The purpose of this commentary is to try to impress the readers that the East-West Center is important and relevant.  As a college student and then professor, raised as a Christian and studying Plato and Aristotle, I became fascinated with Asian philosophies and especially their theories of epistemology.  The East-West Center held interdisciplinary colloquia and produced publications which I found extremely helpful. 

But in the past 25 years EWC has become a place for leftwing political activism, prompting conservative Republicans in Congress to try to cut its budget.  One of the most useful EWC products for me has been its 5-days per week Pacific Islands Report -- a compilation of articles from news media in Pacific island nations.  But then a month ago they cut back to three days; and a week ago they cancelled it entirely.  Big loss!  With Trump as President, EWC fears more budget cuts.  And so we have this commentary trying to display allegedly continuing relevance of the EWC.