Editorials
Tuesday, September 15, 1998

Northwest Airlines
accord helps Hawaii

SETTLEMENT of the Northwest Airlines strike is a very welcome break for Hawaii tourism after more than two weeks without flights. With 11 daily flights to Hawaii bringing about 2,500 visitors to the islands, Northwest is a major player here. Northwest controls 13 percent of the combined eastbound and westbound trade, ranking third behind United and Japan Airlines.

The strike served as a reminder of the obvious but usually unnoticed fact that the tourism industry depends on the airlines to bring its customers here. The more flights are available, the more choices people have and the more likely they are to visit Hawaii. A reduction in the number of flights is bad news. A suspension of operations by a major carrier such as Northwest can have serious effects.

It's in Hawaii's interest to keep those planes coming here. In the case of the Northwest strike, it was a national dispute and beyond the state's control. Also beyond the state's control was the failure of efforts to prevent the relocation of 300 United Airlines employees from Hawaii.

However, Governor Cayetano's earlier decision -- unrelated to the Northwest strike -- to suspend airport landing fees was a good idea because it was a way to encourage the airlines to maintain their Hawaii flights even if passenger loads were down.

Another bright spot in the airline picture is Hawaiian Airlines' decision to expand its mainland flights. Hawaiian, usually thought of as an interisland carrier, is becoming an important factor in flights to the mainland and other points.

It's also in Hawaii's interest to support efforts to reduce or eliminate restrictive provisions in international airline agreements. The U.S.-Japan agreement is especially important.

George C. Wallace

FAMOUS at his peak as the defender of racial segregation and the most outspoken opponent of civil rights, George C. Wallace Jr. eventually would transform himself into a champion of the less fortunate, regardless of race. The former Alabama governor and four-time presidential candidate will be remembered by most for his racial divisiveness, although by the time he died Sunday he had made peace with his adversaries.

In his early days in politics in the 1940s, Wallace was labeled a liberal for his support of Alabama Gov. James Folsom, who sought more opportunities for blacks. When the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed school segregation in 1954, he dropped his support of Folsom. In his run for governor four years later, Wallace and the other 12 candidates all opposed integration, but the winner was the most irreconcilable one, whom Wallace called the Ku Klux Klan candidate.

Wallace vowed he was "not going to be out-niggered again." He won the governorship in 1962 and, in his inaugural address, pledged: "Segregation now! Segregation tomorrow! Segregation forever!" He was elected governor again in 1970, 1974 and 1982.

Wallace demonstrated his defiance of segregation in 1963, when he stood at an entrance to the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa to block the enrollment of two black students. His opposition to desegregation there and at other schools was defeated by President Kennedy's federalizing of the national guard.

The confrontation propelled Wallace to national prominence, leading to his presidential candidacies in 1964, 1968, 1972 and 1976. In his third national campaign, Wallace was shot several times by a young drifter in a Maryland shopping center, paralyzing him from the waist down. He addressed the Democratic National Convention from his wheelchair, but was not a serious contender for the White House.

In 1982 Wallace reversed himself and won election to his last term as governor declaring that segregation was wrong. He received 90 percent of the black vote. His political transformation and reconciliation with blacks was a remarkable conclusion to a rambunctious career.

UH medical school

ABOLISH the University of Hawaii medical school? That is one of only a few recommendations that two faculty committees studying university downsizing agreed upon. But this is not official policy yet, and may never be.

The Star-Bulletin's Helen Altonn obtained copies of the committees' reports, but reported that they have been "sitting for months on an administration shelf." A UH official said the reports were not being released to the public but are being studied as "a component of the decision-making process." Copies were recently distributed to the Board of Regents, UH Executive Council, deans and directors, Faculty Senate and UH Professional Assembly.

The medical school has long been the target of critics looking for ways to save money and have the UH focus on fewer programs in which it could strive for excellence. But the school has strong defenders. An attempt to eliminate it would set off a battle that would spill over from academia into the political arena.

It would be naive to expect any such step to come easily. Oceanography professor Edward Laws, who chaired a "reconciliation committee" that tried unsuccessfully to resolve differences between the two committees, was correct in stating that it's up to the UH administration to make such decisions: "It can't expect the faculty to cut their own throats."

Professors may be idealists in some respects but when it comes to their own programs they are as jealous of their prerogatives as any corporate executive. An attempt to eliminate the medical school or any other major academic program would be resisted strenuously.

That is why across-the-board budget cuts are preferred even if they don't make sense. They spread the pain evenly, which means it's easier to win acceptance.

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John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher

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A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor