Post-Colonial Moment: Native Hawaiian Schools

Recently a federal appeals court panel ruled that the Kamehameha Schools in Hawaii are practicing unlawful race discrimination by restricting enrollment to Native Hawaiian children. But the court last week decided to reverse the ruling for an unnamed non-Hawaiian youth who wanted to attend the school this year.

The split decision by the three-member appeals court panel rocked the $6 billion private institution established by the 1884 will of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop. The school believes its nearly 120-year-old admissions policy addresses the socioeconomic and educational disadvantages among Native Hawaiian and falls under affirmative action protections.

We're disappointed," said Sacramento lawyer Eric Grant, one of the attorneys for the unnamed youth, to the Honolulu Advertiser. "We don't know what we're going to do next."

Based on that ruling, Grant first asked the appeals court for an injunction to order Kamehameha to admit the boy. After that was rejected, he asked the court to send the case back to the U.S. District Court so he could ask the trial judge to issue a similar order. That second request was rejected by the appeals court yesterday.

Kamehameha plans to file its request for the rehearing later this month. If the court agrees with the school and convenes an 11-member "en banc" panel, the youth may never get into Kamehameha before he graduates because it might take longer than a year for the panel to render a decision.

Should schools for Indigenous Hawaiians, Native Americans and even African Americans (Historically Black Colleges) admit students who are not of the racial makeup of the institution?