Foreign Exchange

By Ellen Boneparth

Andy Perry, female foreign student advisor at the University of Hawaii, Hilo, loves her job, but not the university bureaucracy she must deal with.

She discovers an attempt by leaders at the top to turn the foreign student program into a cash cow that will fill the pockets of certain administrators and turn the foreign exchange program into an elitist and dangerous offering for visiting students from Asia and the Pacific.

With the help of one of her mature foreign students, a close colleague on the faculty, and a principled dean, Andy Perry exposes corruption in the form of a complicated bribery deal and helps to expel the bureaucrats scheming to exploit the university.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Dec 4, 2017
• ISBN: 9781546219262

Ellen Boneparth

In her many novels, Ellen Boneparth usually features a woman who discovers a social problem and becomes embroiled in ways to confront it. Boneparth draws on her experiences working in government, academia and diplomacy. She also frequently draws on her domestic and overseas travels to provide foreign locations and unusual environments. In NOA's ARC, the heroine's journey to confront drug addiction takes her from New York to Washington, D.C., to the Cherokee reservation in Oklahoma, and to drug programs in the Northwest and Canada.

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© 2017 Ellen Boneparth. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse  12/01/2017

ISBN: 978-1-5462-1927-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5462-1926-2 (e)

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Acknowledgments

            Cover Photo: Archive, Pacific Tsunami Museum

                                Hilo, Hawaii

                                Tsunami, September 17, 2015 Wave Height: 3 Feet

CHAPTER 1

A rare day for Hilo, Hawaii, a town nestled in the Big Island’s rain forest. Toasty sunshine had burned off the morning fog, leaving the university’s lime green lawns sparkly and the spiked leaves of tropical plants glistening along campus paths. The sky was clear enough to reveal the snow-covered summit of Mauna Kea volcano. As she made her way up the path to the chancellor’s office, Andy Perry stopped for a moment to pull down a branch of a plumeria tree and inhale the sweet, musky scent of its pink blossoms.

The island’s many astounding environments had a magnetic appeal for Andy. She couldn’t get enough of the thick, lush rain forest, the wild spills of lava around the volcanoes, the shimmering life of vibrant corals and tropical fish in the ocean. When she’d escaped San Francisco for a Hawaiian sojourn, she’d had a picture only of Waikiki in her head, a long sandy beach, gentle waves, tourists paddling around on surfboards. That was domesticated Oahu, not the native, largely primitive Big Island that became her home. She’d never imagined the grandeur of its 13,000-foot volcanoes, its deep, fertile valleys, barren, windswept plains at higher elevations, myriad waterfalls tumbling off lava cliffs after a deluge of rain. She felt blessed to have landed on the Big Island, home to one of nature’s richest treasure troves.

If only she felt as blessed about her job. On the positive side, she adored interacting, as the university’s Foreign Student Advisor, with young people from East Asia, the Pacific Islands, Southeast Asia and South Asia. Asian cultures were new to her and fascinating in both their dynamism and grace. And she felt she made a real difference in helping foreign students manage academic challenges, the university bureaucracy, and American ways that were strange to them. That was the good news.

On the negative side, she was working with university administrators who had little concern for the foreign student program and little motivation, much as she tried, to go along with changes that would make the campus more appealing to foreigners. She had come up with many ideas to increase interaction between foreign students and faculty as well with their American peers. Every new proposal met either resistance or disinterest, except for the few professors who believed a foreign exchange program was good for the campus.

As she climbed the hill to the chancellor’s office, she had no idea why Chancellor Thomas had called her to the afternoon meeting. Her own boss, Walter Hu, Dean of Students, would be there as well as Winston Furikawa, the inscrutable Vice Chancellor for Administration. If Furikawa was present, the subject would undoubtedly be budget. Were they cutting student services again to launch some new initiative that would plaster the chancellor’s face across Hawaii’s newspapers?

Frowning, Andy reflected on the behavior of her own boss. Hu wouldn’t put up much of a fight over a budget cut. After a year and a half of working for him, she knew he’d support his superiors in whatever they wanted so he might soon be promoted into their ranks. Well, if the university’s leaders were proposing to cut foreign student programs, her niche, she’d fight to keep what she had.

Andy scowled as she stepped into the elevator of the new business administration building. The Chancellor of the University of Hawaii at Hilo, Anna Thomas, had taken over the top floor, using half to house her office and half for a grandiose lounge and entertainment space. Andy was put off by the chancellor’s self-indulgence. So not the way things were done in low-key Hilo.

Chancellor Thomas invited her staff members to come into her office and take seats at the long conference table by the windows looking down over the lower campus. If the space had been Andy’s, she would have put the table on the uphill side of the room so visitors could enjoy the view of Mauna Kea – white mountain – but the chancellor had placed her desk there, reminding everyone, at least subliminally, she was in the top spot.

The chancellor buzzed her secretary, Evelyn, an elderly gray-haired woman, who carried to the conference table a tray with a light blue ceramic teapot, matching sugar bowl and milk pitcher, and four matching mugs. Ignoring customary manners, the chancellor proceeded to pour herself tea then slide the tray down to her visitors.

Tea with milk. So Anglo-Saxon. Andy was frequently struck by the chancellor’s efforts to submerge her Asian roots beneath her westernized style and Ivy League pedigrees. She often mentioned her B.A. from Cornell or her Ph.D. in Asian History from Harvard. Coming from Singapore, reportedly from an elite Chinese family, her features only hinted at her Asian background. She wore her thick black hair in a stylish blunt cut. Speaking with a clipped accent, she also dressed like a New Englander – pastel linen suits, silk blouses, designer shoes with heels high enough to add inches to her small stature. There was nothing local about her.

So, gentlemen, and Alessandra, she said, let us begin.

Alessandra, the ponderous name Andy’s Italian mother had chosen. She had asked the chancellor to call her Andy. Everyone else on campus called her Andy, an easy name for foreign students as well as many of the local students who spoke pidgin at home and would find Alessandra a bit of a mouthful. The chancellor insisted Alessandra was more dignified.

Chancellor Thomas opened a file folder. The subject of this meeting is confidential, although, given the way the gossip mill operates on this campus, I doubt it will remain so.

She flicked a speck of lint off her beige linen sleeve then continued. As you know, the UH System administrators and Board of Regents have been strategizing concerning the mission of this campus. As the smaller university campus in comparison with UH, Manoa, I insist UH, Hilo is complementary, not secondary. What is presently being discussed will affect all of you directly.

She looked around the table at her three subordinates, fixed her eyes on Hu. The present notion, Walter, which I fully support, is to make UH, Hilo an enticement for undergraduate students from around the Pacific Rim. We will introduce new ways to do so.

Andy was stunned. The chancellor had never before shown any interest in the foreign student program. Why was it suddenly to become a lure for undergraduates from across Asia? Why didn’t UH, Hilo first make its existing program more appealing rather than expanding into new territory?

Excellent, Hu said, smiling. How did you persuade Manoa to make Hilo the draw for undergraduates?

Simple. I presented the assets of this campus – our extremely attractive academic programs and facilities – in a convincing light.

I’d love to hear more.

Andy resisted rolling her eyes. The best word to describe her boss was unctuous.

As I’m sure you’re all aware, the chancellor continued, for foreign students we have distinct virtues compared to Honolulu. As a small, rural community, Hilo is more secure than a big city. Also our cost of living is lower – less money for room and board, services, entertainment. Finally, we have a more relaxed lifestyle than Honolulu. Friendly, easy-going Hilo, a great town for the casual undergraduate way of life.

That was only one side of it, Andy thought with annoyance, as she pushed her long brown curls behind her ears. The very things the chancellor presented as assets were also deficiencies. Many foreign students found Hilo too quiet – boring and lacking the hip offerings they were seeking in the U.S. As for being cheaper, that was true, but cost made little difference to many Asians from wealthy families who came to school in America.

The chancellor clasped her hands on the table and smiled. As it happens, one member of the Board of Regents strongly agrees with me and is throwing his support behind the creation of a new foreign student center on this campus. Excuse me – I am proposing we call it the Overseas Student Center. ‘Overseas’ has more appeal, less stigma, than ‘foreign.’ She fixed her gaze on Andy. That means, Alessandra, your title will change to Overseas Student Advisor.

Furikawa leaned back and crossed his short arms over his chest, his expression unreadable as usual. This new center. Where are we supposed to put it? The campus is already short on space.

I’m not at liberty to disclose that now, but I believe you’ll be pleased by the location, which will not put any strain on our current property. And, Winston, you’ll be happy to know the appropriations to build and operate the center will be handsome. You will most likely need to bring someone on board to manage the center’s finances.

Thomas swiveled around to address Hu again. You, too, Walter, will need to consider expanding. Eventually, we will need another staff member in Student Services, preferably a speaker of Chinese or Japanese, to handle the inflow of students, more than Alessandra could possibly handle on her own.

Irritated, Andy tapped her fingers on the table. Someone who spoke Chinese or Japanese. She was getting the impression this new administrator would not be an assistant to her, but a superior. She wasn’t about to accept a new staff member in place above her. Assistant Overseas Student Advisor was not the job for which she’d been hired. Her career at UH, Hilo could become short-lived.

Thomas closed her folder. As a final point, Regent Yang, our supporter on the Board of Regents, will be visiting our campus next Friday to present the proposal to our university community and to meet all of you. I know you’ll evince the enthusiasm this project deserves. It’s a great step forward for our institution.

And for you, Andy thought sourly.

Thomas rose from her chair, walked over to her desk. Have a good day, gentlemen. So much for Alessandra. Enjoy the sunshine while we have it.

~

Andy made her way back to the Division of Student Services just as undergraduates were strolling across the campus during class break. As usual, she was struck by the contrasts in the student crowd – trim, preppy white coeds, looking like they belonged on any mainland liberal arts campus, sharply contrasted with dark-skinned, sloppily dressed locals who could have been lounging around a luau, guzzling sodas or beer. Not only did the students look like they came from different worlds, they also behaved that way, rarely mixing socially or engaging in leisure activities together. She regretted that, wished the campus were more integrated.

Back in her office, Andy grabbed her phone to call Miriam Bernstein, the English professor who was her best friend on campus. Ostensibly, she and Miriam – respectively, an Italian from San Francisco and a Jew from Chicago – had little in common. Andy’s academic background was in education while Miriam had advanced degrees in literature, a more demanding field than education and from the high-brow University of Chicago versus Andy’s more down-to-earth alma mater, UC, Berkeley. Nonetheless, at UH, Hilo, they were two professionals who had bonded over outreach to students and educational innovation. Andy deeply believed in promoting diversity and encouraging students to learn from each other. Miriam was committed to teaching literature relevant to her students, congruent with their Hawaiian or indigenous backgrounds. Most of Miriam’s colleagues rejected her approach, insisting on Shakespeare and Chaucer, despite their students’ lack of familiarity with basic vocabulary and sentence structure.

Likewise, the two women meshed socially. They shared an interest in exploring the island’s natural offerings and local culture. They enjoyed whatever cultural