Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate

The original mandate was simple: Educate Hawaii's children. But the state attorney general will argue in court Friday that the Bishop Estate trustees, whose job it is to carry out that order, should be removed for corrupting the $8-billion legacy of a Hawaiian princess. "I think it may be the most egregious example of abuse by trustees that we've ever seen in our research in the charitable field," Atty. Gen. Margery Bronster said recently.

About 400 alumni and supporters of Hawaii's Kamehameha Schools rallied in San Francisco on Saturday to protest a recent court ruling that struck down the school's policy of giving admissions preference to students of native Hawaiian ancestry. Wearing red-and-black T-shirts reading "Ku I Ka Pono," or "Justice for Hawaiians," the protesters marched past the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, whose three-judge panel handed down the ruling. In its 2-1 ruling, the appeals court said Aug.

Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate looms larger on the Hawaiian landscape than any other private institution. Land, money, political connections--you name it, the estate has it. The legacy of a revered Hawaiian princess, the 113-year-old educational trust has long drawn on its potent assets and the aura of its benefactor to deflect all but the occasional sniping critic. No longer.

Native Hawaiian leaders are ratcheting up efforts to gain federal recognition as a sovereign people following the Supreme Court ruling that invalidated their special voting rights. Last week, the justices struck down as unconstitutional the state's practice of allowing only those people with native Hawaiian blood to vote for the trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. The board oversees a $300-million fund to benefit native Hawaiians.

Native Hawaiian leaders are ratcheting up efforts to gain federal recognition as a sovereign people following the Supreme Court ruling that invalidated their special voting rights. Last week, the justices struck down as unconstitutional the state's practice of allowing only those people with native Hawaiian blood to vote for the trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. The board oversees a $300-million fund to benefit native Hawaiians.

About 400 alumni and supporters of Hawaii's Kamehameha Schools rallied in San Francisco on Saturday to protest a recent court ruling that struck down the school's policy of giving admissions preference to students of native Hawaiian ancestry. Wearing red-and-black T-shirts reading "Ku I Ka Pono," or "Justice for Hawaiians," the protesters marched past the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, whose three-judge panel handed down the ruling. In its 2-1 ruling, the appeals court said Aug.

Five of Hawaii's most prominent citizens are locked in a legal battle royal over their management of a Hawaiian princess' $10-billion charitable trust, defending themselves from one another as well as the state attorney general. One trustee of the Bishop Estate was indicted this week on theft charges. Another is being tried on colleagues' accusations that she abused her power overseeing the estate's Kamehameha Schools, the wealthiest private school in the nation.

Kamani Kuala'au--student body president, a senior bound for Princeton--had reason to be nervous. He had been summoned from his classroom at Kamehameha Schools to a meeting across town at the headquarters of the Bishop Estate, the $10-billion foundation that supports the nation's wealthiest private school. A day before, he had helped draft a letter in support of embattled school president Michael Chun.

The crop that defined Hawaiian agriculture for more than a century vanished this year from the islands of Oahu and Hawaii as workers hauled in their final harvests of sugar cane. For those who had spent a lifetime on the plantations, saying goodbye to sugar was like losing a relative. The pain continues to show in the high unemployment figures in rural areas. But a silver lining is beginning to glint through the gloom.

Five of Hawaii's most prominent citizens are locked in a legal battle royal over their management of a Hawaiian princess' $10-billion charitable trust, defending themselves from one another as well as the state attorney general. One trustee of the Bishop Estate was indicted this week on theft charges. Another is being tried on colleagues' accusations that she abused her power overseeing the estate's Kamehameha Schools, the wealthiest private school in the nation.

The original mandate was simple: Educate Hawaii's children. But the state attorney general will argue in court Friday that the Bishop Estate trustees, whose job it is to carry out that order, should be removed for corrupting the $8-billion legacy of a Hawaiian princess. "I think it may be the most egregious example of abuse by trustees that we've ever seen in our research in the charitable field," Atty. Gen. Margery Bronster said recently.

Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate looms larger on the Hawaiian landscape than any other private institution. Land, money, political connections--you name it, the estate has it. The legacy of a revered Hawaiian princess, the 113-year-old educational trust has long drawn on its potent assets and the aura of its benefactor to deflect all but the occasional sniping critic. No longer.