Call it the Maui showdown.

On Thursday, the University of Hawaii Board of Regents meets in Kahului to decide on some $16 million in additions to the university’s budget.

If you are just worried about dollars, $16 million isn’t much in a $12 billion state budget, but the decision includes $5 million for the precarious UH Cancer Center and $3 million in support for the Manoa campus athletic programs — including fan-sensitive sports such as football, basketball and volleyball.

Despite the wayward ways of UH basketball and the disappointing football team, the real focus is on the faulty money pit that is the Cancer Center.

State Rep. Isaac Choy, the Manoa Democrat who had headed the House Higher Education Committee for the past four years, said few understand that the Cancer Center neither treats cancer nor is running its own programs.

“We are setting up a research center; we are not funding research. We are funding the research capability. After we put out the money, UH still has to get research grants. The money doesn’t go for research, just the chance to go get them. People think we are treating cancer; that’s not true,” said Choy.

Earlier this month, a UH regents subcommittee failed to to agree on how much to ask the Legislature to give the Cancer Center. In a rarely seen tie vote, the regents put off making a decision until this week. Also questioned was funding for sports.

The Cancer Center spend- ing plan is dubious. Already it is costing between $7.5 million to $9.5 million more than it takes in and is burning through its reserves, according to an Oct. 2 article by Nanea Kalani, Honolulu Star-Advertiser education reporter.

Some regents said the UH should wait for a consultant report to tell the regents what to do about the cancer center and put in a token $1 appropriation as a place-holder, while others said just fund it and deal with the program later. End result? No decision until this week.

Choy said this is just part of the UH fiscal crisis, which he says is because of an “unsustainable budget.”

On the issue of sports, Choy said UH should drop trying to get the budget to balance and instead just subsidize it. He said the teams should be funded by the Legislature as part of the regular two-year budget request.

“Athletics should be a budget line item; I don’t think athletics will ever break even,” Choy said in an interview.

The Cancer Center, however, does not face as certain a future in Choy’s mind.

“The Cancer Center just shows the dysfunction of UH,” he said.

If he were mapping out UH’s future, Choy said, he would focus the Manoa campus as a major, nationally ranked research campus, while the West Oahu and Hilo campuses would focus on teaching college students.

“The community colleges do so much remedial work they could become an adjunct of the state Department of Education,” Choy said, adding that he envisions the community colleges involved in workforce development.

The Choy plan would be bad news for UH empire builders. UH “needs to be right-sized,” Choy said, and in his mind, that means “we need to make the university smaller.”

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Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.