views,” Ka Leo O Hawaii, September 30, 2003,
http://www.manoanow.org/former-dormer-asserts-views/article_c6de34b4-b34d-52c7-8453-67402b360dc0.html
Pablo Wegesend, “UH Needs Additional One-Man Rooms,” Ka Leo O Hawaii, June 3, 2004
(note: editors chose the title without consulting me, I referred to the rooms in the article as "one-person rooms", not "one-man rooms"
http://www.manoanow.org/uh-needs-additional-one-man-rooms/article_5851b5cc-eaac-5647-9057-4232dd7c17bb.html
Pablo Wegesend, “Student Housing Policy Troubled,” Ka Leo O Hawaii, October 8, 2003
http://www.manoanow.org/student-housing-policy-troubled/article_f0331c92-35e3-5b1b-90de-2d5335d32d0c.html
and from my blog posts
https://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2013/07/one-decade-in-my-apartment.html
https://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2018/07/15-years-at-my-apartment.html
Whether it was people I met in the dorms, in class, or just anywhere on campus, it was an exposure to even more diversity.
Yes, my high school (McKinley High School) was diverse in that it had more immigrants than any other school in Hawaii. It was an inner-city school with people from low-income housing as well as expensive condos.
But at UHM, I met students from the more rural areas of Hawaii. My first roommate was from Hana, a small town in an isolated part of Maui.
There were also students from the local suburbs as well as the private schools.
We also had many students from the continental US, with high proportions coming from Oregon and Washington (the state). Obviously, most of them were European-Americans. Going to school with that many European-Americans was a new experience for me (even though I have a German last name), and for many of them, it was the first time many had experienced being in the minority. There were also people of non-European ancestries from the continental US too, some being African-American & Latino, while others being Asian or Pacific Islander, and therefore mistaken as being from Hawaii. That was interesting because even though I've only lived in Hawaii, many at UHM assumed I was from California.
Being that Hawaii is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, UHM also attracted many international students, mostly from Asia and the Pacific Islands, but also some from every continent. Classmates included a water polo player from the Netherlands, basketball players from Canada & Nigeria, as well as a woman who moved from Egypt to Brazil to Hawaii.
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Colleges are known for parties, especially at the dorms. Even though I was the life of the party during my senior year in high school, I didn't do much parties in the early years in college. I refused to drink alcoholic beverages, and therefore wanted no part of whatever keg parties existed. The only on-campus parties I attended were the dance parties held at the cafeteria near the dorms. No alcohol served, just some music to enjoy. As for clubbing, I did some of that, but I think I did much more after I was done with my undergrad years at UHM.
When it comes to drinking, to each their own. I chose not to do it, and I'd rather not preach to those who aren't receptive to it. However, one of the first few friends I made at UHM was a drunk who wanted me to join in his drinking. Needless to say, that friendship didn't last that long.
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My 1st job
Unlike my older brothers and some of my friends, I didn't have a job during high school.I started applying for part-time jobs during the summer after high school. In August, I landed a temporary position as a student helper at the McCully-Mo'ili'ili Public Library. Basically, I shelved books. It was a wonderful experience with wonderful people. The library was also biking distance from UHM.
However, the temp position ended that December. I later landed part-time positions at UHM's Hamilton Library as well as the Library for the Blind & Physically Handicapped (LBPH).
Campus Controversies
During my freshman year, I would pick up the Ka Leo and notice the many controversies on campus. Some of it involved student activists being at odds with the administration over proposed tuition hikes, perceived Western bias & more. The university system president at the time, Kenneth Mortimer, wasn't a charismatic person and therefore was an easy target for criticism.Some of the controversies at Ka Leo were self-inflicted as the opinion writers wrote edgy articles that got a lot of angry reaction. I eventually joined in as one of the opinion writers and I got some controversy as well.
But the most controversial writer of all was Lance Collins. He was a very eccentric person who wrote funny edgy articles. I actually enjoyed them even though he was much more far to the Left than I was.
Collins was in the most interesting controversy of my freshman year when he got into a loud argument with a professor (Dr. Loren Gautz) at a forum over the proposed changes to the core requirements. Collins felt the current curriculum was too Eurocentric, the professor disagreed. It got to the point where Collins yelled at the professor "f--- you, you racist pig", and the professor unbuckled his belt and yelled, "you want to f--- me, I'll f--- you right now, let's f---". This was before the smartphone era. If it happened now, the incident would've definitely be recorded & gone viral.
(note: Ka Leo's website doesn't archive articles written before 2001, so all I can link to was a Star-Bulletin article that was nowhere near as detailed as was written in the Ka Leo.)
Susan Kreifels, “U.H. Faculty Favor More Diversity: The Proposal Follows a Confrontation between a Gay Student and Professor,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, November 18, 1999,
http://archives.starbulletin.com/1999/11/18/news/story10.html
I later found out that the year before, Collins wrote an article ridiculing the football team for losing, getting special treatment and for their alleged intellectual weakness. He was later confronted by angry players.
Collins left Ka Leo for a while, then came back as an editor of the Opinions section. Despite his reputation, he wasn't that hard to deal with. He allowed us to be edgy & eccentric, he only had to ask me to rewrite when the word count was over the limit.
UH Athletics & School Spirit
When I was in high school, UH was known for its great volleyball teams, decent mid-major basketball teams and a junk football team that went 0-12 in 1998
My first semester at UHM coincided with June Jones first year as the head football coach. Things were about to change for the better.
The June Jones era started with a loss to Southern California (with future Heisman winner Carson Palmer), but when the team won the next game (versus Eastern Illinois), everyone said: "UH finally won a game".
The team went 9-4, beat our rival Fresno State and won a bowl game (versus Oregon State). You could definitely feel a rise in school spirit as the season went on!
The following year, the team got rid of its "Rainbow Warriors" nickname because June Jones felt that rainbows have become a "gay symbol" and that it hurt recruiting.
In 2013, the Rainbow Warrior name came back.
I wrote about that issue in the following blog posts
https://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2013/02/uh-sports-nicknames.html
https://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-rainbows-are-back.html
I wrote about that issue in the following blog posts
https://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2013/02/uh-sports-nicknames.html
https://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-rainbows-are-back.html
Life after the Fall 1999 semester
I went on to become a sociology major and graduated in Fall 2004. I went beyond the stereotypical 4 years to finish my bachelor's degree because it took a while before I declared my major and it took a while for me to fulfill all my core requirements. Part of it was I took some classes I didn't really need just because I was interested. Also, part of it was I still was trying to figure out my post-college plans.
I could've continued on as a graduate student, but at that point, I felt I needed a break from being a student.
One of my classmates who graduated a year before me became a substitute teacher. In Hawaii, you only need a bachelor's degree (in any subject) to become a substitute teacher. So I went that route for 13 years.
Within that time, I figured that I need to do something else in my life. I was at a crossroads. Since I was working at schools, I was seriously considering becoming a full-time teacher. Then I remembered the times working at libraries when I was a UHM student. What do I do? There are more teaching positions out there, but full-time teaching comes with more stress. If I enjoyed working at libraries as a part-time worker before, I might as well pursue becoming a full-time library worker.
So in the summer of 2012, I applied to return back to UHM to pursue a degree in Library & Information Science (LIS), which I started in Spring 2013. I finished in Fall 2015. My experiences as a graduate student in LIS was very different from being a UHM student fresh out of high school. I'll explain more in future posts.
Now, I'm a Library Assistant at a public middle school. Happy to land a full-time library position, but I do eventually want to move on to either a public or university library in the future.
Who knows, maybe one day, I'll be back at UHM as a full-time library employee. Staff can take classes with a tuition waiver, so being a student again is a possibility. We'll see!
Go Rainbow Warriors!
