The education I got there changed my life for the better. Calif. UH strike healed rifts among professors During the faculty strike something amazing happened that gives me a great deal of hope for the future of the University of Hawaii. In the normal course of the semester, professors are usually running to keep up with their commitments of research, teaching and service. Social interactions common in other fields don't happen as regularly in academia. In addition, professors tend to be independent thinkers and passionate about their beliefs.
Ideological differences can create divisions between colleagues.
Out on the picket lines I saw colleagues from all fields come together for a common cause. I saw the passions that sometimes divide faculty united into a common passion and belief in the university. The feeling of hopelessness and despair which has been hanging over the UH faculty like a dark cloud since the budget cuts began in the mid-'90s lifted. I made the giant skeleton puppet that participated in rallies at the Capitol, the Federal Building and Kapiolani Park. I would like to thank all the students who supported the strike, particularly the students and faculty who struggled with the large puppet to make the visual statement that Hawaii's future is in the hands of public education.