Just last month, it appeared that a proposal to establish a U.S. Navy-affiliated research center at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa was on its deathbed.

Now the university's Board of Regents is scheduled to hear the case for and against the center Friday.

Supporters claim the military research center would draw millions of dollars in research grants over the next five years and bring prestige to the university. Opponents argue that the University Affiliated Research Center would threaten academic freedom and involve UH scientists in the development of military weapons.

Dozens have signed up to testify at Friday's public hearing — a meeting that has been promised by the UH administration since a process for consultation and approval was outlined last May. Those expected to testify include students, faculty, members of the Hawai'i business community and other key stakeholders in the university, Carolyn Tanaka, a UH spokeswoman, said.

Friday's meeting may end up to be yet another chance for opponents of the UARC to dominate the conversation, said Roy Wilkens, a UH researcher and proponent of the UARC. The supporters — 50 to 60 researchers who could possibly benefit from the UARC — have been shouted down by the intense opposition, he said.

Sometime following Friday's meeting, UH interim President David McClain will make his recommendation on UARC to the Board of Regents. It is ultimately their decision to approve or reject the center. If approved, UH would become the fifth university in the nation to be designated a Navy UARC.

Marti Townsend, a recent UH law school graduate and a member of the Save UH/Stop UARC Coalition, said her group will have a large presence at Friday's meeting. The coalition has been one of the key opponents in the UARC controversy and was one of the groups that occupied McClain's office for seven days last May.

"Members of our coalition are seriously concerned about the infringement on academic freedom," among other issues, Townsend said. She said the draft-contract between the university and the U.S. Navy stipulates that researchers could be restricted from publishing their findings.

"Secret military research is contradictory to what UH was created for and what it has identified its mission to be," Townsend said.

But supporters of the UARC say that the opposition has relied on misinformation and outright fabrications in their arguments.

Wilkens, a researcher with the Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology at UH, has received funding from the Navy for various research projects over the past 40 years. He said it is "pretty rare for there to be restrictions on publication."

Through his experience with Navy-funded research, Wilkens said he has never once seen an instance where the Navy has flatly restricted the publication of research findings.

"The people who are funding us are well aware that we need to publish," Wilkens said.

Another hot-button issue has been the idea that researchers could be involved in the development of military weapons, something the UH-Manoa administration and supporters have denied.

"Military-funded research doesn't necessarily mean military research," Wilkens said. The Navy for years has funded research in the oceanography, atmospheric science and engineering fields in an effort to keep those areas of inquiry fresh, he said. Just because it is funded by the Navy doesn't mean it is for military application or for weapons, he said.

The opposition also has made claims that researchers could be forced to do work on behalf of the Navy even if they did not want to.

Townsend claims the contract requires researchers to accept Navy orders for research and give them priority. "They have to stop researching whatever it is they are working on at the time and they have to jump to whatever it is the Navy has ordered to be research," Townsend said. Her coalition has said researchers who do not comply could face up to two years in prison.

Wilkens called those claims "baloney."

"If you weren't interested you would just say that in the very beginning," Wilkens said. There would be no coercion from the military to perform research you did not want to do, he said.

But supporters have never really had an opportunity to speak, Wilkens said.

Reach Loren Moreno at lmoreno@honoluluadvertiser.com.