2023

April 13, 2023 – This is the Way We Rise: Film Screening and Discussion with Dr. Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio. This Maoli Thursday highlights Professor Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio‘s groundbreaking film This Is The Way We Rise. The film documents Dr. Osorio as a Kānaka Maoli wahine poet, activist and academic, and her continued work towards justice for Native Hawaiians. Taking you directly to the Mauna Kea protests, the film highlights Dr. Osorio’s journey finding her voice and using poetry as part of her activism while inviting students to do the same. Following the screening, there will be a discussion and Q/A with Dr. Osorio. Moderated by WSRSL 2L Holly Doyle.

March 2, 2023 – Aloha ʻĀina: Kahoʻolawe and Beyond, in Honor of Dr. Noa Emmett Auwae Aluli. Governor John Waiheʻe III is a 1976 graduate of the Law School and served as Hawaiʻi’s Governor from 1986 to 1994. He was one of the attorneys who represented those charged by the U.S. with trespassing on Kahoʻolawe in 1976. As a delegate of the 1978 ConCon, he was instrumental in the creation of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA), the adoption of ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi as an official language of the State, and the protection of traditional and customary Hawaiian practices. During his time as Governor, the island of Kahoʻolawe was returned to the state of Hawaiʻi. Professor Neil Thomas Proto is a lawyer who has also taught at Yale University and Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy. He is a Fellow in the Royal Geographical Society of London. The event is moderated by Professor of Law Emerita Melody Kapilialoha McKenzie with opening remarks provided by Professor Davianna Pōmaikaʻi McGregor.