Good News From the President of the East-West Center

Forwarded by Poh Kok Kian

"Fr: Charles E. Morrison

Re: Good news for the East-West Center

Ric, please let members of the Executive Board know that the East-West Center is funded for the remainder of the fiscal year at a $21 million level in the House and Senate bills, less a small 0.02 percent across-the-board
rescission.

While this is a positive result more than half the year after the budget should have been adopted, the process has been enormously disruptive to our programming and wasteful of time and resources.  I know that many alumni have been very concerned.

We are deeply indebted to Senator Dan Inouye and his very able staff for their constant support as well as the entire Hawaii delegation.

We are also appreciative of the great support we have always had from the alumni and especially at difficult periods.  The alumni loyalty and participation have been among the main "selling points" when talking to members of the Congress, and I believe that there is no publicly funded program with as solid a support base in its alumni as the East-West Center.

The current budget figure is only through the remainder of this fiscal year, so we face other budget struggles ahead.  But I am confident that based on our good work and with the support of our staunch Congressional friends, our committed alumni, our outstanding staff, and so many friends, we will continue to have the resources for pursuing our mission effectively.

Aloha and thank you, Charles"