Sterling Higa
Sterling Higa is a servant of Christ, husband, and father to four. He is a columnist for Aloha State Daily; the views expressed are his own.
As founding executive director of Housing Hawai‘i’s Future, Sterling helped pass Hawai‘i’s most significant statewide housing reforms in 40 years. Previously, he was a lecturer and debate coach in the Communications Department at Hawai‘i Pacific University, winning the Golden Apple Award for distinguished teaching. His writings for Honolulu Civil Beat and Hawai‘i Business Magazine have been recognized with awards from the Society of Professional Journalists.
Sterling is a Roosevelt High School graduate and holds a bachelor's degree in Speech from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa and a master's degree in education from Harvard University.
Latest from Sterling Higa
Cornell fraternity rape lawsuit: What Greek life worships
A 20-year-old walks from a bar to a fraternity house at 11 p.m. ASD opinion columnist Sterling Higa on why Greek life can’t be reformed and what the church owes the campus next door.
Sterling HigaOctober 06, 2026
Moanalua won four state titles: Who paid?
In 2012, a parent accused a Roosevelt coach of kissing a 13-year-old wrestler. The next year, Moanalua hired him and he won four state titles. ASD columnist Sterling Higa on idolatry, mandated reporting, and the trophy case nobody wants to look inside.
Sterling HigaSeptember 30, 2026
The Hawaiʻi GOP’s real problem isn’t its platform
Today, a party that runs on “faith, family, freedom” has a lieutenant governor candidate who traces mankind to the kalo plant. ASD opinion columnist Sterling Higa on why civic renewal in Hawaiʻi starts with what we worship, and why the greatest Hawaiian statesman — Kamehameha III (Kauikeaouli) — is the proof.
Sterling HigaSeptember 29, 2026
Hawaiʻi Republican Party should put Hawaiʻi first, not the national brand
Can my kids afford to stay? Who will care for my mother? ASD opinion columnist Sterling Higa on why Hawaiʻi Republicans should start with the questions local families ask.
Sterling HigaSeptember 25, 2026
Hawaiʻi Republicans could force House floor votes. What are they for?
House Republicans are one seat from a rule that lets them force floor votes. ASD opinion columnist Sterling Higa on why a tactic without a goal is a chainsaw without a tree.
Sterling HigaSeptember 23, 2026
"Hawaiʻi Ponoʻī" lyrics and history: The Liliʻuokalani anthem that Kalākaua replaced
For 10 years the Hawaiian Kingdom stood and sang a prayer written by the future queen. Then her brother wrote his own song. ASD opinion columnist Sterling Higa on the words “Hawaiʻi Ponoʻī” replaced.
Sterling HigaSeptember 19, 2026
Hawaiʻi’s $300,000 transit-oriented development trip should go to Japan
Lawmakers and state staff have $300,000 to fly somewhere and study development around rail stations. ASD opinion columnist Sterling Higa on why the trip is worth taking, why Singapore and Vienna are the wrong models, and why Hawaiʻi should book Tokyo and stay long enough to make a friend.
Sterling HigaSeptember 15, 2026
Hurricanes Lala and Lowell show Neighbor Islands depend on Honolulu
A high schooler from Molokai looks down at the Honolulu lights and says, “They live like rats down there.” ASD opinion columnist Sterling Higa on why the Neighbor Islands need the city more than they’d like to admit, and what the city owes them in return.
Sterling HigaSeptember 12, 2026
Pamela Cisneros, Lindsay Clancy, and the voice that said ‘kill’
A woman pulled two kitchen knives from a shopping bag on Seventh Avenue and used them on two strangers. By nightfall everyone knew why, and no one argued. ASD opinion columnist Sterling Higa on the explanation for mental illness that every culture but ours took for granted.
Sterling HigaSeptember 06, 2026
Hawaiʻi brain drain: How discrimination kept talent in the Islands, and why it doesn’t anymore
In February 1954, Nisei veterans who bled for their country couldn’t get a loan from Hawaiʻi’s banks, so they opened one of their own. ASD opinion columnist Sterling Higa on how the discrimination that once concentrated talent in the Islands has faded — and why Hawaiʻi must now compete for people it used to keep by default.
Sterling HigaSeptember 02, 2026
Hawaiʻi meth deaths and the wrong account of human nature
A state planner earning $139,860 a year was found dead on his apartment floor, a glass pipe in his lap. ASD opinion columnist Sterling Higa on how every remedy for meth rests on some account of the man being remedied.
Sterling HigaAugust 28, 2026
Ige wasn’t an insurgent. He was next in line.
A senator who chaired the most powerful committee in the Capitol waited quietly while a governor burned through every ally he had. ASD opinion columnist Sterling Higa on what Hawaiʻi’s most famous “insurgency” proves about governing.
Sterling HigaAugust 25, 2026