This week marks 20 years since floods ripped through the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa campus, causing millions of dollars in damage and changing the way UH thought about resilience. The hardest hit was Hamilton Library. Its collections and computers in the basement were devastated, along with a key power source that crippled communications in a crisis event.
That's how UH President David Lassner recalled the 2004 disaster. He was chief technology officer at the time. He sat down with HPR to reflect on the crisis and his past 11 years as president. Lassner is to leave at the end of the year. His replacement, Wendy Hensel, was just selected last week.
This interview aired on The Conversation on Oct. 28, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
