Fujio Matsuda Presidential Records

President’s Office Fujio Matsuda Records, 1939-1986

Manuscript A1993:010

(Miyamoto Photgraph Collection, Faculty Images Series, 31469t)

Table of Contents

• Summary Information
• Biographical Sketch
• Historical Survey
• Scope and Contents note
• Administrative Information
• Series Overview
  • Board of Regents
  • University of Hawaiʻi
  • University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
  • State Government
  • United States Government, 1952-1984
  • Speeches
  • Inaugural, 1975
  • General

Summary Information

Repository

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Hamilton Library

Creator

Matsuda, Fujio “Fudge”, President, 1924-

Creator

University of Hawaiʻi. President’s Office.

Title

Fujio Matsuda Papers

ID

Manuscript. A1993:010

Date [bulk]

Bulk, 1970-1984

Date [inclusive]

1939-1986

Extent

37.5 Linear feet: 28 record center boxes and 2 document boxes

Repository Information

Archives & Manuscripts Department, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Library, 2550 McCarthy Mall Honolulu, HI 96822. Phone: (808) 956-6047 Fax: (808) 956-5968 Email: archives@hawaii.edu

Language

English

Abstract

The records of the Office of the President, Fujio Matsuda administration, were transferred to the University of Hawaiʻi Archives in January of 1986. The sequence of these files derives largely from the period when the office was held by Matsuda. Many files, however, contain records predating the actual period of his presidential tenure. The earlier records primarily date from the administrations of Harlan Cleveland and Thomas H. Hamilton.

Preferred Citation note

[Item, Series,] Fujio Matsuda Papers, Archives & Manuscripts, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Library.

Biographical Sketch

On 24 July 1974, The Board of Regents of the University of Hawaiʻi [UH] appointed Fujio “Fudge” Matsuda the ninth President of the university. He was the first Asian American to hold the position of president of a major university in the United States.⁽¹⁾

Fujio Matsuda was born in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, on 18 October 1924 to immigrant parents from Japan. They owned a small saimin shop, and as a child Matsuda helped make noodles after school. He went through the public school system–Pohukaina School, Washington Intermediate School and McKinley High School. After a semester at UH, Matsuda volunteered for the Army in early 1943, beginning in the 232^nd Combat Engineer Company, part of the 442^nd Regiment, but transferred early to a schooling program to attend Auburn Polytechnical Institute (now Auburn University) and then to another unit just beginning basic training.⁽²⁾

Matsuda returned to the University of Hawaiʻi when the war was over and completed two years in the engineering program before transferring to Rose Polytechnic Institute in Indiana. In 1949, he received his degree in Civil Engineering and was accepted in MIT. He received his doctorate at MIT in 1952, remained there as a researcher for two additional years, then moved to the University of Illinois for a year as researcher. Matsuda taught in department of engineering at University of Hawaiʻi from 1955 to 1962.⁽³⁾

In 1963, Governor John A. Burns requested Matsuda to head the Hawaiʻi State Department of Transportation. In an oral history interview with Daniel Boylan, Matsuda said he “felt a social-moral obligation to accept” the position.⁽⁴⁾ He was responsible for the state highway, airport, and harbor systems; during his term supervised the merger of the three into one department. He served ten years in this capacity, 1963-1973.

President Harlan Cleveland of UH asked Matsuda to return to the University to become Vice President of Business Affairs in 1973. Cleveland resigned in December 1973, effective at the end of the summer of 1974. Both community and faculty advocated a local leader. Five candidates quickly emerged: Wytze Gorter, who had previously served as Chancellor at Mānoa campus but resigned in protest when members of the Board of Regents went over his head to negotiate directly with the football coach; Matsuda; Richard Takasaki; Kenneth Lau; and Richard Kosaki, who had served UH System as head of West Oʻahu College beginning in 1973.⁽⁵⁾ Matsuda’s experience as director of the transportation program of the state along with his academic background qualified him to assume this position in a very challenging time.⁽⁶⁾ Although many faculty feared Matsuda would be a puppet to the BOR and to the Governor, the Board of Regents chose him to become the ninth President of the University of Hawaiʻi. Matsuda managed to placate the faculty, BOR and the legislature.⁽⁷⁾

Under Matsuda’s leadership, the first system wide strategic plan was developed. The East West Center separated from the university. The university managed the reorganization of the community colleges throughout the state. At Mānoa a building bonanza occurred in spite of constricted funds from the legislature for the operation of the university. Several new dormitories changed Mānoa campus from a primarily commuter campus to one with more resident students. The Korean Studies Center; Marine Sciences building; the Law School and Law School library; athletic complex and Kahanamoku Swimming pool; the Institute for Astronomy; the new Gilmore Hall and the Art building, built where old Gilmore Hall had been demolished: all reached completion under Matsuda’s Presidency.⁽⁸⁾ The School of Architecture had its beginning and West Oʻahu College became University of Hawaiʻi West Oʻahu during Matsuda’s administration. UHM also became a Sea Grant institution.⁽⁹⁾

Matsuda resigned as University President in 1984. The Fujio Matsuda Center was established in 1985 to serve as a technological education training center. Matsuda participated in the formation of the Pacific International Center for High Technology Research, a non-profit organization involved in developing photovoltaic and hybrid systems in Fiji, serving as chairman of its board. Her served on other boards, including the Research Corporation of the University of Hawaiʻi and Japan-American Institute of Management Science (JAIMS), a non-profit postgraduate institute for intercultural management education. In 2003 he led a fund raising drive which raised nine million dollars to save the Japanese Cultural Center from having to sell its building and possibly disband.⁽¹⁰⁾ In 2004, Matsuda was honored in Hawaiʻi as a “Living Treasure.”⁽¹¹⁾

Notes:

1. Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa, who was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, became President of San Francisco State College (now San Francisco State University) in 1968.

2. Daniel Boylen, “Fujio Matsuda Oral History Interview,” 14 July 1978, John Burns Oral History Project, Phase II, in Matsuda Presidential papers, box 2 folder 25, pp. 1,7. This source contains much more detail on Matsuda’s military service and on his time as head of the Department of Transportation of the State of Hawaiʻi.

3. Robert M. Kamins and Robert E. Potter, Mālamalama: A History of the University of Hawaiʻi‘s Mānoa Campus, p. 117.

4. Boylan, p. 15.

5. Kamins and Potter, pp. 117, 252-253.

6. In addition to Gorter’s resignation over the intrusion of members of the Board of Regents into the campus affairs in connection with the contract with the football coach, Cleveland himself had resigned after considerable pressure from members of the Board. Faculty had even taken their conflicts with Cleveland to the point of asking for the legislative auditor to investigate his administration. See Kamins and Potter, pp. 115-117.

7. Ibid.

8. Victor N. Kobayashi, Building a Rainbow: A History of the Buildings and Grounds of the University of Hawaiʻi‘s Mānoa Campus, pp. 156-168, 175-178; and Kamins and Potter, pp. 118-119.

9. Kamins and Potter, p. 122.

10. “Cultural Center Safe, Thanks to Samurai,” Honolulu Advertiser, 1 Feb. 2004, http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2004/Feb/01/ln/ln53abob.html, accessed 11 May 2011.

11. “Six More Named Living Treasures,” Honolulu Star Bulletin, 25 January 2004, http://archives.starbulletin.com/2004/01/25/news/story10.html, accessed 11 May 2012.

Scope and Contents note

This sequence of records for the University President’s Office derives primarily from the period when Fujio Matsuda held the office: from 1974 until his resignation in 1984. Certain subject files from the terms of Greg M. Sinclair, covering the years 1952-1953; Thomas Hale Hamilton, 1965-1967; and Harlan Cleveland, 1970-1974 were included with the records at the time of the transfer to the Archives. These have been left in that position in the arrangement, rather than refiling them to the “original location.” Many of these files were apparently active when Matsuda took office. There are also some documents from 1984-1985 when Albert Simone was appointed to serve as acting president after Matsuda’s resignation. The materials were transferred to the Archives in January 1986.

The bulk of the materials date from 1970 to 1984. They consist of correspondence and reports pertaining to the operation of the University of Hawaiʻi as well as to controversial issues occuring on campus during that period. These include an Equal Pay for Equal Work investigation concerning three female professors who filed sex discrimination charges during Cleveland’s term, campus unrest including a folder of photographs and names of students participating in the Bachman hall protests against the Vietnam War, the denial of the Navy’s request for a list of Black and Hispanic students to recruit for officer training programs, a controversy involving Laotian contract employees, and union strike matters.

The materials also document the administration of regulations adopted by the Board of Regents; the Faculty Senate’s role in obtaining promotions, salaries, leaves, etc.; the construction of new buildings; and the establishment of the law school and other programs. The Native Hawaiian Education Act, International Studies Program, and Tropic Lightning University (a consortium program to provide educational opportunities to soldiers) illustrate Matsuda’s leadership in expanding education to non-traditional students.

There are letters that show the close relationships Matsuda enjoyed with members of the state’s elected officials, notably Senator Daniel Inouye, Senator Daniel Akaka, Senator Spark Matsunaga, Representative Patsy Mink, and Governor George Ariyoshi. A letter signed by President Carter on White House stationary praises Matsuda for his role in supporting alternative energy research. Other notable items include the contents of the ‘Honorary Degrees’ folder; the biographies and other supporting supporting papers are a rich source on those nominated, including Spark Matsunaga, Chin Ho, Lowell Dillingham, Babby Pahinui, Abraham K. Akaka, Beatrice Krauss, James Michner, Margaret Thatcher, and more. On a more personal level, Dan Boylan’s interview with Fujio Matusda gives excellent insight into the man.

Administrative Information

Publication Information

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Hamilton Library, 2011-10-03

Restrictions

Material with personal information may be redacted by the Archives staff. Some fragile items may need to be handled by the staff only. Use of audiovisual material may require the production of listening or viewing copies.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in this collection, their descendants, or the repository if copyright has been signed over, as stipulated by United States copyright law. It is the responsibility of the user to determine any copyright restrictions, obtain written permission, and pay any fees necessary for the reproduction or proposed use of the materials.

Processing Information note

Processed by Patricia Ogburn.

Series Overview

Board of Regents, 1979-1985 (Bulk, 1980-1982); 3.75 Linear feet: 2 record center boxes, 1 document box holding 26 folders

University of Hawaiʻi, 1963-1986 (Bulk, 1981-1984); 1.0 Linear foot: 132 folders

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, 1961-1985 (Bulk, 1980-1984); 2.0 Linear feet

State Government, 1958-1986 (Bulk, 1980-1982); 0.5 Linear feet

United States Government, 1952-1984 (Bulk, 1980-1982); 1/2 document box containing 18 folders.

Description of Contents:

Series contains documents regarding Federal Agencies such as the Interior, Navy, State, and Labor Departments, as well as a letter from President Jimmy Carter and correspondence on the Laos contract with UH.

Speeches, September 1974-May 1984; 3.75 Linear feet: 3 record center boxes containing 272 folders.

Description of contents:

Copies of all speeches given by President Matsuda from his becoming Acting President, through his Presidency, until his resignation from office. These include his commencement addresses as well as testimony he provided before the state legislature in his role as University President. At the end of each year is a separate folder titled “Press Releases” containing copies of statements released to the media.

Inaugural, 1975; 1 document box of 7 folders.

General, 1939-1984 (Bulk, 1970-1984); 15.0 Linear feet: 13 record center boxes containing 230 folders

Description of contents:

Contains materials on the entire University of Hawaiʻi System, including the UH Hilo and UH West Oʻahu campuses, the Agricultural Experiment Station, and Cooperative Extension Service activities. Personnel matters include faculty merit increases, political activity, and the implementation of the APT (Auxiliary, Professional Technical) classification of personnel at UH. The series also contains information on the stadium contract, agreements with Lēʻahi Hospital, KHPR radio, the various telescopes on Mauna Kea and Haleakalā, and University Athletics.