Chancellor Maenette K.P. Ah Nee-Benham of University of Hawaii West O’AHU

9/28/2021

Chancellor Maenette K.P. Ah Nee-Benham

c/o Office of the Chancellor

University of Hawaii West O’AHU

91-1001 Farrington Highway

Kapolei, HI  96707

Dear Chancellor Ah Nee-Benham,

My name is Matt Winick, an Asian  American I have a strong interest in learning history, social justice, diversity, environment, and education reform. In these subjects, I like to learn to make civil rights stronger to reduce discrimination, protect the environment from pollution,  expand on diversity to accept people who are different or who come from a different background or have different skills, improve education reform to make learning a better tool, and many others.   Chancellor Ah Nee-Benham, the main reason I’m writing you a letter is to explain how I find your work as current Chancellor of  University of Hawaii West O’AHU and your work on diversity inclusion to be very inspiring to me.

In your current role as Chancellor of University of Hawaii West O’AHU, I truly appreciate on how you are a strong supporter and advocate for civil rights by advocating for people with disabilities’ rights and expressing the need to make civil rights stronger to reduce discrimination in order to protect women, minorities, and people with disabilities. Also to improve civil rights, I liked on how you work to expand on rules to combat against bullying and harassment.  On people with disabilities; rights, I like on how you work to expand courses for people with disabilities to learn different subjects including basic introductory courses to help them learn. Supporting accommodations to help students with disabilities like extra time on exams or use educational software to help improve comprehension, expanding tutoring services to provide students with help on their assignments from tutors, and implementing more liberal arts, arts, humanities, history, and basic classes to make education diverse along with make more opportunities for students to find subjects that they want to learn are great ways to improve education reform. Also on education reform I like on how you support literacy programs to help students including adults improve on their comprehension skills or gain literacy skills.  On diversity, I like on how you work on hiring women, minorities, and people with disabilities to work for the college and expand on programs to help educate staff members and students about different cultures along with the need for diversity to accept people who are different or come from a different background. Also to improve diversity in education I like on how you expanded more basic or introductory classes to different subjects, expand on arts, history, and humanities to help accept students with different skills to learn different subjects or assist students to explore different courses to their degree. Another thing that I like about your work as  Chancellor of University of Hawaii West O’AHU, is how you expand on more research programs to help students get engage to learn how different topics can make a great difference for society, implement mental health services to help students who struggle with mental health to get the care they need, push for more scholarships to help low income students or minorities get assistance on getting into college or affording supplies, create Equity Task Force to find ways to combat against racial injustice while find ways to expand on making education more accessible to people who come from disadvantage communities along with who come from different communities or who are from Hawaiian native communities, and heavily express the need to reduce high tuition cost to help students from paying high costs in order to get a college.  Besides your work as Chancellor of University of Hawaii West O’AHU, is I like on how you are how you are a continuous strong supporter of civil rights causes, advocate for environmental protection to reduce pollution, emphasize the need for more liberal arts in colleges, heavily advocate for the need for arts, history, and literature to be more present in society,  importance of having diversity play a role in education, and express the need for immigration reform to help protect immigrants, dreamers, and refugees from being oppressed.

Chancellor Ah Nee-Benham, I have autism with a learning disability. Having a disability is hard for me because I have trouble comprehending on learning different advance subjects, sometimes I struggle to communicate my thoughts, and get teased. Also with a disability I have struggles on trying to understand how society works due to my struggle with comprehension and I get bullied by women including adults about having a disability.   Your commitment to be a strong supporter of civil rights including people with disabilities’ rights causes really inspires me to work hard on my disability. Being an Asian American with a disability is hard for me because some Asians and some Asian Americans get judgmental about me being different from them or not meeting their standards. Also your role as an Asian and being an advocate along with a supporter of Asians with disabilities’ rights and Asian Americans with disabilities’ rights gives me confidence about being an Asian American with a disability when there are challenges. I enjoy watching youtube videos of you talking  and reading your work about how diversity inclusion can play a role at improving society including education.

I strongly believe that you are making a great difference in society and education. I’m very proud on how you are you work hard to support civil rights, expand on education reform, improve diversity, make social justice stronger, and many others. You have inspire me to work hard on my disability, learn about your work, and continue to learn different subjects.  Thanks for taking the time to read my letter, working hard to make a great difference, and inspiring me.I would like to meet you because you truly inspire me. Thanks for taking the time to read my letter, working hard to make a great difference, and inspiring me. Please continue to make a great impact on society.

Sincerely,

Matt Winick

Chancellor Nee-Benham gave me some gifts from University of Hawaii West O'AHU