HONOLULU -- University of Hawaii faculty members on Wednesday questioned administrators on the budget cuts the school system faces and what impact they will make.

UH Manoa administrators held a budget briefing at a packed Hemenway Hall theater.

One of the biggest complaints was why UHM leaders did not fight harder against education cuts by the state.

Faculty members asked why the school has so many highly paid administrators at a time when professors and faculty members face cuts.

Many of them are upset because while UH administrators who are paid $100,000 and higher have taken 6 percent to 10 percent pay cuts, professors are facing pay cuts of about 14 percent.

"You were asked to have your pay cut by double the rate of your bosses, and you were told and 'By the way, after you accept that, we're probably going to fire you anyway.' Would you sign that contract?" American Studies Chairman David Stannard said.

"We do not have a magic wand. We do not have a situation in which the governor will magically start moving in the direction that the faculty necessarily would like," Vice Chancellor Reed Dasenbrock said.

The two vice chancellors who answered questions on Wednesday are among the highest paid executives at UH Manoa. Dasenbrock, the man in charge of academic affairs takes home $265,000 a year, and the woman who heads administration and finance, Cutshaw, is paid $207,000 a year.

They are among 13 UH Manoa vice chancellors, and assistant or associate vice chancellors whose average salary is $167,856 a year.

Students and faculty said there are too many administrators throughout the UH system, nearly 200 with six-figure salaries.

"Why are the administrators paid so much more than the faculty?" UH senior Richard Tabalno asked.

"But if that top heavy administration is not going to earn their $300,000 a year by advocating more for Manoa, or at the other level, advocating more for the University of Hawaii system, then we need to think about how much we're paying them," Hawaiian Studies professor Lilikala Kameeleihiwa said.

UH administrators said it is up to faculty, students and administrators to advocate for the UH system.

"Where people have ideas that they believe to be concrete help about how to do things better, how we can save money, how we can do things that aren't hurting students and faculty, we welcome them," Dasenbrock said.

Members of the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly, the union that represents the faculty, said they plan to reject the state's last-best contract offer.

Some professors asked whether money could be diverted from special funds.

Special funds can only be used for projects associated with those funds, UH Vice Chancellor of Administration, Finance and Operations Kathy Cutshaw said.

Some faculty asked why the school has a football coach paid $1 million. Greg McMackin agreed to take a pay cut following a reprimand for a gay slur he used at a Western Athletic Conference media day earlier this year.

One employee asked why Manoa, while 53 percent of the UH system's budget, has 73 percent of the pay cuts.

Cutshaw explained that more stimulus funds are headed to the community colleges than UH Manoa or UH Hilo.