Makoa Puaʻoi, a student at Kamehameha Schools Maui, asks Maui County council members for their support as the prestigious private school system that serves thousands of students across Hawaii faces a lawsuit challenging its admissions policy. Kamehameha Schools Maui/Chris Sugidono

Students from Kamehameha Schools asked for Maui County Council’s support, and the elected leaders responded without dissent.

On Nov. 7, the County Council unanimously passed a four-page resolution “expressing solidarity and support for Kamehameha Schools as it defends the legacy of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop.”

The resolution comes as Kamehameha Schools’ admissions policy favoring Native Hawaiians faces a new lawsuit from Students for Fair Admissions, a conservative group based in Arlington, Virginia, that successfully challenged affirmative action in college admissions in 2023.

Students for Fair Admissions filed the suit against Kamehameha Schools in October, saying that without Native Hawaiian ancestry, it is virtually impossible to get accepted into the prestigious private school system.

Since then, supporters of Kamehameha Schools have held rallies across the Hawaiian islands with elected officials and organizations standing in solidarity with Kamehameha Schools.

Kamehameha Schools was founded under the 1883 will of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the great-granddaughter of King Kamehameha I.

According to Kamehameha Schools, Pauahi Bishop had witnessed the rapid decline of the Hawaiian people during her lifetime, and envisioning a brighter future, she put more than 375,000 acres of ancestral lands in a perpetual endowment to support education for Native Hawaiians.

Three years after her death, Pauahi’s vision became Kamehameha Schools, which now serves almost 7,000 students with large K-12 campuses on Maui, Oahu and Hawaii Island and 30 preschools across Hawaii.

Before the Nov. 7 council meeting, students and supporters from Kamehameha Schools Maui gathered along the Kula Highway, waving Hawaiian flags and holding up signs that carried slogans like: “Forever indebted to her” and “Her Legacy, Our Future.”

The resolution approved by the County Council further reflects that Kamehameha Schools receives no public funding and offers many programs benefiting non-Native Hawaiians, and that Native Hawaiians maintain a special relationship with the U.S. government, recognized through more than 250 federal statutes and administrative programs, as an aboriginal and indigenous people.

On Maui, Kamehameha Schools serves approximately 1,100 students from kindergarten through 12th grade with its main campus in Pukalani and preschools in ‘A’apueo, Hana and Paukukalo and Kalama’ula on Molokai.

Sara Stupplebeen, who attends Kamehameha Schools Maui, testifies during the Maui County Council meeting on Nov. 7. Kamehameha Schools Maui/Chris Sugidono

For the Maui County Council, the most persuasive speakers at the Nov. 7 meeting likely came in matching T-shirts as they spoke about the opportunities, education and pride Kamehameha Schools has given them.

One girl held up a drawing honoring Pauahi Bishop she made in English class. The drawing featured an image of the princess with roses “because not only do roses represent her favorite flower, they also represent her love, beauty and strength that continues to grow within all of us.”

“She believed in us and our future as Hawaiian people, and I try to honor that by giving my best and helping others just like she did,” the girl said.

Students from Kamehameha Schools Maui prepare to testify during the Nov. 7 Maui County Council meeting. Kamehameha Schools Maui/Chris Sugidono

“This school is more than a private school for Hawaiians — we are ohana,” another student said. “Our kumu guide us with care and aloha, encouraging us to take the leap toward our dreams.”

One after another, the students expressed their gratitude for Pauahi Bishop’s sacrifice and said they are honored to help carry her legacy forward. And the weight of their words sat with council members long after the students had to return to class.

“I will be supporting this today, but I will say, I’m so mad that we have to,” Council member NoHelani U’U-Hodgins said before voting on the resolution. “I’m so upset that we’re at this point today. The entitlement is unfathomable, and so I’m just disheartened that we’re at this point again in our life where Hawaiians have to continually defend what little we have left.”

Other council members said they see the lawsuit against Kamehameha Schools as a challenge to the entire community, and they applauded the students for speaking out. Council member Keani Rawlins-Fernandez read the full resolution into the record.