[Senate Hearing 112-929]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 112-929
SECURING EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR
NATIVE AMERICAN COLLEGE STUDENTS: THE
NATIVE AMERICAN EDUCATION ACT OF
2012
=======================================================================
FIELD HEARING
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION,
LABOR, AND PENSIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
ON
EXAMINING HOW WE FUND EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS THAT OPERATE UNDER A
MANDATE TO PROVIDE FREE TUITION FOR NATIVE AMERICAN STUDENTS, FOCUSING
ON ADVANCING EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR NATIVE AMERICAN STUDENTS
__________
AUGUST 22, 2012 (Denver, CO)
__________
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COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR, AND PENSIONS
TOM HARKIN, Iowa, Chairman
BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland
JEFF BINGAMAN, New Mexico
PATTY MURRAY, Washington
BERNARD SANDERS (I), Vermont
ROBERT P. CASEY, JR., Pennsylvania
KAY R. HAGAN, North Carolina
JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon
AL FRANKEN, Minnesota
MICHAEL F. BENNET, Colorado
SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island
RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut
MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming
LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee
RICHARD BURR, North Carolina
JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia
RAND PAUL, Kentucky
ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah
JOHN McCAIN, Arizona
PAT ROBERTS, Kansas
LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska
MARK KIRK, Illinois
Pamela Smith, Staff Director, Chief Counsel
Lauren McFerran, Deputy Staff Director
Frank Macchiarola, Republican Staff Director
(ii)
C O N T E N T S
----------
STATEMENTS
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 22, 2012
Page
Committee Member
Bennet, Hon. Michael F., Chairman, a U.S. Senator from the State
of Colorado, opening statement................................. 1
Guest
Campbell, Hon. Ben Nighthorse, a U.S. Senator from the State of
Colorado (Retired), statement.................................. 44
Prepared statement........................................... 44
Witnesses--Panel I
Mendoza, William, Director, White House Initiative on American
Indian and Alaska Native Education, Washington, DC............. 3
Prepared statement........................................... 5
Garcia, Hon. Joseph A., Lieutenant Governor, State of Colorado,
Denver, CO..................................................... 8
Prepared statement........................................... 10
Witnesses--Panel II
Thomas, Dene Kay, Ph.D., President, Fort Lewis College, Durango,
CO............................................................. 17
Prepared statement........................................... 18
Johnson, Jacqueline R., Ph.D., Chancellor, University of
Minnesota Morris, Morris, MN................................... 20
Prepared statement........................................... 23
Echohawk, John E., Executive Director, Native American Rights
Fund, Boulder, CO.............................................. 27
Prepared statement........................................... 28
Tsabetsaye, Byron, Student Body President, Fort Lewis College,
Durango, CO.................................................... 34
Prepared statement........................................... 35
ADDITIONAL MATERIAL
Statements, articles, publications, etc.:
Lewis Wittry, Vice President, Associated Students of Fort
Lewis College.............................................. 52
National Congress of American Indians........................ 53
Letters of Support:
John W. Hickenlooper, Governor, State of Colorado, Denver CO. 55
Hereford Percy, Chairman, Colorado Commission on Higher
Education, Denver, CO...................................... 56
Chad Smith, Principal, Chief Cherokee NationTM.... 57
Hon. Joseph A. Garcia........................................ 57
John E. Echohawk............................................. 58
Alysha Guthrie............................................... 59
Noel Altaha, White Mountain Apache Tribe, Class of 2013...... 59
(iii)
Resolutions:
National Indian Gaming Association........................... 62
State of Colorado House Joint Resolution..................... 65
Mescalero Apache Tribe....................................... 68
Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Council.............................. 69
National Congress of American Indians........................ 71
SECURING EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR NATIVE AMERICAN COLLEGE
STUDENTS: THE NATIVE AMERICAN EDUCATION ACT OF 2012
----------
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 22, 2012
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions,
Denver, Colorado.
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:05 a.m., in the
Old Supreme Court Chambers, Colorado State Capitol, Room 220,
Hon. Michael Bennet, presiding.
Present: Senator Bennet.
Opening Statement of Senator Bennet
Senator Bennet. Thank you all for being here today. I want
to make two observations at the outset. I have no gavel, other
than my fist. So I'm going to try not to use that. And the
other is that I've never sat 4 feet above anybody that I was
talking to. So let's attempt to believe that we're all sitting
at the same level, which we are, and we should be.
With that, I'd like to call this field hearing of the
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee to order.
Thank you, Treasurer Juanita Plentyholes, for that kind
welcome on behalf of the Ute Tribe.
I want to especially thank those who have traveled a great
distance to be here with us today and Chairman Harkin and
Ranking Member Enzi of the HELP Committee for holding this
hearing today. I look forward to working with them on both the
bill we discuss today and the broader goal of advancing
educational opportunities for Native American students.
I also want to acknowledge Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell,
the former chair of the Indian Affairs Committee, who is here,
and I'm going to call on him later in the proceedings to make a
few remarks. Thank you for being here today, Senator Campbell.
I'm going to be brief in my comments so we can hear from
the real experts on this issue, what they have to say.
We're here today to discuss a matter of great importance,
the successful education of the Nation's Native American youth.
We're going to examine how we fund educational institutions
that operate under a mandate to provide free tuition for Native
American students. These schools received land from the Federal
Government in exchange for the tuition waiver obligation.
The State of Minnesota through the University of Minnesota
at Morris and the State of Colorado through Fort Lewis College
can both be proud of what they've done through these tuition
waiver programs. With the help of Colorado's tuition waiver
program, in just the last 11 years, the Fort Lewis Native
American Scholarship Fund has provided tuition waivers for
16,408 students from 46 States representing 269 tribes. Fort
Lewis awards more undergraduate degrees to Native American
students than any other 4-year institution in the Nation.
The University of Minnesota Morris has also played a
critical role in higher education for Native American students
with a program that has waived over $20 million of tuition
since its inception in 1960. The enrollment of Native Americans
at this school has doubled in the last 10 years, and in the
fall of 2011, the school enrolled over 250 Native American
students.
Despite great advances in overcoming grave historical
injustices, Native Americans still face unemployment and
poverty rates well above the national average. Our Nation
clearly needs to provide more opportunities for higher
education for Native Americans since only 13 percent of Native
American youth hold a baccalaureate degree compared to 30
percent of all youth.
Even in the recent recession, the unemployment rate among
those with a college degree in this country never exceed 4.5
percent. That's a pretty significant stress test, it seems to
me, of the value we place on a college education. And that's
why our work today is so important. We need to examine what we
can do to ensure that these tuition waiver programs thrive into
the future so that educational opportunities for Native
American youth can continue to grow.
The question before us today is not whether or not the
tuition waiver program should continue. The waivers clearly
should continue, and all of us engaged in this issue are deeply
committed to that. The question we face is how we can equitably
share the responsibilities for these programs. We need to have
a thorough conversation as to who should bear cost of these
programs in the future to best sustain them. I hope this
hearing today will shed light on these questions and explore
the overall importance of higher education for the Native
American community.
With that, I'm going to conclude my remarks and turn it
over to the real experts who are here today. And I would like
to introduce our first panel.
I'd like to welcome William Mendoza, who serves as the
Director of the White House Initiative on American Indian and
Alaska Native Education. Originally from the Pine Ridge and
Rosebud Sioux reservations in South Dakota, Mr. Mendoza, I am
very proud to say, has degrees from both Fort Lewis College and
Montana State University. He has worked as both a teacher and a
principal, arguably the hardest jobs there are.
I want to thank you for coming from Washington to be with
us today, and I look forward to hearing your testimony.
I would also like to introduce my friend, the Hon. Joseph
Garcia, who serves as Lieutenant Governor of Colorado and the
executive director of the Colorado Department of Higher
Education. The Lieutenant Governor also serves as the chairman
of the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs, providing a
direct link between Colorado and its Ute tribes, the Southern
Ute Tribe and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe.
The Lieutenant Governor has previously served as chair of
the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. He has
also previously served as president of both Pikes Peak
Community College and Colorado State University at Pueblo.
Thank you both for being here today. I think we'll start
with Mr. Mendoza.
STATEMENT OF WILLIAM MENDOZA, DIRECTOR, WHITE HOUSE INITIATIVE
ON AMERICAN INDIAN AND ALASKA NATIVE EDUCATION, WASHINGTON, DC
Mr. Mendoza. Thank you, Senator Bennet. As you mentioned,
my name is William Mendoza, and I am the director for the White
House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native
Education. I'd like to acknowledge your work on S. 3504, the
Native American Education Act of 2012, and I appreciate the
opportunity to testify today about the work that the
Administration is doing to expand educational opportunities and
improve outcomes for American Indian and Alaska Native
students.
At the White House Tribal Nations Conference on December 2,
2011, President Obama, joined by cabinet secretaries and other
senior administration officials, met with tribal leaders from
federally recognized tribes for the third consecutive year to
continue to strengthen our government-to-government
relationships. In reaffirming the Federal Government's
commitment to ensure that tribal nations are full partners with
the Federal family, the President announced the signing of
Executive Order 13592 entitled ``Improving American Indian and
Alaska Native Educational Opportunities and Strengthening
Tribal Colleges and Universities.''
The mission and function of the White House Initiative is
to expand educational opportunities and improve educational
outcomes for all American Indian and Alaska Native students.
This includes helping to ensure that American Indian students
have opportunities to learn their native languages, cultures,
histories, and receive a complete and competitive education
that prepares them for college, career, and productive and
satisfying lives.
With respect to post-secondary education, the Initiative
works to implement strategies to promote the expanded
implementation of education reforms that have shown evidence of
success in enabling American Indian students to acquire a
rigorous and well-rounded education; increase access to support
services that prepare them for college, careers, and civic
involvement; reduce the student dropout rate and help more
students who stay in high school prepare for college and
careers; and increase college access and completion by
strengthening the capacity of post-secondary institutions.
We know we need to do better when it comes to meeting the
academic and cultural needs of our American Indian and Alaska
Native students across the Nation. American Indian and Alaska
Native young adults lag behind their white peers in employment
and educational attainment. According to the National Center
for Education Statistics, in 2010, white young adults, ages 16
to 24, had the lowest rate of unemployment, while American
Indian and Alaska Native young adults had the highest.
And according to the 2010 U.S. Census data, about 30
percent of all youth and adults in the general population held
baccalaureate degrees, compared with just 13 percent of the
American Indian and Alaska Native youth and adults. These
statistics and, of course, many others make clear that more
must be done to expand opportunities and improve outcomes.
In order to meet President Obama's goal for college
attainment, there will need to be an additional 112,000
American Indian and Alaska Native students completing college
by the year 2020. Working together to support TCUs is also
important in achieving this goal.
Our Nation's 37 tribally controlled TCUs, which serve
approximately 33,000 students and whose student body is at
least 50 percent American Indian and Alaska Native students,
fulfill a unique role in American Indian and Alaska Native
communities by acting as safeguards and champions of tribal
languages and cultures. TCUs are also public institutions, and
they provide high-quality education and career-building
opportunities to students of all ages, while also serving as a
catalyst for economic development, particularly on
reservations.
It is also important to note that more than 90 percent of
American Indian and Alaska Native post-secondary students
attend institutions of higher education that are not tribally
controlled. These include Native American-Serving Non-Tribally
Controlled Institutions, where the student body is at least 10
percent American Indian and Alaska Native students.
In addition to providing a high-quality education and
career-building opportunities for these students, these Native
American-Serving Non-Tribally Controlled Institutions are
working to improve and expand their capacity to serve American
Indian and Alaska Natives by engaging in such activities as
expanding dual enrollment opportunities, improving academic and
student services to support student success and retention, and
increasing the number of American Indian and Alaska Native
students who pursue advanced degrees.
The Federal Government, of course, plays an important role
in improving the post-secondary education attainment of
American Indian and Alaska Native students, not only because
these students face barriers to achievement and persistence in
post-secondary education, but also because the Federal
Government has a trust responsibility to help these students
succeed. Through the Race to the Top: College Affordability and
Completion and the First in the World proposals, the
Administration has offered a comprehensive approach to tackle
the rising costs of college for all students, including
American Indian and Alaska Native students.
In addition, the Administration has worked with Congress to
take a number of steps to address the challenge of helping to
keep college affordable and accessible for all students.
Foremost, we have invested more than $40 billion in Pell
grants, extending aid to 3 million more college students for a
total of over 9 million recipients, raising the maximum award
to an estimated $5,635 for the upcoming 2013-14 academic year.
This represents a $905 increase in the maximum award since
2008.
Yet the Federal commitment to post-secondary education of
American Indian and Alaska Native students cannot be limited
only to the work of the Administration. The Administration,
Congress, post-secondary institutions, States, and tribes must
all work together to keep building on our momentum to make an
affordable college education accessible and available to all
students who want one, and where appropriate, to continue
support of historical obligations to fund that education for
certain populations like American Indian and Alaska Native
students.
Thousands of American Indian and Alaska Native individuals
and students around the country benefit from this continued
demonstration of commitment and are appreciative of States that
continue to uphold their obligations. These individuals are
contributing not only to their tribes, but also directly to the
strength and well-being of the States in which they reside and
to the Nation as a whole.
At a time when higher education is more important than ever
for our shared future, States should not turn to higher
education budgets as a source for cuts. Such cuts often lead to
tuition spikes and higher dropout rates, particularly for
vulnerable populations like American Indian and Alaska Native
students. This Administration has made a strong commitment to
upholding the United States' trust responsibility toward tribes
and is committed to doing our part.
Senator Bennet, thank you and the other members of the HELP
Committee for holding this hearing. I look forward to working
with you and this committee on this and other vitally important
issues facing the Indian community. I would be happy to answer
any questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Mendoza follows:]
Prepared Statement of William Mendoza
Good morning. My name is William Mendoza, and I am the director of
the White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN)
Education at the U.S. Department of Education. I appreciate the
opportunity to testify today about the work the Administration is doing
to expand educational opportunities and improve outcomes for AI/AN
students.
I would also like to acknowledge Senator Bennet's work on S. 3504,
The Native American Education Act of 2012, which is the subject of this
hearing.
increasing partnerships with states, tribes and the private sector to
improve student achievement
This Administration has taken great strides to support self-
determination and to strengthen and honor the Federal Government's
government-to-government relationships with Tribal Nations. At the
White House Tribal Nations Conference on December 2, 2011, President
Obama, joined by Cabinet Secretaries and other senior Administration
officials, met with tribal leaders from federally recognized Tribes for
the third consecutive year to continue to enhance these relationships.
In reaffirming the Federal Government's commitment to ensure that
Tribal Nations are full partners with the Federal family, the President
announced the signing of Executive Order No. 13592 entitled,
``Improving American Indian and Alaska Native Educational Opportunities
and Strengthening Tribal Colleges and Universities.'' As President
Obama said, ``We have to prepare the next generation for the future.''
The mission and function of the White House Initiative on American
Indian and Alaska Native Education is to expand educational
opportunities and improve educational outcomes for AI/AN students. This
includes helping to ensure that AI/AN students have opportunities to
learn their Native languages, cultures and histories, and receive a
complete and competitive education that prepares them for college, a
career, and productive and satisfying lives.
Specifically, the Initiative works with Federal agencies, States,
Tribes, and the private sector to advance these goals. With respect to
post-secondary education, the Initiative works to implement strategies
to promote the expanded implementation of education reforms that have
shown evidence of success in enabling AI/AN students to acquire a
rigorous and well-rounded education; increase access to the support
services that prepare them for college, careers, and civic involvement;
reduce the student dropout rate and help more students who stay in high
school prepare for college and careers; increase college access and
completion by strengthening the capacity of post-secondary
institutions, including Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs); and
help ensure that the unique cultural, educational, and language needs
of AI/AN students are met.
american indians/alaska natives and higher education
We need to do better when it comes to meeting the academic and
cultural needs of our American Indian and Alaska Native students across
the Nation. AI/AN young adults lag behind their white peers in
employment and educational attainment. According to the National Center
for Education Statistics (NCES), in 2010, white young adults ages 16-24
had the lowest rate of unemployment, while AI/AN young adults had the
highest.
According to 2010 U.S. Census data, about 30 percent of all youth
and adults in the general population held baccalaureate degrees,
compared with just 13 percent of the AI/AN youth and adults.\1\ And,
while across all degree granting institutions, AI/AN undergraduate
enrollment increased from 70,000 to 189,000 students from 1976 to 2009,
these students still accounted for only 1 percent of the total
undergraduate enrollment during those years. AI/AN students entering
post-secondary education also lag behind all students in timely
completion of both baccalaureate degrees and certificates or associates
degrees at 2-year degree granting institutions.\2\ These statistics
make clear that more must be done to expand opportunities and improve
outcomes for AI/AN students.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ http://www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/acsbr10-19.pdf.
\2\ http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_pgr.asp#info.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In order to meet President Obama's goal for college attainment,
there will need to be an additional 112,000 AI/AN students completing
college by the year 2020. Working together to support TCUs is important
in achieving this goal.
Our Nation's 37 tribally controlled TCUs, which serve approximately
33,000 students, and whose student body is at least 50 percent AI/AN
students, fulfill a unique role in AI/AN communities by acting as
safeguards and champions of tribal languages and cultures. TCUs are
also public institutions and they provide high-quality education and
career-building opportunities to students of all ages, while also
serving as a catalyst for economic development on reservations.
It's also important to note that more than 90 percent of AI/AN
post-secondary students attend institutions of higher education that
are not tribally controlled. These include Native American Serving Non-
Tribally Controlled Institutions (NASNTCIs), where the student body is
at least 10 percent AI/AN students, but where there are few
opportunities for collaboration between Tribes and States.
In addition to providing a high-quality education and career-
building opportunities for AI/AN students, NASNTCIs are working to
improve and expand their capacity to serve AI/AN and low-income
individuals by engaging in such activities as: expanding dual
enrollment opportunities for AI/AN students; assisting institutions in
the development of adult education that increases the number of AI/AN
students who obtain high school diplomas; improving academic and
student services to support student success and retention of AI/AN
students; improving the effective use of technology in academic
environments; and increasing the number of AI/AN students who pursue
advanced degrees.
Together, TCUs and NASNTCIs have a far-reaching impact in the
communities they serve. For example, these institutions provide
effective paths to academic achievement and degree completion for AI/AN
students that can mitigate the risks of high poverty and unemployment
that follow low educational attainment. Also, these institutions often
serve as powerful engines of economic development in their communities,
contributing employment, raising incomes, and directly and indirectly
supporting other forms of economic development within Tribal
communities. Because many of these communities tend to be located in
rural and underserved communities compared to colleges and universities
in the United States overall, this contribution is especially vital.
the role of the federal government
The Federal Government plays an important role in improving the
post-secondary education attainment of AI/AN students, not only because
these students face barriers to achievement and persistence in post-
secondary education, but also because the Federal Government has a
trust responsibility to help these students succeed.
Through the Race to the Top: College Affordability and Completion
(RTTCAC) and First in the World (FITW) proposals, the Administration
has offered a comprehensive approach to tackle the rising costs of
college for all students, including AI/AN students. The Federal
Government, States, and Institutions of Higher Education have a shared
responsibility in this endeavor and must work together to address the
college affordability and completion challenge.
In addition, the Administration has worked with Congress to take a
number of steps over the last 3 years to address the challenge of
helping to keep college affordable and accessible for all students,
including AI/AN students:
We have invested more than $40 billion in Pell grants,
extending aid to 3 million more college students for a total of over 9
million recipients and raised the maximum award to an estimated $5,635
for the 2013-14 academic year. This represents a $905 increase in the
maximum award since 2008.
We are working to make college loans more affordable
through the ``Pay as You Earn'' proposal, which will enable an
additional 1.6 million students to take advantage of a new option to
cap student loan payments at 10 percent of a borrower's monthly income
starting as early as this year.
We have created the American Opportunity Tax Credit, which
provides up to $10,000 for up to 4 years of education and includes
benefits for low-income individuals with no tax liability. Eleven
million middle class and low-income families claimed the credit in tax
year 2010.
This historic investment in student aid has kept the price that
families actually pay for college--the net price--essentially flat over
the last few years. Thanks to our Federal investments, the College
Board reports that the net price of tuition and fees at 4-year public
institutions has increased by just $170 since the 2006-7 academic year,
while the net price of tuition and fees at community colleges has
actually decreased over the same period.
Yet this Federal Government commitment to post-secondary education
of AI/AN students cannot be limited only to the work of the
Administration. We need a strong partnership with Congress if we are
going to improve college participation and outcomes. So thank you
Senator Bennet and the other members of the HELP Committee for holding
this hearing.
Of course, the Federal Government cannot singlehandedly ensure
college affordability. The Administration, Congress, post-secondary
institutions, and, States must all work together to keep building on
our momentum in recent years to make an affordable college education
accessible and available to all students who want one, and where
appropriate, to continue support of historical obligations to fund that
education for certain populations like AI/AN students.
Thousands of AI/AN individuals and students around the country
benefit from this continued demonstration of commitment and are
appreciative of States that continue to uphold their obligations. These
individuals are contributing not only to their Tribes, but also
directly to the strength and well-being of the States in which they
reside and to the Nation as a whole. At a time when higher education is
more important than ever for our shared future, States should not turn
to higher education budgets as a source for cuts. Such cuts often lead
to tuition spikes and higher drop-out rates, particularly for
vulnerable populations like AI/AN students. This Administration has
made a strong commitment to upholding the United States' trust
responsibility toward Tribes and is committed to doing our part.
conclusion
I look forward to working with you and this committee on this and
other vitally important issues facing the AI/AN community. Thank you
for your time and I would be happy to respond to any questions you may
have.
Senator Bennet. Thank you, Mr. Mendoza. I'm going to turn
to the Lieutenant Governor, and then I'll have questions for
both of you. Thank you so much for being here.
STATEMENT OF HON. JOSEPH A. GARCIA, LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR, STATE
OF COLORADO, DENVER, CO
Mr. Garcia. Good morning, Senator, and thank you for the
invitation to attend today's hearing and to speak in support of
the Native American Education Act of 2012. I really want to
thank you and your staff for recognizing the important
responsibility that both our Federal and State leaders have in
continuing to secure access for American Indians and Alaska
Natives to high-quality educational opportunities at
institutions of higher education.
I want to say that I agree with Mr. Mendoza's earlier
comments that all of us at the Federal and State levels must do
a better job of meeting the academic and cultural needs of our
American Indian and Alaska Native students. We must continue to
work together to make a college education affordable and
accessible to all students, particularly those from underserved
and low-income communities.
Now, the State of Colorado and Fort Lewis College have
continued to meet for many decades now and to exceed the
provisions of a unique historical agreement that enables a
growing population of American Indian and Alaska Native
students to obtain a post-
secondary credential. We celebrate the success of the Fort
Lewis Native American Scholarship Program and Fort Lewis
College, which provides an exemplary education program as one
of only a handful of Native American-Serving Non-Tribal
colleges in the United States.
Now, as you can see from the letters of support submitted
by Governor Hickenlooper and by Hereford Percy, the Chairman of
the Colorado Commission of Higher Education, the State of
Colorado is deeply committed to fulfilling the intent and
spirit of this agreement. And along with you, we want to move
forward in the best interest of the citizens of the State and
the American Indian and Alaska Native students the program is
meant to serve.
It is important to briefly note the historical context
under which the Fort Lewis Native American Scholarship was
made. As you can see in greater detail from my letter,
supported along with the testimony, the Fort Lewis Native
American Scholarship Program has roots that go back to 1878,
when Fort Lewis, an Army outpost, was first established. And in
1891, Fort Lewis became a Federal Indian primary and secondary
school for American Indian students in the nearby region.
In 1911, however, the Federal Government transferred that
land to Colorado, and Colorado, as part of that transfer
agreement, agreed to maintain the school--again, at the time, a
primary and secondary school--as a place of learning that
Indians could attend free of charge. Now, by 1927, the school
evolved from a primary and secondary school into a junior
college, and by the mid-1960s, the school offered 4-year
degrees. Today, Fort Lewis serves as a public liberal arts
college with selective admission standards with a historic and
continuing commitment to American Indian education.
Now, I want to emphasize that no one in Colorado wants to
see access for American students limited in any way. This
proposed legislation is focused on securing, not limiting,
tuition-free access to Fort Lewis College for American Indian
and Alaska Native students. American Indian students are
entitled to this education, which is not only of individual
benefit to them, but also, as Mr. Mendoza's testimony pointed
out, a benefit to the State and to the country as a whole.
Truly national in scope, the Fort Lewis Native American
Scholarship Program provided tuition waivers, as you noted, for
over 16,000 students from 46 States and 269 tribes just over
the past 11 years alone, and far more as we look back over the
many decades of its history. But it's also important to note
that more than 84 percent of those Native American students who
received tuition waivers were not from Colorado. This is not a
State program, but a Federal one, a national program with
national benefits and national implications.
Now, based on the requirements in State law pursuant to the
agreement, Colorado has been funding these obligations, which
are growing at an ever-increasing rate, during a period when
State resources for public higher education have been
diminishing. Just since 2008-9, that fiscal year alone, public
higher education operating funding in Colorado has decreased by
over 27 percent while at the same time we've seen enrollment
growth of over 14 percent, with the net result being a 36
percent decrease in State funding per resident student.
Now, the Fort Lewis College Native American Tuition Waiver
has also grown steadily over time, and the annual increases are
becoming greater and greater on a year-to-year basis. The
tremendous growth in the program is both good news, but it also
creates challenges for the State. The good news is that Fort
Lewis has demonstrated success in serving American Indian
students from all regions of the country.
Of the American Indian student population attending Fort
Lewis College, as I said earlier, about 84 percent were from
outside of Colorado. But because of the differences in tuition
and non-resident tuition, they represent over 95 percent of the
dollars spent to support the program. That's $12.8 million in
total scholarship fund allotment that goes to non-Colorado
residents.
Now, the State of Colorado would like your partnership in
continuing to deliver higher education opportunities to
American Indian youth. And it's critically important to
understand where the approximately $13 million that supports
the program now comes from. It's not part of a separate pot of
money that's allocated specifically to the Native American
Scholarship Fund. Rather, it is part of the entire State
financial aid program. Out of that pot, the Native American
Scholarship Fund comes off the top.
So an escalating cost of that program has been covered by
reducing funding to the State's other financial aid programs,
including need-based grants and work-study programs. So using
State financial aid funds to cover rising costs for the Fort
Lewis Native American tuition waiver program has a demonstrable
impact on American Indian students throughout Colorado.
Now, while over 800 American Indian and Alaska Native
students attend Fort Lewis College, there are actually about
3,000 Native American students attending public institutions in
Colorado. So about 30 percent of the total attend Fort Lewis
College. The other 70 percent receive no benefit from this
program. In fact, they're impacted by the program because of
the reduction in the amount of financial aid available to
support them.
Now, the special and distinct circumstances that confront
us today have been created by the evolution of a 100-year-old
mission. That mission charged Colorado to provide students
admitted to the Indian reservation school or high school with
an education free of charge of tuition and on equal terms with
white students.
It's important, again, to note that we do not want to limit
access to Native American students at Fort Lewis or at any
other institution of higher education in Colorado or
nationally. And, in fact, while we're asking for Federal
support to fund that mission, while serving thousands of other
students, including Native American students at other State
higher education institutions, we're steadfast in our
commitment to securing educational opportunities for Native
American students in our great State.
So I'm here to commend the great work of Fort Lewis
College's administration, the leadership shown by its governing
board and by its president, Dene Thomas, along with the staff
and students at Fort Lewis College in making this historical
agreement an educational priority. With the passage of the
Native American Education Act of 2012, Colorado will be able to
continue its commitment to the successful national program
while also providing higher education opportunities for all
students across Colorado.
Again, I want to thank you for allowing me the honor of
speaking to you today. I appreciate your support of this
legislation, and I would be glad to answer any questions you
may have.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Garcia follows:]
State of Colorado,
Office of the Lieutenant Governor,
Denver, CO 80203,
August 17, 2012.
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions,
U.S. Senate,
Congressional Field Hearing,
Old Supreme Court Chambers,
Colorado State Capitol,
Denver, CO 80203.
summary
Dear Senator Bennet and Committee Members: Here is a brief overview
of my testimony in support of The Native American Education Act of
2012, S. 3504:
Welcome.
Support statement for the Native American Education Act of
2012, S. 3504.
Introduction of Letters of Support.
Fort Lewis Native American Scholarship Fund background and
historic agreement with the State of Colorado.
Fort Lewis Native American Scholarship Fund funding and
enrollment data.
The great work of Fort Lewis College and continued support
of securing secure access for American Indians /Alaska Natives to high
quality educational opportunities at institutions of higher education.
Closing and questions.
Sincerely,
Joseph A. Garcia,
Lieutenant Governor.
______
Prepared Statement of Hon. Joseph A. Garcia
Dear Senator Bennet and committee members, good morning and thank
you for the invitation to attend today's hearing and speak in support
of the proposed the Native American Education Act of 2012, S. 3504. I
would especially like to thank Senator Bennet and staff for recognizing
the important responsibility that both our Federal and State leaders
have in continuing to secure access for American Indians /Alaska
Natives to high quality educational opportunities at institutions of
higher education.
Attached to my testimony this morning, you will find support
letters from Governor John Hickenlooper and the Colorado Commission of
Higher Education Chairman Hereford Percy, representing the Colorado
Department of Higher Education. As Lieutenant Governor, I also serve as
Chairman of the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs and last year the
Commission submitted a letter of support for then S. 484 which is also
included in your packet today.
[The letters referenced above may be found in additional material.]
The State of Colorado and Fort Lewis College have continued to meet
and exceed the provisions of a unique historical agreement that enables
a growing population of American Indian/Alaska Native students to
attain a post-secondary credential. We celebrate both the success of
the Fort Lewis Native American Scholarship Fund and this college, which
provides an exemplary education program as one of only a handful of
Native American-Serving Non-Tribal Colleges in the United States.
Governor Hickenlooper and I are deeply committed to fulfilling the
intent and spirit of this agreement, and along with you, want to move
forward in the best interests of the citizens, the State, and the
American Indians/Alaska Native students the program is meant to serve.
It is important to understand the historical context under which
this agreement was reached. The original Fort Lewis was established as
a U.S. Army post in 1878 in Pagosa Springs, CO. In 1882, the Fort Lewis
Military Reservation was set aside by the Federal Government for an
Indian Reservation School and moved to Hesperus, CO just west of
Durango, CO.
Over a decade following its original creation as a military
outpost, in 1891 Fort Lewis became a Federal Indian primary and
secondary school where American Indian students from the surrounding
regions attended. By 1911, the Federal Government offered the Fort
Lewis land to the State of Colorado. The transfer stipulated that:
(1) ``. . . said lands and building shall be held and
maintained by the State of Colorado as an institution of
learning''; and
(2) ``. . . that Indian pupils shall at all times be admitted
to such school free of charge of tuition and on equal terms''.
At the time of the transfer in 1911, the School of Agricultural and
Mechanical Arts and Household Arts was created as a high school ending
in the 12th grade. By 1927, the school evolved into a junior college
and by the early to mid-1960s the school offered 4-year degrees and
officially retained its current moniker of Fort Lewis College.
Today, Fort Lewis College serves as a public liberal arts college
with selective admission standards with a historic and continuing
commitment to American Indian education. Truly national in scope, the
Fort Lewis Native American Scholarship Fund provided tuition waivers
for 16,408 students from 46 States and 269 tribes over the past 11
years. More than 84 percent of these American Indian/Alaska Native
students who received tuition waivers were not from Colorado.
Colorado statute requires:
``that all qualified Indian pupils shall at all times be
admitted to such college free of charge for tuition and on
terms of equity with other pupils. The general assembly shall
appropriate from the State general fund one hundred percent of
the moneys required for tuition for such qualified Indian
pupils.''--Section 23-52-10 (1)(b)(I), C.R.S. (2012)
Based on the requirements in State law pursuant to the agreement
associated with the original transfer of the Fort Lewis lands, Colorado
has been funding these obligations which are growing at an ever-
increasing rate during a period when State resources for public higher
education have been diminishing. Since the State fiscal year 2008-9,
public higher education operating funding in Colorado has decreased by
over 27 percent. Over this same timeframe the State has experienced
resident enrollment growth of over 14 percent systemwide. The net
result is over a 36 percent decrease in State funding per resident
student.
The Fort Lewis College Native American Tuition Waiver has grown
steadily over time and the annual increases are becoming greater and
greater on a year-to-year basis. Figure 1 illustrates the cost to the
State since fiscal year 2008-9.
figure 1
The tremendous growth in the program is in part due to Fort Lewis
College's success in serving American Indian students from all regions
of the country. The most recent projections suggest an increase of over
$2 million going into fiscal year 2013-14, which is primarily a result
of double-digit enrollment increases in the Native American student
population. Of the American Indian student population attending Fort
Lewis College, approximately 95 percent of the $12.8 million
scholarship fund total allotment is paid on behalf of non-Colorado
residents.
The State of Colorado asks for your partnership in continuing to
deliver higher education opportunities to American Indian youth. Given
the State's budgetary challenges, this cost has been covered by
reducing funding to the State's other financial aid programs (Need-
Based Grants and/or Work Study). Using State financial aid funds to
cover changes in costs for the Fort Lewis Native American Tuition
Waiver program has a demonstrable impact on American Indian students
throughout Colorado. Approximately 3,000 American Indian/Alaska Native
students attend public institution in Colorado. Consequently,
reductions in the State's need-based financial aid program reduce
access to State financial assistance for low-income students at every
institution in the State, including American Indian/Alaska Native
students enrolled at institutions other than Fort Lewis College. In
spite of this, Colorado stands by its commitment to the Fort Lewis
Native American Tuition Waiver program and plans to continue funding
tuition for all qualifying students beyond the Federal contribution.
The special and distinct circumstance that confronts us today has
been created by the evolution of a 100-year-old mission. That mission
charged Colorado to provide students admitted to the Indian Reservation
School--a high school--with an education free of charge of tuition and
on equal terms. While we are challenged to fund that mission while
serving thousands of other students (including Native American
students) at other State higher education institutions, we are no less
steadfast in our commitment to securing educational opportunities for
Native American students in our great State.
I am here to offer our full support for The Native American
Education Act of 2012 and to commend the great work of Fort Lewis
College's administration, staff, and students by making this historical
agreement an educational priority. With the passage of this
legislation, Colorado can continue our commitment to this successful
national education program while also providing higher education
opportunities for all students across Colorado.
Again, thank you for allowing me this honor of speaking before you
today. I would be glad to answer any questions you may have.
Senator Bennet. Thank you for your testimony. Thank you
very much for being here.
I can't resist, Mr. Mendoza, since you're here and since
you are a graduate of Fort Lewis--but I wanted to have the
chance for you to put in the record what that education has
meant to you, personally, and how it prepared you to now be
working in the White House at the level that you're working. I
think it's important for the students that are there to hear
that.
Mr. Mendoza. I appreciate the opportunity, Senator Bennet,
and I couldn't agree more with the sentiments that are
expressed in your comments and Lieutenant Governor Garcia's
just about the brevity of what Fort Lewis does for this country
in terms of American Indian and Alaska Native students, in
particular. My personal journey to a respect and understanding
of how education can be successful for me was one that was a
bumpy road and involved numerous institutions of higher
education, numerous supports from every step of the way, and
then, certainly, challenges as well.
Fort Lewis, for me--quite frankly, I wouldn't be in the
position that I am to be able to impact the needs of not only
my family, but those who I also hold near and dear, my people,
and, of course, the States and the country to which I hold
allegiance to and value very much. My experiences there at Fort
Lewis College, I think upon often. Particularly, because of
this context, I really think that it is the best representative
effort in the country of these types of schools, whether we are
talking about Minnesota Morris, Fort Lewis College, or our
Native American-Serving Non-Tribally Controlled institutions,
where we really see States vesting an interest.
And, whether it's the sacred trust, as it is referred to at
Fort Lewis College, or a contractual obligation, or the trust
responsibility, as we see it through the Federal lands, where--
and I think I can only express it in that old saying that you
always hear, where you tell me where you put your money, and
I'll tell you what you prioritize. What drew me to Fort Lewis
was that I would be in an environment where I could engage with
students that I knew, instantaneously, either didn't agree with
me or didn't know anything about me and the communities that I
came from.
It was especially humbling when I got there to know that
the State of Colorado invested in that, that the institution
itself fought for my presence there. How I was interacting with
that system gave me, all the much more, empowerment to say
there are bigger answers to some of these tough issues, whether
we're facing them on reservations or off reservations.
So it couldn't be more important than that to me. And being
here today, in a way that I can share what we hope for in
protecting opportunities for American Indian and Alaska Native
students and how we need to all be working together to be
thinking innovatively to address these times of austerity--I'm
committed to do that. I have a value in that, knowing what
these degrees and what these efforts mean to communities like
my home village of Pine Ridge and Rosebud. Those are the
communities that I grew up in.
And we need choices. We need appropriate institutions where
we can have a diverse array of offerings for us to have access
to. And Fort Lewis represented that for me as a student.
Senator Bennet. That gives me an opportunity to actually
ask the first question that I had for you. Since you've already
answered it, I'll ask you as a representative of the White
House to commit to work with us to ensure that these waiver
programs are sustainable with an equitable funding stream
between both the Federal and State governments.
Mr. Mendoza. We certainly support the principles of this
bill, Senator, and we want to do everything in our power to
make sure that we're all putting our hands together to ensure
that.
Senator Bennet. Thank you. The last question that I had for
you--you talked about this in the context of the trust
responsibility that we have, which I think is enormously
important. That's really what brings us here today, to find a
way to make sure that we can sustain this commitment that's
been made.
And I wonder, in that context of the trust responsibility,
if you could talk about just how important the tuition waiver
program has been to increasing educational opportunities for
Native American students in this country.
Mr. Mendoza. I appreciate it, Senator. And I think our next
speaker, President Thomas, certainly can speak to the
contributions directly and the statistics that places them, if
my memory serves me correctly, fourth in the Nation in terms of
enrollment and certainly one of our highest degree producers
for American Indian and Alaska Native students. There is not
enough of this universe of institutions that we refer to as
Native American-Serving from the Department of Education
standpoint.
So in every area where those have the potential of being
supported, we want to be working with them to say: What are
your challenges? What are your successes? And how can we bring
more resources, whether it's through the tribal context, the
State context, or the Federal context, to help address the
unanimously agreed challenges facing our higher education
institutions?
Senator Bennet. I said that was my last question. But
here's one more, and then I will stop. You talked a little bit
in your opening remarks about the challenges that are facing
our Native American youth in K-12 education as well. And as a
former school superintendent, I know very well the challenges
of getting children, particularly those living in poverty,
prepared to go to college and then to persist once they're in
college.
I wonder if you could say a word about what the
Administration's initiatives are around K-12 education for
Native American youth and what we can be doing better to
support those efforts.
Mr. Mendoza. I appreciate it, Senator. And, certainly, we
are working to create pathways. We are transitioning Indian
education from working from silo approaches to whether or not
we are looking at that from the tribal college lens or the
Native American-Serving Non-Tribal college lens or the Bureau
of Indian Education system and their unique institutions.
We are trying to connect the dots with that, utilizing a
lot of the levers that are in place with the Administration, a
lot of the bridge programs expressed through TRiO and Gear Up
and our Aid for Institutional Development programs. We have a
first in the world program that we want to put forth to support
our minority-serving institutions--$20 million of that $55
million program will go toward these institutions really
thinking innovatively about how they can buildupon and scope
and scale best practices, promising practices, if you will, to
be able to address the unique needs of these students, in
particular, American Indian and Alaska Native students.
Senator Bennet. Thank you.
Mr. Lieutenant Governor, can you talk a little bit broadly
about what the state of the higher education budget is in
Colorado and what you're doing to try to manage in a very
challenging environment?
Mr. Garcia. Yes, Senator. As I said before, we know that
the general fund money available for higher education has been
diminishing over the last several years. And it's come at a
very bad time, a time when we are encouraging more and more
young people to go on to post-secondary education. The good
news is that they are, but, again, the bad news is there are
fewer dollars to support them.
We've been working with institutions to emphasize the
importance of creating efficiencies. The institutions have done
a remarkable job of doing exactly that. Colorado has the most
efficient system of public higher education in the country when
you look at the number of degrees produced per dollar invested.
Our institutions are stretched thin and are doing a very good
job.
We also try to emphasize the importance of completion, not
just enrollment. We know that with certain populations, like
the native population, that's a bigger challenge. They often
arrive academically underprepared and under-resourced
financially, and so it takes more effort and more investment by
the institutions to serve those students who we most need to
serve. After all, minority and low-income students are the
fastest growing demographic in our both K-12 and higher
education systems.
We've seen a reduction--over $706 million of general fund
money invested in higher education only 4 or 5 years ago.
That's down to a little more than $500 million now. So, again,
we try to look for alternative ways to deliver instruction.
We're trying to look for increased efficiencies. But we don't
want to impact quality, and we don't want to impact output. We
don't want to impact our ability to actually help these
students graduate. That's our challenge right now.
And as we look at a reduction in the amount of financial
aid available, which is where the Native American Scholarship
dollars come from, because we're trying to serve more students,
more needy students, with fewer dollars, we need the
partnership with the Federal Government to help us ensure that
we can provide access for all students.
Senator Bennet. And could you say a little bit about why
you think it's appropriate, in the context of the facts that
you talked about in your opening statement, that the Federal
Government should provide funding for this program?
Mr. Garcia. Absolutely, Senator. When the program was first
established, as I said, it was focused on a primary and
secondary school that served Native American students from this
region. Of course, now it is a 4-year, high-quality academic
institution offering baccalaureate degrees. Over 80 percent of
the students it is serving come from outside of Colorado, and
over 95 percent of the cost goes to fund those out-of-state
students.
Those out-of-state students come and get a great education,
and they return to their communities, including tribal lands,
where they make an impact, an enormous impact, in their
communities. That benefits those communities. That benefits the
country. And we think for that reason the Federal Government
ought to help us maintain this program, that we ought to be
able to cover the increasing cost with the help of the Federal
Government, because the work of Fort Lewis College, the work of
the Fort Lewis Native American Scholarship program doesn't just
impact Colorado. It has a tremendous impact on the rest of the
country.
Senator Bennet. And is it your understanding--it is my
understanding, anyway, that this legislation says that if the
Congress were to pass this legislation, were to fund this
program, and in the future change its mind and decide not to do
it, that the State's responsibility to fulfill the agreement
that was made remains intact.
Mr. Garcia. That's absolutely correct, Senator. The State's
obligation would continue. If we were able to get some
additional funding through this legislation, it would simply
help relieve the burden. But the State is committed to this
program. The State, in my view, has a legal obligation to
continue this program. We're simply asking for some financial
assistance.
Senator Bennet. Thank you. I appreciate your testimony very
much. I'm sure everybody that's here today does. Now we'll move
on to the second panel. Thank you for being here. We'll take a
minute to shift.
I wish I could say that every committee hearing in
Washington, DC moves as expeditiously as this one, but I can't.
So I'd like to thank the second panel for joining us here
today, and we'll try to keep opening remarks to about 5
minutes. I'm going to introduce each of you, and then we'll get
going.
Dr. Dene Kay Thomas is the current president of Fort Lewis
College. Dr. Thomas taught writing at the University of Idaho
and was the president of Lewis-Clark State College. In 2010,
she was selected to be the first woman to ever serve as
president of Fort Lewis College.
We're delighted to have you today.
Dr. Jacqueline Johnson is the Chancellor of the University
of Minnesota Morris. She is also the first woman to serve in
this role. Dr. Johnson was appointed Chancellor in 2006 after
serving in various positions in a number of universities. Those
include serving as chief academic officer at St. Martin's
College and vice president for Academic Affairs and dean of
faculty at Buena Vista University.
Thank you so much for making the trip here today.
John Echohawk is the executive director of the Native
American Rights Fund. John Echohawk is a member of the Pawnee
Nation of Oklahoma and has served as the executive director of
the Native American Rights Fund for over 30 years. Mr. Echohawk
began his law career when he was the first graduate of the
University of New Mexico's program to train Indian lawyers. He
has since been recognized as one of the 100 most influential
lawyers in America by the National Law Journal.
I want to welcome you back to Colorado. We're delighted
that you're here.
Byron Tsabetsaye is the president of the Associated
Students of Fort Lewis College. He is a member of both the
Navajo and the Zuni Pueblo tribes. He is also a member of both
the Native American Honor Society and the National Society of
Leadership and Success.
Thank you all for being here.
Dr. Thomas, would you like to kick it off? Then we'll go
down the line here and then have some questions.
STATEMENT OF DENE KAY THOMAS, Ph.D., PRESIDENT, FORT LEWIS
COLLEGE, DURANGO, CO
Ms. Thomas. I would, indeed. Good morning, Mr. Chairman.
I will take us back to 1911, January 25th, when Governor
John Shafroth signed a contract with the Federal Government
which transferred 6,279 acres in southwest Colorado to the
State of Colorado to be maintained as an institution of
learning to which Indian students will be admitted free of
tuition and on an equality with white students in perpetuity.
That free tuition has benefited numerous Native American
students from 46 States and 269 federally recognized Indian
tribes and has, in turn, benefited the State of Colorado and
the entire Nation through its investment in human capital.
No one could have foreseen the national impact such an
agreement would have on all concerned. New Mexico and Arizona
were territories that had not entered statehood. Modern
transportation made this once isolated military fort easily
accessible and centrally located in the heart of Indian
country.
We now have a situation where what is of benefit to many is
of cost to only one. Colorado benefits, but even more, the
country benefits as societal benefits accrue from becoming more
educated, productive, taxpaying citizens. Given the national
benefits and the 100 years of support only from Colorado, it is
time for the Nation to support what has become an unintended
unfunded Federal mandate. We now have an issue of fairness. It
is only fair for the Federal Government to support Senate bill
3504 and Senate bill 484.
This sense of fairness is shared by many national Native
American organizations, the National Congress of the American
Indian, NIGA, NARF, and every tribe that we have visited with
about it--Navajo, Mescalero Apache, Cherokee, the Tri-Utes. I
would note that S. 3504 does not either now or in the future
restrict or cap the number of Native American students, either
Colorado residents or non-Colorado residents, who can attend
Fort Lewis College and receive the waiver. All Native American
students from federally recognized tribes would continue to
attend tuition free.
Fort Lewis College owns its dual mission of Colorado's only
public liberal arts college and its historic Native American
education mission with pride. We are now a college of 23
percent Native American students from 138 tribes and 45 States.
Our 860 Native American students benefit, and the rich cultural
diversity benefits everyone at Fort Lewis College and in the
Durango community.
We rank fourth in the Nation in the percent of full-time
Native American undergraduates enrolled in a baccalaureate
institution. Almost half of Fort Lewis College Native students
are from the Navajo nation, the second largest tribe in the
United States, located 84 miles from campus, and 11 percent are
from Native Alaskan tribes.
Fort Lewis College awards more bachelor's degrees to Native
American and Alaska Native students than any other
baccalaureate institution in the Nation. From 2006 to 2010,
Fort Lewis College awarded over 10 percent of the total number
of baccalaureate degrees earned by Native American students in
the United States.
The college's tuition waiver provides access and
opportunity to the most underserved minority population, as
less than 1 percent--actually, it's 0.7 percent--of American
Indians attain a baccalaureate degree annually. That's compared
with all other minorities--African-American, 8.9 percent;
Hispanic, 7.5 percent; Asian American, 6.6 percent.
The educational attainment rate for Native American
students is widening as bachelor's degrees conferred by other
ethnicities has increased while the bachelor's degrees for
Native Americans has remained flat at 0.7 percent. The Federal
Government has provided much more assistance for far greater a
time period to Hispanic-serving institutions and historically
Black institutions.
Aside from tribal colleges, there is only a $5 million
Federal allocation annually that was created in fiscal year
2008-9 to support Native American students outside of tribal
colleges through the Native American-Serving Non-Tribal College
discretionary funds at the U.S. Department of Education. We are
one of a small number of the Native American-Serving Non-Tribal
Colleges who focus on bachelor degree attainment for Native
American students. And we are one of only two with historic
mandates that date back to the days after the Indian wars.
We believe in our mission to educate Native American
students, and we do it well. We have a number of partnerships
with other groups, both community colleges for seamless
transfer, with the Navajo nation, and a number of the other
connections that we make to continue from the 2-year to a 4-
year education.
We have a scope of a program that has far exceeded the
expectations set forth in the 1910 agreement between the State
of Colorado and the Federal Government, and it would be a
travesty to be unable to provide a broader base of support for
what is a successful State and national program.
I thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity to appear
before you today, and I stand ready to answer any questions you
may have.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Thomas follows:]
Prepared Statement of Dene Kay Thomas, Ph.D.
summary
On January 25, 1911, Governor John Shafroth signed a contract with
the Federal Government which transferred 6,279 acres in southwest
Colorado to the State of Colorado ``to be maintained as an institution
of learning to which Indian students will be admitted free of tuition
and on an equality with white students'' in perpetuity (Act of 61st
Congress, 1911). That free tuition has benefited Native American
students from 46 States and 269 federally recognized Indian tribes.
No one could have foreseen the national impact such an agreement
would have on all concerned. Modern transportation made this once
isolated military fort easily accessible and centrally located in the
heart of Indian Country. We now have a situation where what is of
benefit to many is of a cost to only one. Given the national benefits
and the hundred years of support from only Colorado, it is time for the
Nation to support what has become an unintended unfunded Federal
mandate. We now have an issue of fairness.
Fort Lewis College ranks 4th in the Nation in the percent of full-
time Native American undergraduates enrolled in a baccalaureate
institution.\1\ Almost half of FLC Native students are from the Navajo
Nation (second largest tribe in the United States), located 84 miles
from campus, and 11 percent are from Native Alaskan tribes. FLC awards
more degrees to Native American/Alaskan Native students than any other
baccalaureate institution in the Nation. From 2006-10, Fort Lewis
College awarded over 10 percent (556) of the total number of
baccalaureate degrees earned by Native American students in the United
States. In 2010, FLC was 1st in the Nation in STEM (science,
technology, engineering and math) baccalaureate degrees earned by
Native Americans.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ American Indian Science & Engineering Society, 2012.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The College's tuition waiver provides access and opportunity to the
most underserved minority population in higher education, as less than
1 percent (0.7 percent) of American Indians attain a baccalaureate
degree annually.\2\ We believe in our mission to educate Native
American students and we do it well. Together, by supporting S. 3504,
we have an opportunity to provide a quality educational experience for
Native American students, so that they too can compete in the global
market place and carry the hopes and dreams of their nation, and ours,
into prosperity.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ Kim, Young, ``Minorities in Higher Education,'' Twenty-Fourth
Status Report, 2011 Supplement, American Council on Education, October
2011.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
______
Good Morning, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, my name is
Dr. Dene Thomas, president of Fort Lewis College. On January 25, 1911,
Governor John Shafroth signed a contract with the Federal Government
which transferred 6,279 acres in southwest Colorado to the State of
Colorado ``to be maintained as an institution of learning to which
Indian students will be admitted free of tuition and on an equality
with white students'' in perpetuity (Act of 61st Congress, 1911). That
free tuition has benefited numerous Native American students from 46
States and 269 federally recognized Indian tribes, and has in turn,
benefited the State of Colorado and the Nation through an investment in
human capital.
No one could have foreseen the national impact such an agreement
would have on all concerned. New Mexico and Arizona were territories
that had not entered statehood. Modern transportation made this once
isolated military fort easily accessible and centrally located in the
heart of Indian Country. We now have a situation where what is of
benefit to many is of a cost to only one. Colorado benefits, but even
more, the country benefits, as societal benefits accrue from becoming
more educated productive taxpaying citizens. Given the national
benefits and the hundred years of support from only Colorado, it is
time for the Nation to support what has become an unintended unfunded
Federal mandate. We now have an issue of fairness. It is only fair for
the Federal Government to support Senate bill 3504 and S. 484.
FLC owns its dual mission of Colorado's only public liberal arts
college and historic Native American education mission with pride. We
are now a college of 23 percent Native American students from 138
tribes and 45 States. Our 860 Native American students benefit and the
rich cultural diversity also benefit everyone at FLC and the Durango
community. FLC ranks 4th in the Nation in the percent of full-time
Native American undergraduates enrolled in a baccalaureate institution
(American Indian Science & Engineering Society, 2012). Almost half of
FLC Native students are from the Navajo Nation (second largest tribe in
the United States), located 84 miles from campus, and 11 percent are
from Native Alaskan tribes. FLC awards more degrees to Native American/
Alaskan Native students than any other baccalaureate institution in the
Nation. From 2006-10, Fort Lewis College awarded over 10 percent (556)
of the total number of baccalaureate degrees earned by Native American
students in the United States. In 2010, FLC was 1st in the Nation in
STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) degrees earned by
Native Americans.
The College's tuition waiver provides access and opportunity to the
most underserved minority population, as less than 1 percent (0.7
percent) of American Indians attain a baccalaureate degree annually, as
compared to all other minorities (African-American (8.9 percent),
Hispanic (7.5 percent), and Asian American (6.6 percent) in the past 10
years.\2\ The educational attainment rate for Native American students
is widening as bachelor's degrees conferred by ethnicities has
increased for every minority group, with Hispanics accelerating the
highest from 5.6 percent in 1998 to 7.5 percent in 2008. Other
ethnicities have also had positive percent changes, such as African-
Americans (2.8 percent) and Asian Americans (3.1 percent), while Native
Americans remained flat over the 10-year period at 0.7 percent.\3\
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\3\ IBID.
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The Federal Government has provided much more assistance and for
far greater a time period to Hispanic Serving Institutions and
Historically Black Institutions. Aside from Tribal College funds, there
is only a $5.0 million Federal allocation annually that was created in
fiscal year 2008-9 to support Native American students outside of
Tribal Colleges, through the Native American Serving, Non-Tribal
College discretionary funds at the U.S. Department of Education. We are
one of a small number (18) of Native American Serving, Non-Tribal
Colleges who focus on bachelors' degree attainment for Native American
students. We are only one of two with historic mandates that date back
to the days after the Indian Wars; Fort Lewis College's origins as a
military fort and an Indian Boarding School. Together, by supporting S.
3504 we have an opportunity to extend beyond the 2-year Tribal Colleges
and provide a quality educational experience for Native American
students, so that they too can compete in the global market place and
carry the hopes and dreams of their nation, and ours, into prosperity.
We believe in our mission to educate Native American students and
we do it well. One great example is our partnership with the Navajo
Nation to bring the FLC Teacher Education program to the reservation.
The positive impact of that partnership has been remarkable. In 1990,
only 8 percent of certified teachers on the Navajo reservation were
actually Navajo. As a result, instruction struggled as non-Navajo
teachers lacked the cultural understanding to be effective with Navajo
students. These struggles led to teacher retention problems for
reservation schools and a further decrease in educational quality due
to the high turnover rate for teachers. Today, due in large part to the
Teacher Education partnership between FLC and the Navajo Nation, over
60 percent of teachers on the Navajo reservation are Navajo. Test
scores are up at reservation schools and the schools are showing
improved Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). In addition, many other of our
Native American alumni are doing great things, alumni like Quanah
Spencer, a Seattle-area attorney; Marsha Greyeyes-Appel, owner of her
own business in Maryland; Melissa Henry, filmmaker and business owner
in New Mexico; and, of course, Bill Mendoza, a leader of Native
American education in Washington, DC. It would be a travesty to be
unable to provide a broader base of support for a successful national
program. The scope of the program has far exceeded the expectations set
forth in the 1911 agreement between the State of Colorado and the
Federal Government.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman and committee members, for the opportunity
to appear before you today in support of S. 3504 and S. 484: I stand
ready to answer any questions you might have for me.
Senator Bennet. Thank you, Dr. Thomas.
Dr. Johnson.
STATEMENT OF JACQUELINE R. JOHNSON, Ph.D., CHANCELLOR,
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA MORRIS, MORRIS, MN
Ms. Johnson. Thank you. I think you will hear some
similarities in our stories here.
Senator Bennet and other distinguished guests, thank you
for this opportunity to speak to the importance and potential
impact of the Native American Education Act of 2012. And thank
you, Senator Bennet, for your leadership on this issue. We're
also grateful to Minnesota Senator Franken, who I understand is
a co-sponsor of this bill, even though he couldn't be with us
today.
The campus of the University of Minnesota Morris sits on
land that was once home to the people of the Anishinaabe and
the Dakota and Lakota nations. Before Morris opened its doors
as a selective public liberal arts college in 1960, two other
schools made their home on these lands, the West Central School
of Agriculture from 1910 until 1963, and an American Indian
Boarding School from 1887 to 1909.
The Indian Boarding School was run initially by a Catholic
order of nuns and subsequently by the U.S. Government's Bureau
of the Interior. When the Bureau of the Interior turned over
the buildings and land of the Indian Boarding School to the
State of Minnesota to establish the agricultural high school,
it stipulated that American Indian students would be admitted
on the same conditions as other students and tuition free.
When the Minnesota State Legislature established the Morris
campus of the University of Minnesota in 1959, the same
stipulation remained. These actions, as you know, are legally
recorded in Federal and State laws. The University of Minnesota
Morris is one of 30 schools in the country designated as a
public liberal arts college. We are exclusively focused on
undergraduates, residential, and serve around 1,800 students.
Morris is the most racially diverse campus in the
University of Minnesota System, selective in its admission
standards, serving an academically talented group of students,
more than a third of whom are the first generation in their
families to attend college, and many of whom come from families
with financial need. Our American Indian students reflect these
same patterns. In 2011, 40 percent of Morris' Native students
were low-income, and 45 percent were first-generation.
Located on the edge of the Minnesota Prairie, as Garrison
Keillor would say, close to the Dakotas, we are also a national
leader in sustainability and clean energy initiatives. The
campus is tied inextricably to the land, to the previous
educational institutions that have resided here, and to all the
peoples who have called this place their home.
American Indians represent, as President Thomas has said,
about 1 percent of baccalaureate college attending students
nationally and in the State of Minnesota. At Morris, American
Indian students comprise over 15 percent of the student body
this year, and today is our first day of classes. This
significant native student population makes Morris 1 of some 40
schools in the country eligible for the designation by the
Federal Government as a Native American-Serving Non-Tribal
Institution.
Morris offers a number of programs that promote the success
of students of color in general and several programs that are
aimed particularly at American Indian students. A few months
ago, Morris was awarded a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Grant
that includes provisions to support American Indian students in
summer research. Morris hosts an NSF-funded WindStep program
that provides a summer immersion research experience for
middle- and high-school students from reservations in the State
and region.
The campus has a strong and active chapter of the American
Indian Science and Engineering Society, AISES, and will host
the regional AISES meeting this spring. And the AISES
publication, Winds of Change, named Morris as one of the top
200 educational institutions in the country for its support of
American Indian students in 2011 and again this year.
While the majority of our native students come from
Minnesota, more than 50 federally recognized tribes from 14
States and Alaska Native villages are represented on the
campus. In all, 25 percent of Morris' American Indian students
are from out of State.
Since its founding in 1960, as you noted earlier, Senator
Bennet, Morris has waived more than $20 million in tuition for
American Indian students, with $6 million supporting out-of-
state students during that same time period. This year alone,
we anticipate that we will waive $3 million, with $750,000 of
that attributable to our out-of-state students. But this cost
is not fully supported by the State of Minnesota or by the
University of Minnesota System, and I want to say just a little
bit about that, because I think our situation is somewhat
different.
In Minnesota, the State Legislature provides a direct
general allocation to the University of Minnesota. The
University of Minnesota System, in turn, distributes this
allocation among its five separate campuses. In recent years,
the University of Minnesota System has allocated directly to
Morris only a portion of the unrealized revenue that results
from this waiver.
In fiscal year 2012, for example, the University of
Minnesota's central allocation to Morris to support the waiver
was $1.65 million, approximately 65 percent of the total
tuition that we waived. Over one-third of the waiver,
approximately $900,000, was unfunded and absorbed by the
University of Minnesota Morris. And as I noted, this year,
fiscal year 2013, we anticipate that $750,000 of the total
tuition waived will be attributed to out-of-state students.
We think it is right that the waiver should apply to
students who are out-of-state as well as in-state. In running
the American Indian Boarding School, the U.S. Federal
Government's Bureau of the Interior did not restrict enrollment
only to those students who were from within the State of
Minnesota. It drew students from across the region, just as we
do now.
In relegating American Indian people to reservations, the
U.S. Federal Government did not restrict its actions to one or
two tribes. It was inclusive in its disruption of the lives of
native people across the country. Thus, our obligation to honor
the Federal and State statutes by admitting qualified American
Indian students on the same basis as other students and our
practice of admitting students without respect to their State
of residence follows directly from the past and is vitally
important to the future.
Education matters, and it is a critical part of the
American dream. The education we provide to native students on
our campus is unparalleled in our region and has benefits that
extend well beyond our State and local borders. The 6-year
graduation rate for American Indian students at the University
of Minnesota Morris is 61 percent, compared to 39 percent
statewide. These graduates go on to serve in their communities,
native communities, and communities in general as educators,
healthcare professionals, public servants, lawyers, and
business leaders. We know that achieving a bachelor's degree
has a dramatic impact not only on unemployment, but also on
annual earnings.
That American Indian families trust their sons and
daughters to be educated on the land and in the buildings where
not that long ago a concerted effort was made to obliterate
their culture and language is a matter of great significance to
us. And it is a matter of great pride for the University of
Minnesota Morris that we are able to move these young people
along the path of education and success.
The American Indian tuition waiver and its application to
all native students, regardless of their State of residence,
represents an effort from the past to redress wrongs done by
the Federal Government and the American people to members of
our sovereign Indian nations. The Native American Education Act
of 2012 acknowledges that the burden of these wrongs should not
only be borne by Colorado and Minnesota. It provides an
opportunity for the Federal Government to participate in this
important educational endeavor and to join with us in fostering
the success of the population in this country that lives with
the greatest educational and economic disparity.
Thank you very much again for this opportunity, and I look
forward to answering your questions.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Johnson follows:]
Prepared Statement of Jacqueline R. Johnson, Ph.D.
Summary
The campus of the University of Minnesota, Morris (UMM) sits on
land that was once home to people of the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) and the
Dakota and Lakota (Sioux) nations. Before UMM opened its doors as a
selective public liberal arts college in 1960, two other schools made
their home on these lands: the West Central School of Agriculture
(1910-63), and an American Indian boarding school (1887-1909).
When the U.S. Bureau of the Interior turned over the building and
lands of the Indian boarding school to the State of Minnesota to
establish the agricultural boarding high school, it was with the
stipulation that American Indian students would be admitted on the same
conditions as other students and tuition free. When the Minnesota State
Legislature established the Morris campus of the University of
Minnesota in 1959, this same stipulation remained. These actions are
legally recorded in Federal and State laws.
The legal and moral legacy reflected in Morris's campus history
shapes our institutional mission today. The University of Minnesota,
Morris is tied inextricably to the land, to the previous educational
institutions that have resided here, and to all the peoples who have
called this place their home.
Since its founding in 1960, Morris has waived more than $20M in
tuition for American Indian students, with $6M supporting out-of-state
students, most of them from the Dakotas and Wisconsin. The number of
American Indian students attending Morris has increased dramatically in
the past 5 years.
Today, Native students comprise 15 percent of the student body on
this campus of 1,800. Twenty-five percent of these students are from
out-of-state. Morris is the most racially and ethnically diverse campus
of the University of Minnesota, (more than 22 percent students of
color). Selective in its admissions standards, Morris serves a high
proportion of first-generation college students from families of
significant financial need. In 2011, 40 percent of Morris's American
Indian students were ``low income''; 45 percent were first-generation
college students. There are many measures of success in the education
of Native students at Morris, including a 6-year graduation rate for
American Indian students of 61 percent, compared to 39 percent for
Native students statewide. (2010 cohort data)
In Minnesota, the legislature provides a direct general allocation
to the University of Minnesota. The University of Minnesota system, in
turn, distributes this allocation among its five separate campuses. In
recent years, the University of Minnesota system has allocated directly
to Morris a portion of the unrealized revenue that results from this
waiver. In fiscal year 2012, e.g., the University of Minnesota's
central allocation to Morris to support the waiver was $1.65M,
approximately 65 percent of the total tuition waived. Over one-third of
the waiver, approximately $900,000, was unfunded and absorbed by the
University of Minnesota, Morris. This year, fiscal year 2013, we
anticipate that $750,000 of the waiver will be attributed to out-of-
state students.
The American Indian tuition waiver represents an effort from the
past to redress wrongs done by the Federal Government and the American
people to members of our sovereign Indian nations. That American Indian
families trust their sons and daughters to be educated on the land and
in the buildings where not that long ago a concerted effort was made to
obliterate their culture and language is a matter of great significance
to us. And it is a matter of great pride for the University of
Minnesota, Morris that we are able to move these young people along the
path of educational success. Senate bill 3504 distributes the cost of
this endeavor more reasonably between the Federal Government and the
States and provides an opportunity for the Federal Government to join
with us to foster the success of the population in this country that
lives with the greatest educational and economic disparity.
______
in the beginning
The campus of the University of Minnesota, Morris (UMM) sits on
land that was once home to people of the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) and the
Dakota and Lakota (Sioux) nations. Before the era of westward
expansion, this land provided support and sustenance to the members of
these Indian tribes.
In 1887, in what they saw as a well-intended effort to bring their
religious beliefs and their teachings to others, members of the
Catholic order of Sisters of Mercy established an American Indian
Boarding School on these former Anishinaabe and Dakota/Lakota lands,
which had, in 1847, become the State of Minnesota. The school removed
young Indian children from their families and villages across this
region and brought them to Morris to study and learn non-native ways
and ``industrial trades''. The Sisters of Mercy ran the school until
1896, when they turned it over to the U.S. Federal Government's Bureau
of Indian Affairs. The Bureau renamed the school the Morris Industrial
School for American Indians and continued to run it for 10 more years.
In 1909, through Federal legislation and a Minnesota State statute,
(in Laws 1909, chapter 184), the land, some 290 acres, and buildings
were deeded to the State of Minnesota for the purpose of establishing
an agricultural boarding high school under the auspices of the
University of Minnesota.
From an ``Act of Congress, March 3, 1909, the Sixtieth Congress,
Session II: Chapter 268'':
Minnesota Morris School: That there is hereby granted to the
State of Minnesota, upon the terms and conditions hereafter
named the following described property, known as the Indian
school at Morris Minnesota . . . Aggregating two hundred and
ninety acres, with buildings, improvements, and other
appurtenances thereon. Provided, That said lands and buildings
shall be held and maintained by the State of Minnesota as an
agricultural school, and that Indian pupils shall at all times
be admitted to such school free of charge for tuition and on
terms of equality with white pupils.
The Governor of the State of Minnesota in 1909--the honorable John
Johnson--expressed concern at the legislative acceptance of this offer
from the Federal Government over what he perceived to be (in more
contemporary language) ``an unfunded mandate'' about to be assumed by
the State of Minnesota. In a letter to the Acting Commissioner of the
Department of the Interior, he expressed his doubts:
I find that under the act of congress authorizing the
transfer of this property to the State, and under chapter 184
of the Laws of 1909 adopted by the last legislature, it is
contemplated that the State should take possession of this
property on the first of July, 1909, but I find that the
legislature has made no appropriation for the care and
maintenance of the school . . . (University of Minnesota,
Morris Archives)
The transfer happened in spite of his concerns.
For more than 60 years, the West Central School of Agriculture
provided secondary school opportunities from October through April--
literally after harvest and before planting--for the sons and daughters
of area farmers. Although our records are not perfect, it appears that
only a handful of American Indian students were able to take advantage
of this tuition-free educational experience during the agricultural
high school era. In a sense, this was a rural version of an
``exclusive'' boarding school experience, but in this case with modest
tuition costs and expansive educational opportunities.
Just as the American Indian Boarding School movement began to wane
in the early 1900s, so too the fate of the agricultural boarding school
movement--it had run its course by the late 1950s. Community leaders in
the small farming town of Morris, MN began, then, to lobby State
legislators for what they imagined could be an exceptional and somewhat
unusual educational opportunity for the children of residents of this
region--a public liberal arts college, fashioned after the elite
private liberal arts schools that were and are such an important part
of the upper Midwest and the eastern coast of the United States. The
citizens prevailed, and the University of Minnesota, Morris was
established as a 4-year public liberal arts college of the University
of Minnesota in 1959.
The original Minnesota State statute of 1909 was revised
accordingly (1961), affirming the original directive regarding American
Indian students. From ``Minnesota state statutes: Chapter 137 (a
statute which updates Minnesota Statute 184 of 1909)'':
``State Chapter 137. Section 137.16 MORRIS BRANCH; ADMISSION
OF INDIANS. Subdivision 1. The University of Minnesota, Morris
branch, situated in whole or in part on the lands described in
laws 1909, chapter 184, shall admit Indian pupils qualified for
admission at all times free of charge for tuition and on terms
of equality with white pupils.'' (Subdivision 2 of this statute
provides that subdivision 1 is a substitute for the provisions
of Laws 1909 chapter 184.)
I include this brief historic account in my written testimony
because the legal and moral legacy reflected in our history shapes our
institutional mission today. The University of Minnesota, Morris is
tied inextricably to the land and to all the peoples who have called it
home. The educational institutions which have resided here are just as
inextricably tied to greater social movements and initiatives in this
country--from the American Indian boarding school movement to the
agricultural boarding high school movement to the expansion of American
higher education which occurred in the 1960s. This expansion promised
to prepare a workforce for a growing American economy and it promised
to open public educational opportunities to a broader array of people--
those less privileged, those underrepresented in American higher
education.
As the most racially and ethnically diverse campus of the
University of Minnesota, (more than 22 percent are students of color in
a State that is not very racially diverse), as a campus with selective
admissions standards that serves a high proportion of first generation
college students (nearly 40 percent in this year's entering class), and
as a campus that serves many students whose families exhibit
significant financial need (33 percent are Pell grant recipients; 96
percent receive financial aid), we are fulfilling that obligation and
that promise. In 2011, 40 percent of Morris's American Indian students
were ``low-income''; 45 percent were first-generation college students.
This is our legacy. We honor it. We are proud of it.
why does this matter?
American Indians represent about 1 percent of baccalaureate
college-attending students nationally and in the State of Minnesota. At
Morris, on our residential, undergraduate-focused liberal arts campus
of 1,800 students, more than 275 American Indian students comprise over
15 percent of the student body. This significant Native student
population makes Morris 1 of some 40 schools in the country eligible
for designation by the Federal Government as a Native American Serving
Non-Tribal Institution (NASNTI).
American Indians, who are underrepresented nationally in all fields
of study, find greater success at UMM than at other universities: 61
percent of UMM's Native students graduate in 6 years compared with 39
percent statewide. (2010 cohort data) National, State and regional
priorities call on us to increase undergraduate participation in
science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields,
particularly of students from underrepresented groups. The University
of Minnesota, Morris is responding to this challenge in a number of
ways.
This spring, UMM was awarded a Howard Hughes Medical Institute
grant that includes provisions to support American Indian students in
undergraduate summer research. Morris hosts an NSF-funded ``WindStep''
program that provides a summer immersion experience for middle- and
high-school students from reservations in the State and region. These
students live on campus and conduct real research in renewable energy
both on the campus and on Indian reservations. Morris is a participant
in another NSF-funded program--the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority
Participation in STEM fields (LSAMP). This program provides support for
students of color, including American Indian students, to engage in
undergraduate research in STEM disciplines. The campus has a strong and
active chapter of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society
(AISES) and will host the regional AISES meeting this spring. And the
AISES publication, Winds of Change, named Morris as one of the top 200
educational institutions in the country for its support of American
Indian students in 2011 and again this year.
We are also working on language revitalization on this campus, with
courses in the Anishinaabe language offered as part of our regular
curriculum and occasional courses offered in the Dakota/Lakota
languages--one-half of Morris Native students are Anishinaabe and
nearly a quarter are Dakota/Lakota. UMM has submitted a grant
application to the State to provide additional funding to prepare K-12
teachers to teach these Native languages. We are working with our
tribal community college partners in the region to facilitate the
transfer of American Indian students who have completed associates
degrees there to our baccalaureate granting school.
The tuition waiver is a major factor in promoting the attendance
and success of American Indian students on this campus. These students
benefit from the many programs we have established. Eighty-six percent
of American Indian students who are offered admission end up enrolling
compared to 38 percent of students overall. As the cost of tuition
increases, so, obviously, does the value of the waiver.
This campus has demonstrated its unique and exceptional ability to
promote educational experiences and opportunities for American Indian
students, thus fulfilling both its legal and moral obligations. But, as
Governor John Johnson recognized more than 100 years ago, there are
significant challenges that come with a mandate whose funding has not
been carefully thought through. With the passage of Senate bill 3504
and its companion bill in the House, the Federal Government has an
opportunity to support our success by funding its fair share of the
costs of the tuition waiver--that is the portion associated with out-
of-State students.
what is the financial impact of the waiver on the state of minnesota,
the university of minnesota and the university of minnesota, morris?
The number of Native students has increased steadily at Morris
since the University's founding in 1960, and it has grown exponentially
over the course of the past 5 years.
We estimate that since the Morris campus opened as a public liberal
arts college in 1960, we have waived over $20 million in tuition for
American Indian students. The value of the tuition waived for out-of-
State students in that same time period is estimated at over $6
million. (There is no in-state/out-of-state tuition differential for
University of Minnesota, Morris students. Tuition for the 2012-13
academic year for all full-time students is just under $12,000.)
In 2010 and 2011, 25 percent of Morris's American Indian students
receiving tuition waivers were from out-of-state. Fifty federally
recognized American Indian tribes and Alaskan Native villages are
represented on this campus, and most of our non-resident Native
students are from States surrounding Minnesota--North Dakota, South
Dakota, and Wisconsin. We anticipate that in addition to the $20M
already waived since 1960, we will waive an additional $3 million of
tuition in the current fiscal year alone, with nearly $750,000
attributable to out-of-state students (25 percent).
why we ask for support for senate bill 3504
The logic in Senate bill 3504 is sound. In running the American
Indian Boarding School the U.S. Federal Government's Bureau of the
Interior did not restrict enrollment only to those students who were
from within the State of Minnesota. It drew students from across this
region, just as we do now. In relegating American Indian people to
reservations, the U.S. Federal Government did not restrict its actions
to one or two tribes. It was inclusive in its disruption of the lives
of Native people across the Nation. Thus, our obligation to honor the
Federal and State statutes by admitting qualified American Indian
students on the same basis as other students and our practice of
admitting students without respect to their State of residence follows
directly from the past.
And yet, in Colorado and in Minnesota, the cost associated with
this mandated financial requirement is now borne entirely by the two
States themselves. In Minnesota, the State legislature provides a
direct general allocation to the University of Minnesota. The
University of Minnesota system, in turn, distributes this allocation
among its five separate campuses. In recent years, the University of
Minnesota system has allocated directly to Morris a portion of the
unrealized revenue that results from this waiver.
For example, in fiscal year 2012, (academic year 2011-12) the
University of Minnesota's central allocation to Morris to support the
tuition waived for American Indian students was $1.65M, approximately
65 percent of the total tuition waived. Over one-third of the waiver,
approximately $900,000, was unfunded and absorbed by the University of
Minnesota, Morris. Our campus is one of modest financial resources and
this growing revenue gap is a significant concern for us. We are
certified by the U.S. Department of Education as eligible for title
III, IV and V grant funding, with our average educational and general
expenditures per full-time student falling below the 4-year public
college average (title III 2011 application, 2009-10 data).
If modest growth in our American Indian student population
continues over the course of this decade (2010-19), we anticipate that
the total tuition waived in this decade will be more than $30 million.
If the Federal Government were to assume a fair share of this mandate
by funding the waiver for out-of-state students--as Senate bill 3504
suggests that it should--Morris would gain modest revenues of around
$750,000 annually.
education matters
U.S. Census Bureau data (in a 2004 report) show that American
workers 18 years and older with a bachelor's degree earn on average
$51,000/year, compared to an annual income of $28,000 for workers with
a high school diploma. Education matters and it remains a critical part
of the American dream. In the United States, 28 percent of adults
nationwide have earned bachelor's degrees compared to 13 percent of
American Indian adults; in Minnesota, 32 percent of adults have earned
bachelor's degrees compared to 12 percent of American Indian adults.
The American Indian tuition waiver represents an effort from the
past to redress wrongs done by the Federal Government and the American
people to members of our sovereign Indian nations. The waiver has been
instrumental in promoting the success of many students over the course
of the 50 years of UMM's existence. Paulette Fairbanks Molin, White
Earth Band of Ojibwe, is UMM's first American Indian student graduate
(UMM 1966). In 1995, she was a recipient of our Distinguished Alumni
award. In receiving this award, she recounted her experience in coming
to this campus.
As an honors student in high school, she noted that she was
discouraged by a high school counselor who believed she was better
suited for marriage or attendance at an Indian trade school in Kansas
than she was for a college degree. Nevertheless, she persevered and
enrolled. She recalled her mother shivering when they arrived on
campus, saying it reminded her of an Indian Boarding School. Her mother
would know, having herself attended the boarding school at Pipestone,
MN.
Paulette went on to earn a doctorate at the University of
Minnesota, Twin Cities and then became a higher education
administrator, serving as assistant dean of the graduate college and
director of the American Indian Educational Opportunity Program at
Hampton University in Virginia.
At the end of the tribute that marks her acceptance of the
distinguished alumni award, Dr. Molin says,
``UMM exposed me to new ideas and fostered my love of reading
and learning while providing me with a home away from home. UMM
also introduced me to new possibilities, possibilities that
could transform lives, families, communities, and, indeed, the
world. I was destined to remain on campus for 4 years,
confounding expectations and beating the odds to graduate.
Finally, there is this. UMM was pretty young, but built upon an
American Indian foundation, a perfect match for a 17-year old
with the same profile.''
The wrongs of the past and this contemporary effort to address them
weave their way into the future in a most positive way. That American
Indian families trust their sons and daughters to be educated on the
land and in the buildings where not that long ago a concerted effort
was made to obliterate their culture and language is a matter of great
significance to us. And it is a matter of great pride for the
University of Minnesota Morris that we are able to move these young
people along the path of educational success. Senate bill 3504
distributes the cost of this endeavor more reasonably between the
Federal Government and the States and provides an opportunity for the
Federal Government to join with us to foster the success of the
population in this country that lives with the greatest educational and
economic disparity.
Senator Bennet. Thank you, Dr. Johnson.
Mr. Echohawk, thank you for being here.
STATEMENT OF JOHN E. ECHOHAWK, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NATIVE
AMERICAN RIGHTS FUND, BOULDER, CO
Mr. Echohawk. Thanks for the invitation, Senator.
Over 40 years ago, I was a young lawyer starting out with
the Native American Rights Fund headquartered in Boulder. We're
set up to be the national Indian legal defense fund
representing tribes and native organizations and individuals
across the country in important issues. And, of course,
educational rights are among those issues.
Even though we are a national organization with cases
across the country, one of the first cases that we got involved
in was this controversy over the tuition waivers at Fort Lewis
in the early 1970s. As a young lawyer, I was down here at the
State Capitol, watching the proceedings as the State
Legislature moved to try to limit the tuition waivers to
Colorado resident Indian students. Of course, that was not
supported by the native community.
That basically then led to litigation, which the Native
American Rights Fund helped with as Of Counsel. We were able to
get the Federal Government to bring litigation to enforce the
right to tuition waivers for all Indian students regardless of
residency. We also assisted a private attorney in bringing a
lawsuit on behalf of the Indian students themselves to enforce
the State of Colorado's obligation to provide tuition waivers
to all Indian students as well.
The case proceeded up to the 10th Circuit, and they ruled
in 1973, affirming a lower court decision that, indeed, the
State of Colorado, under the 1910 Federal law, was obligated to
provide tuition waivers to all Indian students regardless of
residency, and that the 1910 law and the 1911 act by the State
Legislature here created a contract between the Federal
Government and the State of Colorado to provide that tuition-
free education to all Indian students. And, for the record, I
included a copy of that 1973 decision.
So the State of Colorado complied with the law and started
continuing to provide the tuition waivers. But, of course, over
the years, as we've all talked about here today, the number of
native students at Fort Lewis--since it's such a great
institution and Native Americans are in such need of
educational assistance, the number of students has grown, and
the cost to the State of Colorado has grown significantly as
well.
I am here to support the passage of S. 3504 because I think
it's important to keep the tuition waivers going. If the State
of Colorado is having difficulty doing that, as the Lieutenant
Governor has talked about, then I think it's appropriate for
the Federal Government under the Federal trust responsibility
to come forward and assist the State of Colorado in providing
those tuition waivers for all Indian students at Fort Lewis
College. And I am very hopeful that the Congress will see fit
to pass this legislation.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Echohawk follows:]
Prepared Statement of John E. Echohawk
summary
I was involved as a lawyer with the Native American Rights Fund in
successful litigation in the early 1970s on behalf of Indian students
at Fort Lewis College that forced the college to comply with Federal
law that required the college to admit all qualified Indians to the
college free of tuition. Fort Lewis School had been a Federal property
that admitted Indians tuition free and when the property was
transferred to the State of Colorado in 1910 a condition was attached
that required that Indians continue to be admitted to the school
tuition free. Tuition waivers for all Indian students, whether Colorado
residents or non-residents, are required by law.
As the number of Indian students at the College has grown over the
years, the cost of the Indian tuition waivers has grown. S. 3504 would
provide Federal financial assistance to the State of Colorado and Fort
Lewis College to help cover the costs of the Indian tuition waivers.
The Native American Rights Fund supports S. 3504 so that tuition fee
education for qualified Indian students can continue.
______
Mr. Chairman, thank you for the invitation to testify today on S.
3504, the Native American Education Act of 2012. I am John Echohawk, a
citizen of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, and executive director of the
Native American Rights Fund headquartered in Boulder, CO. We have
served as the national Indian legal defense fund since we were founded
in 1970 and have been providing legal advice and representation to
Native American tribes, organizations and individuals on nationally
significant Indian issues for the past 42 years.
Among the priority issues that we have always addressed is
educational rights for Native Americans
As a young lawyer with the Native American Rights Fund in the early
1970s, I became involved with the controversy over Indian tuition
waivers at Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO. At that time, the State
of Colorado and Fort Lewis College were trying to limit the waiver of
tuition for Indian students to Indian students who were Colorado
residents. Prior to that time, tuition had always been waived for all
Indian students pursuant to the 1910 Federal law that transferred
Federal property near Durango containing Fort Lewis School which served
Indian students over to the State of Colorado. The land grant was
accepted by the State of Colorado and contained a condition that the
land be used for a school and Indians be admitted to the school free of
charge for tuition.
Litigation ensued brought by the Federal Government and Indian
students at Fort Lewis to stop the State of Colorado and Fort Lewis
College from limiting Indian tuition waivers. The Native American
Rights Fund participated in the case in an AOf Counsel@ role. In 1973,
the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a Federal district court
decision in favor of the Federal Government and the Indian students
(Tahdooahnippah v. Thimmig, 481 F.2d 438). A copy of that decision is
attached to my testimony for inclusion in the record.
The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a contract existed
which required the State of Colorado and Fort Lewis College to admit
all Indian students tuition free who were otherwise qualified. Over the
years, the number of Indian students attending Fort Lewis has increased
so the cost of the tuition waivers for the State of Colorado and Fort
Lewis College has increased as well. If passed, S. 3504, the Native
American Education Act of 2012, would provide Federal financial
assistance to the State of Colorado and Fort Lewis College in meeting
the costs of tuition waivers for Indian students.
The Native American Rights Fund supports the passage of S. 3504 to
authorize Federal funding to assist the State of Colorado and Fort
Lewis College to meet its obligations to Indian students. The Federal
Government has a trust responsibility to assist Indian students to
obtain higher education. Indians are among the poorest and least
educated people in the United States so the need is great. Fort Lewis
College has become a great educational resource for Indian students and
the United States should assist the State of Colorado to maintain that
valuable educational resource for Indians.
attachment
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Senator Bennet. Thank you. Thank you for being here.
Mr. Tsabetsaye, we'd love to hear your testimony.
STATEMENT OF BYRON TSABETSAYE, STUDENT BODY PRESIDENT, FORT
LEWIS COLLEGE, DURANGO, CO
Mr. Tsabetsaye. Thank you, Senator. Good morning,
Mr. Chairman and members of the Senate Committee on Health,
Education, Labor, and Pensions. My name is Byron Tsabetsaye. I
am the president of the Associated Students of Fort Lewis
College.
When I was a very young boy just beginning to truly grasp
the concept of education, I sat at the kitchen table with my
father before a piece of paper. The piece of paper contained a
lesson of counting money, particularly with coins. I was posed
with the task of combining coins so they matched given odd
amounts.
Though counting change was the lesson, my imagination
grasped a far different lesson. I presented to my father the
solution to one of the exercises only to witness the
disappointment on his face. Rather than using the traditional
coins, pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters, I decided to make
my own coins by creating one with the value of 2 cents. Though
I didn't see it then, it was my first exposure to my dreams and
reality.
Last November, I had the opportunity to speak at an event
called ``Toast to Leadership'' at Fort Lewis College. The event
was created by students to give students a chance to improve on
their public speaking skills via experience and evaluation. I
was asked to speak at the event on my topic of choice. The
topic I chose to speak about was education, specifically my
understanding of education.
I grew up in the capital of the Navajo Reservation, a
nation inside a nation where people strive to live in
widespread poverty and little opportunities. It's not easy to
believe that in the year 2012 there are people that live in our
country with no electricity and running water. It's not
comfortable to know that children have the capacity to dream
big but dream with limits due to lack of opportunity and
exposure. It's unsettling to witness such great potential
dwindle in high school graduates that don't have the resources
to obtain a college education, even after surpassing the level
of their parents' education.
I find comfort in knowing that at Fort Lewis College, there
is a huge opportunity for Native Americans to achieve a college
education. I have no doubt that all Native American students at
Fort Lewis College hold their education with a very high value
if not priceless. I have great respect for those individuals
who fought their limiting beliefs and saw the feasibility of
achieving a college education.
My friend, Jessica Stewart, a Navajo student who served as
the president of Beta Alpha Psi, an international honors
organization for accounting and business majors, created
opportunities for all students on campus, organizing trips to
businesses and accounting firms. Jessica connected students
with achieving their career goals. She also served as a student
senator and made substantial progress holistically at Fort
Lewis College.
I shared joy with Jessica as she achieved her dream of
obtaining a job from one of the top accounting firms in the
world. Jessica is just one of many Native American students at
Fort Lewis College that is truly making a positive difference
for students on campus.
When choosing Fort Lewis College, I saw a window of
opportunity. It was a window that opened more windows for me in
the realm of higher education. My involvement and participation
on campus has been dense. I am incredibly grateful for my
college education at Fort Lewis College, and I am inspired to
give back to the college and community.
I served as the vice president of our college's chapter of
the National Society of Leadership and Success. I created and
facilitated success networking teams on campus that allowed
students to convene and share their goals. It was an
opportunity for students to help one another reach their goals.
I give back to our admissions department as a student
Ambassador. I welcome and help new students lay a foundation
for their college years at Fort Lewis College as a new student
orientation leader.
In a recent jog in the park, I saw a very young boy
climbing up a pillar made of uneven rocks, and he was nearly at
the top. The adult of the boy sat on a bench close to him
unwary, as she didn't provide any resistance to his ambition.
The boy, also unwary, used the pillar as a climbing wall
because he saw a challenge without limits.
I will soon begin my senior year at Fort Lewis College.
I've never been more eager to begin an academic year. I have
been envisioning all my possibilities since I was elected
student body president. I stand in confidence not only
representing the 138 tribes of Native Americans at my college,
but all students of Fort Lewis College.
Though I now know there is a difference in dreams and
reality, I am not afraid to dream unrealistically. Without the
Native American tuition waiver, many possibilities and dreams
will be ceased.
Thank you for your time, Mr. Chairman and committee
members, and for the opportunity to appear before you today in
support of Senate bill 3504 and Senate bill 484. I stand ready
to answer any questions that you may have for me.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Tsabetsaye follows:]
Prepared Statement of Byron Tsabetsaye
summary
native american education
An education is unique to any individual considering the
characteristics, privilege, and demographics of the individual. My
testimony shines the light on the education of Native Americans,
particularly in higher education. There is an unfortunate reality for
Native Americans because they lack the resources and understating of
higher education. My self-realization of school being mandatory in my
K-12 years and a privilege/possibility in college has prompted me to
think substantially of the importance of Native American Education.
I found it hard for us as Native Americans to overcome the limiting
beliefs that came face to face with us throughout our upbringing. Many
young children live in rural places on the Navajo Reservation; far from
schools and the little resources our communities had. Unfortunately,
some of us get stuck believing that a college education is not an
option. I can understand why the agreement was made at Fort Lewis
College for Native Americans to receive an opportunity at education at
no cost.
At Fort Lewis College, Native Americans see a possibility in
challenging their limiting beliefs. My testimony contains an underlying
theme: dream vs. reality. When given the resources and opportunities,
one's possibilities become infinite. I have overcome my limiting
beliefs and my success has proven to make considerable positive changes
in the realm of higher education at Fort Lewis College. I am one of
many successful Native American Students at Fort Lewis College. We need
Fort Lewis College and the college needs us.
______
Good Morning Mr. Chairman and members of the Senate Committee on
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, my name is Bryon Tsabetsaye and
I am the president of the Associated Students at Fort Lewis College.
When I was a very young boy just beginning to truly grasp the
concept of education, I sat at the kitchen table with my father before
a piece of paper. The piece of paper contained the lesson of counting
money, particularly with coins. I was posed with the task of combining
coins so they matched given odd amounts. Though counting change was the
lesson, my imagination grasped a far different lesson. I presented to
my father, the solution to one of the exercises only to witness the
disappointment on his face. Rather than using the traditional coins:
pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters, I decided to make my own coins by
creating one with the value of two cents. Though I didn't see it then,
it was my first exposure to my dreams and reality.
Last November, I had the opportunity to speak at an event called
``Toast to Leadership'' at Fort Lewis College. The event was created by
students to give students a chance to improve on their public speaking
skills via experience and evaluation. I was asked to speak at the event
on my topic of choice. The topic I chose to speak about was education,
specifically my understanding of education.
I grew up in the capital of the Navajo Reservation, a nation inside
a nation where people strive to live in widespread poverty and little
opportunities. It's not easy to believe that in the year 2012 there are
people that live in our country with no electricity and running water.
It's not comfortable to know that children have the capacity to dream
big but dream with limits due to lack of opportunity and exposure. It's
unsettling to witness such great potential dwindle in high school
graduates that don't have the resources to obtain a college education,
even after surpassing the level of their parent's education.
I find comfort in knowing that at Fort Lewis College, there is a
huge opportunity for Native Americans to achieve a college education. I
have no doubt that all Native American students at Fort Lewis College
hold their education with a very high value if not priceless. I have
great respect for those individuals who fought their limiting beliefs
and saw the feasibility of achieving a college education.
My friend, Jessica Stewart, a Navajo student who served as the
president of Beta Alpha Psi, an international honors organization for
accounting and business majors. Jessica created opportunities for all
students on campus organizing trips to businesses and accounting firms.
Jessica connected students with achieving their career goals. Jessica
also served as a student senator and made a substantial progress
holistically at Fort Lewis College. I shared joy with Jessica as she
achieved her dream of obtaining a job from one of the top accounting
firms in the world. Jessica is just one of many Native American
students at Fort Lewis College that is truly making a positive
difference for students on campus.
When choosing Fort Lewis College, I saw a window of opportunity. It
was a window that opened more windows for me in the realm of higher
education. My involvement and participation on campus has been dense. I
am incredibly grateful for my college education at Fort Lewis College
that I am inspired to give back to the college and community. I served
as the vice president of our college's chapter of the National Society
of Leadership and Success. I created and facilitated successful
networking teams on campus that allowed students to convene and share
their goals. It was an opportunity for students to help one another
reach their goals. I give back to our admissions department as a
student Ambassador. I welcome and help new students lay a foundation
for their college years at Fort Lewis College as new student
orientation leader.
In a recent jog in the park, I saw a very young boy climbing up a
pillar made of uneven rocks and he was nearly at the top. The adult of
the boy sat on a bench close to him unwary as she didn't provide any
resistance to his ambition. The boy, also unwary, used the pillar as a
climbing wall because he saw a challenge without limits.
I will soon begin my senior year at Fort Lewis College. I've never
been more eager to begin an academic year. I have been envisioning all
my possibilities since I was elected student body president. I stand in
confidence not only representing the 138 tribes of Native Americans at
my college, but all students of Fort Lewis College. Though I now know
there is a difference in dreams and reality, I'm not afraid to dream
unrealistically. Without the Native American Tuition Waiver, many
possibilities and dreams will be ceased.
Thank you for your time Mr. Chairman and committee members for the
opportunity to appear before you today in support of S. 3504 and S.
484: I stand ready to answer any questions that you may have for me.
Senator Bennet. Thank you. Thank you very much for your
testimony.
I'll just start here and come across.
Dr. Thomas, could you say a little bit about how the
tuition waiver program has provided benefits to the entire
country, particularly with respect to STEM education?
Ms. Thomas. I would be happy to. Fort Lewis College is No.
1 in STEM degrees awarded to Native American students. We have
about $8 million in Federal grants right now. We are doing the
best we can to pull ourselves up by our own boot straps. We
have a National Institute of Health grant for $2 million over 5
years called MARC--Minority Access to Research Careers. And
these are to assist our graduates to go on for health-related
Ph.D.s.
We are identifying talented students and supporting and
training them for the next step after their bachelor's degree.
We have a National Science Foundation STEM talent expansion
program, which is $800,000 over 5 years, to help with science
classes, tutoring, and research projects, and it's in
partnership with San Juan College, moving students from their
2-year degree to us for their transfer to a bachelor's degree.
We have a Department of Education Title III Native
American-Serving Non-Tribal Institution award of $2 million,
which provides equipment, facilities, and curricular support
for Native American students. We have another Department of
Education title III grant for math foundations and STEM
success. That's another $2 million. And we've created a great
deal of help there for math instructors, for changes in course
materials. We have an Algebra alcove, so we're really working
on the math fundamentals and calculus moving through. We have
two Department of Education Student Support Services TRiO
grants of $2 million.
In addition to these programs, we have a very active and
well-supported Native American Center with five people who help
with enrichment advertising. We have academic counseling and
math and science support there as well. So we have a strong
infrastructure to help our students move not just through the
bachelor's, but on into graduate degrees.
I would comment, when you asked about the Nation, that we
have a partnership with the Navajo nation to bring Fort Lewis
College teacher education to the reservation. The positive
impact of that partnership has been remarkable. In 1990, only 8
percent of certified teachers on the Navajo reservation were
actually Navajo. As a result, instruction struggled as non-
Navajo teachers lacked the cultural understanding to be
effective with Navajo students. These struggles led to teacher
retention problems for reservation schools and a further
decrease in educational quality due to the high turnover rate
of teachers.
Now, due in large part to the teacher education partnership
with Fort Lewis College, over 60 percent of the teachers on the
Navajo reservation are Navajo. Test scores are up at
reservation schools, and they're showing improved adequate
yearly progress.
In addition, I would cite anecdotal evidence of many of our
Native American alums who are doing great things. Quanah
Spencer is a Seattle area attorney. Marsha Greyeyes-Appel owns
her own business in Maryland. Melissa Henry is a filmmaker and
business owner in New Mexico. And, of course, you just heard
from Bill Mendoza, part of President Obama's diversity
initiative.
Senator Bennet. In the context of all of that, maybe you
could elaborate a little bit on the particular responsibilities
from your point of view to this Nation that come with being a
Non-Tribal Native American-Serving College.
Ms. Thomas. The responsibilities are, of course,
contractual with the State of Colorado. In addition to that, we
go back to the fact that our country has done much more to help
African-Americans and Hispanics than they have done to help
Native Americans with higher education.
While we come with a rather peculiar route from a 100-year-
old contract that no one could have foreseen to turn into this,
both the University of Minnesota Morris and Fort Lewis College
have ended up as magnets, as centers, who welcome their charge,
their mission, for Native American education and who also are
the baccalaureate institutions for the 2-year tribal colleges,
encouraging students to go on and seek the 4-year degree. So we
become, in effect, a type of historically native institution,
with responsibilities far beyond that of the respective States
of Minnesota and Colorado.
Senator Bennet. Dr. Johnson, do you have anything you'd
like to add?
Ms. Johnson. Just more of the same. I was thinking,
President Thomas, as you were speaking about the particular
mission of our institutions along with the 30 in the country
that were public liberal arts colleges, our campus is much more
like the private liberal arts schools that are really important
in the Midwest and especially on the East Coast.
We offer that kind of education that was once reserved for
privileged, was once reserved for elites, and we offer that
same quality of education in a residential-focused
undergraduate experience. We are able to serve and proud to
serve native students in that kind of special education
environment, I think, is an extraordinary mission, and it's an
honor to be part of an organization like that.
Like the students at Fort Lewis College, we want our
students, when they graduate, to stay in Morris. We're a small
town, and so there aren't a lot of opportunities. We'd love it
if they would stay in the State of Minnesota. But the truth is
that our students are going around the country, and they're
serving, and they're contributing to the essential qualities of
democratic society in the kind of education that we provide.
That includes civic engagement and service and a sense of
citizenship.
That's the particular mission of public liberal arts
colleges. And that we're able to serve a large percentage of
students who represent under-represented groups is a really
special thing. I would just add that piece.
Senator Bennet. President Thomas, could you talk a little
bit about what you're doing to improve graduation rates for
Native American students at Fort Lewis?
Ms. Thomas. I would be happy to. Many of our students have
the bumpy road that Bill Mendoza talked about. We have worked
very hard in the last 10 years to increase our retention rates,
and they have gone in that period from 37 percent to 54
percent. Our graduation rates spread out further, and in 6
years, we're at 23 percent, at 10 years, we're 28. Our Native
American students very often take longer. They will come in and
out, or they will simply not take as large a load. Sometimes it
takes longer to choose a major. And we are working very hard
with the complete college----
Senator Bennet. I'm sorry. Is that for economic reasons?
Ms. Thomas. Often it is for economic reasons. Even with the
waiver, they still have room and board and fees to pay--and
with the need for Pell grants and to take loans. They sometimes
drop out and work, or they will go home, and then they will
come back. So we see a lot more of the bumpy roads.
We're working really hard, and the whole initiative of
Complete College America and, particularly, Complete College
Colorado, for the Finish in Four--and we're working very hard
to help students explore, but explore more quickly and try to
move through to their degree a little faster than they have
done. We would love it if it was quite a lot faster. So the
whole Complete College Colorado movement has really given us
the inspiration to focus on that and push for that.
Senator Bennet. Chancellor, could you talk about--if we
were able to get this passed, and the Federal Government were
able to help with the responsibility here that we all want to
fulfill--how that might improve the quality of your program or
help you improve the quality of your program for Native
American students, in particular?
Ms. Johnson. Thank you. I appreciate the question, and I
want to come back just for a minute and revisit the difference
in how the funding formulas work in our two States, because I
think it's important for the record to note that we forego just
under $1 million a year now in tuition revenue that is not
funded through the University of Minnesota System because of
the way in which the allocation happens, and, again, $750,000
this year coming from out-of-state students.
Like Fort Lewis College, we've been the recipients of a
number of grants that have assisted all of our students, but,
in particular, Native American students. But we need to do
more. We would use the additional funding in particular ways.
Following the lines of an answer to the question that you
just posed, for the Regents of the University of Minnesota, for
the legislators in the State of Minnesota, graduation rates and
retention rates are really, really important. If we're
investing money in education, we want to see the outcomes. We
want to see that students are moving their way through the
system. We would continue to invest in the programs that we
have and to enhance them to speed the graduation and the
quality of the experience for our undergraduate students.
I mentioned in my testimony that our native students have a
61 percent 6-year graduation rate at our university. That's a
product, I think, of our size and some of the selectivity
indicators. But it's also a product of the programs and the
staff that we have to support those students. We support
students through a WindStep program, so it's the step program
that you also mentioned, bringing the middle and high school
students to our campus.
More than 50 percent of our students participate in
undergraduate research--all of our students. We have several
programs that are specifically geared toward American Indian
students participating in undergraduate research. We know that
students who are engaged year-round and students who are
engaged as you are in so many different aspects of campus life
are the students who are most likely to persist.
Principally, our dollars are invested in our undergraduate
students--maybe not as much as we would like sometimes in
faculty and staff salaries, things like that. But we think
that's the most important investment we could make, and that
would be the impacts that we would look to.
Senator Bennet. Actually, while we have you here, and since
you've come all the way from Minnesota, if there are two or
three things that you're doing that you think are particularly
useful that ought to be replicated in other places, for the
record, would you like to tell us what those would be?
Ms. Johnson. I would. I think some of the same things that
President Thomas has talked about--we participate in the
Federal Government's LSAMP program, in the NSF WindStep
program. We are a campus that has really set some standards
across the country in terms of renewable energy and
sustainability, and we're using that as a platform for
undergraduate research.
The WindStep program that serves middle and high school
students actually has those students engaged in doing real
research on the reservation. Last summer, they worked on the
White Earth reservation and scoped out the possibilities of
wind turbines. Our campus is powered by wind. Some days, we're
100 percent off the grid.
I mentioned that we are active in the American Indian
Engineering Society. We are in the process of leveraging our
relationship with the University of Minnesota System this year
to develop a program with the graduate program in nursing on
the Twin Cities campus that will prepare graduate students in
nursing, particularly for rural communities and American Indian
communities. We're using that sense of legacy and mission to
really better the lives, we hope, of people not only on our
campus and in our State, but around the country.
Senator Bennet. Thank you. Finally, if you also could help
us understand how the program at your school is benefiting the
Nation as a whole, I think that helps give context to why we're
having the discussion that we're having here today.
Ms. Johnson. You have heard some differences. As I
mentioned earlier, 25 percent of our students are from out-of-
state. That's been a pretty consistent number. But we also
represent 50 tribes. I just want to reinforce this, that I
think in the original boarding school, students who were served
were not just from Minnesota. In fact, more of our students in
the boarding school were from the Dakotas. We're in western
Minnesota. We're very close to the Dakota boundaries.
I think the legacy and the impact of this American Indian
tuition waiver is intended not just to be limited by State
boundaries, but is really intended to redress some of the
wrongs that were part of this Nation's history. And we are
doing that in really important ways.
Students from Minnesota are in Washington, DC. They're all
across the country--our students who have graduated--in terms
of the work that they're doing. So it's really wrong to think
about this waiver as something that is just limited by State
boundaries, both in terms of the students that we serve and in
terms of where those students go. They are serving this country
in important ways and contributing to the democratic fabric of
this society.
Senator Bennet. That brings me to Mr. Echohawk for some
legal help on this. You are the expert in many ways on this,
and your work is so well-known over many decades. I wanted to
ask whether you thought the bill changes the terms of the
original 1911 agreement between the State and the Federal
Government, or do you feel it simply allows the Federal
Government to pay a portion of the cost of the tuition waiver
program?
Mr. Echohawk. I don't think that it would change the
provisions of the original contract. I think it's just a way
for the Federal Government to come in and assist with the
execution of the obligations by the State of Colorado of those
provisions that are in the contract and pursuant to the Federal
trust responsibility, which I think is what the Federal
Government was doing in 1910 when it had the school, and its
intent to make sure that Indians could be educated there. I
think it would just basically be assisting the State of
Colorado to do that, even though Colorado has the obligation
under the contract to do that as well.
Senator Bennet. Could you, while you're here, say a little
more about what the nature of that trust responsibility is and
what the cases that you've been involved with--how they inform
your understanding of that trust responsibility and how it's
being fulfilled through this contract that we have as the State
of Colorado and will help support if we're able to pass this
legislation at the Federal level?
Mr. Echohawk. Under the U.S. Constitution, the Federal
Government entered into, basically, a government-to-government
relationship with tribal nations. Tribal affairs are the
exclusive province of the Federal Government, and pursuant to
that constitutional provision, many treaties were made, and the
Federal Government has always dealt with tribes on a nation-to-
nation basis. Part of that relationship has been assisting
Indian nations to continue their existence as sovereign
governments and to do the things that governments need to do
for their people.
As part of that relationship, the Federal Government has
provided money for many different services for tribal citizens,
and among those things that they have assisted with has been
education, not only at the K-12 level, but at the college
level. My own law school education was funded by the Federal
Government as part of this Federal trust responsibility to
assist Indians broadly, including in the area of education.
I think it's very appropriate for the Federal Government to
see what's happened at Fort Lewis. As we've talked about here,
it's the most popular 4-year college in America in terms of the
number of Indian graduates it produces. And it's certainly
within the Federal Government's realm to recognize that and to
do what it can to continue that success story for native
students.
Senator Bennet. Thank you. Thank you again for being here
today.
Mr. Tsabetsaye, could you talk about how important the
tuition waiver is for students at Fort Lewis College, in your
view? What difference would it make if it went away?
Mr. Tsabetsaye. A huge difference. It would be the
difference in my education, the reason for me sitting here
today. I believe that my education is my core, and it's what
makes me--and I think that a lot of the students at Fort Lewis
College that are Native American would agree that because of
their education, they are able to achieve such success and
opportunities in their lives, compared to a lot of the students
that drop out and a lot of the students that don't have other
opportunities in their lives and remain on the reservation or
in other areas where they're not able to achieve success.
The Native American tuition waiver at my school, quite
frankly, is the one opportunity for everyone, for Native
Americans to get their education. I've been asked that many
times, and I know with many students, an education is unique to
their own selves. So when I say that it makes me, I know that a
lot of students still have the same feelings, however, they
have their own beliefs and thoughts on how their education has
benefited them and how they can achieve success in their lives,
not just in college, but also in their careers for after
college.
Senator Bennet. I appreciate very much your use of the
word, unique. So I'm going to ask a second question about that.
Tell us what has been unique about your experience at Fort
Lewis College and your impression about your experience there
versus other choices that you might have made to go to other
universities. What's been particularly special for you about
Fort Lewis?
Mr. Tsabetsaye. How my education is unique to me is
because, as I mentioned in my testimony, there are many
students on the reservation that don't see the opportunities
and don't pass their limited beliefs. It's unique to me because
I was able to overcome my limiting beliefs. Graduating high
school was really a big deal for me, even though I had no
immediate plans for college after high school until the month
before August, after graduating high school.
I enrolled in college at the very last minute, registered
for classes at the very last minute, and from there, I saw an
opportunity of achieving an education. Prior to that, it was
hard for me to believe--and a lot of the students that I
graduated high school with--that it was even a possibility. For
me to understand that, it really helped me lay a foundation for
what could be my career in college and professionally.
At Fort Lewis College, I was able to hop on with so many
opportunities and organizations and clubs and things on campus
that have helped me achieve those goals and overcome more
limiting beliefs that I faced and hurdles and, as they have
mentioned, ``bumpy roads,'' which I too experienced. I felt
that at Fort Lewis College, I've had those clubs and
organizations to rely on to help me succeed, as well as mentors
and professional staff who consider me as a colleague, as
opposed to a student.
Senator Bennet. I can't resist to ask how you went from
graduating from high school, obviously, to prepare to go to
college and concluding that you were going to go to college in
that month. How did that happen in the summer?
And then this is not the topic, necessarily, of this
hearing, but for the record and for the benefit of the
committee and for the work that we need to do on Native
American education, generally, I wonder if you could share your
own impressions about your K-12 experience, what room for
improvement there is and what we ought to be doing to deliver a
higher quality education and make sure more people are ready
when they graduate from high school to go to college. I'm sorry
to ask you for that dissertation, but since you're here, I'd
like it in the record.
Mr. Tsabetsaye. My decision to go to college was, like I
said, last minute. But it was also because of someone in my
life, a family member, who knew of the opportunity and who saw
potential that I didn't see and offered me a place to stay and
help in getting into college. So when I saw that help, I took
it, even though I didn't know--I wasn't 100 percent about it at
the time.
In my K-12 years, I lived--there are many towns on the
reservation that are rural, and when I'm talking rural, I mean
one or two houses. That is considered your own community. I
lived far from my school, and every day, I actually passed the
border, because, technically, we lived very close to the New
Mexico border. The road that took me to school went into the
New Mexico border and then back into the Arizona border, and so
every day was quite a challenge to get to school.
Even today, with my little sister, who is in the seventh
grade, my parents have to drive her about 10 miles for her to
get to the bus that will take her to school. So when I say that
the towns are rural, that also gives you other challenges to
being involved in school and seeing opportunities.
I know that there were many things in school that I could
have gotten involved with, but I couldn't because I lived far
from the school that I attended. And I know that there are a
lot of kids on the reservation still that probably see those
hurdles of being far from the school. But even if not the
distance, they don't have the motivation or they don't see the
possibility.
Senator Bennet. What is the plan after you graduate?
Mr. Tsabetsaye. After I graduate Fort Lewis, I will
continue my education, and within the next couple of weeks, I
will start applying to graduate school. I will be majoring in
higher education and student affairs. A lot of what I do at
Fort Lewis College is in the realm of student affairs and
higher education. As I stated in my testimony, I help a lot of
students with their college careers and help them build a
foundation for their professional career.
I plan to do that professionally, and I really have a
passion for what I do at the college and the people that I work
with who are in those careers. I think that my help to them and
for the college has been substantial, and I know that in the
future, it's going to be even greater.
Senator Bennet. Thank you very much for your testimony. It
has been inspirational. I'm very grateful that you came here.
And to everybody on the second panel, thank you very much
for your efforts getting us to this point. We'll be back in
touch. Thank you.
We're going to take 1 second here. You guys can go, and let
me figure out what we're doing. Thank you.
Senator Campbell.
I don't have an introduction for Senator Ben Nighthorse
Campbell. But if there was ever anybody that didn't need an
introduction, it is him.
We are grateful that you're here to share a few words with
the committee, and we thank you.
Statement of Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (Retired)
Senator Campbell. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I found that
testimony really, really interesting and enlightening, and I
harken back to 30 years ago when I was kind of a fixture in
this building long before I went to Congress. And I was
impressed then, as I am now, about the positive relationship
with Native Americans and the State of Colorado. We've had
some, as you know in the history of Colorado, some bleak and
black days, and the Sand Creek Massacre is an example of one of
them.
But if you look around this beautiful room--I was just
sitting in my seat in the third or fourth row there--the
stained glass windows, four of the five, have Native Americans
portrayed in the stain glass windows. I think that's an
example--as those windows are also in other rooms here--that
people in the State of Colorado and certainly the legislature
recognize the positive important influence that the Indian
people have had to the growth of the State.
I have some written testimony. With your permission, I'd
like to enter it into the record.
Senator Bennet. Without objection.
[The prepared statement of Senator Campbell follows:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, U.S. Senator,
Retired, Former Chairman, Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, Northern
Cheyenne
Mr. Chairman, thank you for your legislative efforts under
S. 484 and S. 3504 and what they mean to American Indian
education. I am happy to have the opportunity to provide some
insight today regarding two very successful education programs
for American Indians, and the unintended financial consequences
on the States that entered into agreement with the Federal
Government to offer these programs.
My wife, Linda, and I live just east of Durango, CO, home
of Fort Lewis College. My family has a long history at Fort
Lewis College. Long before I was involved in politics, I taught
at Fort Lewis College, Linda later served as a member of the
board of trustees at the college, and both of our children are
graduates of Fort Lewis. Fort Lewis College is recognized by
the U.S. Department of Education as a Native American Serving,
Non-Tribal College.
Fort Lewis College is central to this discussion, because
it is one of two institutions in the Nation, the other being
the University of Minnesota--Morris, that offer a waiver of
tuition for all American Indian students, under legislative
agreements between the Federal Government and their respective
States. I am sure that you will hear the genesis of these
programs from others testifying today, but I feel the history
cannot be emphasized enough.
In the early 1900s, Fort Lewis was a former military fort,
a remnant of the old Indian wars. It was no longer used for
military purposes, but was instead used to educate American
Indian youngsters. Reports from this period indicate that the
number of students being educated at the time numbered in the
single digits. Given the lack of long-range transportation at
the time, these youngsters were likely Navajo or Ute children
from the area. In 1911, the U.S. Government, in an effort to
divest themselves of far flung, decommissioned outposts, made
an offer to the State of Colorado to give ownership of Fort
Lewis, and over 6,000 acres of surrounding land, to the State
in exchange for an agreement to continue to educate American
Indian students, tuition-free, on par with white students. The
State agreed and Federal legislation was enacted codifying that
agreement. During the same time period, a very similar
legislative agreement was also struck with the State of
Minnesota to educate Indian kids in exchange for land.
The old Fort and adjacent land in Colorado, near the town
of Hesperus, eventually became Fort Lewis College. In the
1950s, Fort Lewis College moved to its current location in
Durango, CO and the State Land Board assumed oversight and
control of the Hesperus land. After the move, Fort Lewis
continued its mission to educate American Indian students.
Fort Lewis College does an outstanding job on behalf of all
in their student body. But, they do an especially noteworthy
job in the area of American Indian Higher Education, awarding
more baccalaureate degrees to American Indian students than any
4-year college or university in the United States. They also
award more Science, Technology, Engineering and Math degrees to
American Indian students than any other 4-year institution.
There are 564 federally recognized American Indian tribal
governments in the country. Another 300 or so are desperately
seeking recognition that was stripped of them decades ago. For
the most part, American Indians have been an overlooked, often
ignored people, who long ago were driven from their homelands
and hunting grounds onto postage stamp-sized reservations to
make room for American progress, cloaked in terms such as
Westward Expansion or Manifest Destiny. Indian people did not
reap the benefits of the ``progress'', instead they became
forcibly dependent on a government that promised to feed them
and care for them as long as they stayed out of the way. The
lands they were given were often not fit for habitation, let
alone economic development. Their dependency increased and
their work ethic diminished.
When I sat as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian
Affairs, I often asked Tribal Leaders about their plans for
economic development. Many times I was told that their plan
consisted of getting a government grant to pay for a program to
provide a few jobs. For too many tribes, government assistance
is all they know. But, even that is not enough. My tribe, the
Northern Cheyenne in Lame Deer, MT, has an unemployment rate of
78 percent that IMPROVES to 60 percent during the summer months
when some tribal members get work on fire crews for the BLM and
Forest Service. The Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota has the
highest teen suicide rate in the WORLD. Indian Country has
scores of reservations whose people still live in Third World
conditions. They have the highest drug and alcohol abuse rates,
the highest welfare rates, the highest suicide rates and the
lowest mortality of any group in America.
Decades of dependency, and a litany of social ills cannot
be cured by government programs. It cannot be cured by well-
meaning charitable donations. While these well-meaning programs
help, the only answer to healing what is wrong with so much of
Indian Country is EDUCATION! Education allows young Indian
people to see the possibilities in the world. It allows them to
bring skills back to the reservation to help develop their
economies, assist tribal governments, and mentor the next
generation of young people, thus lessening the overall burden
on stretched Federal resources. Today, most Indian youngsters
still look at the leaders of centuries ago, Sitting Bull,
Geronimo, Crazy Horse and others for inspiration. Education
creates modern heroes they can identify with and be inspired
by. That is why the work of Fort Lewis College is so important.
Fort Lewis graduates are already making a name for themselves
in business, engineering, and even in government, as evidenced
by Bill Mendoza, who is testifying today, and is a valued
member of President Obama's administration.
One hundred years ago, the State of Colorado entered into
an agreement that, at the time, sounded like a pretty good
deal: Educate a handful of Indian kids each year, in exchange
for a piece of land. Neither the State, nor the Federal
Government could have possibly foreseen what the future would
hold:
Today, the Fort Lewis College Native American Tuition
Waiver is assisting nearly 900 American Indian students
in obtaining a college degree. Nearly 700 of those
students come from out-of-State. In fact, in the last
10 years alone, students attending Fort Lewis under the
Native American Tuition Waiver represent 46 States, 191
congressional districts, and 269 tribal governments.
This has truly become a program of national scope. The
college has embraced its mission and exceeded all expectations.
They have done an exceptional job of educating thousands of
American Indian students and word of their accomplishments has
spread throughout Indian Country. However, success does have a
price. The State of Colorado could never have foreseen that
their agreement to provide education to Indian students in
their region would become a national program with a cost to the
State of over $13 million per year. In fact, the Native
American Tuition Waiver has cost the State of Colorado over
$120 million in the last 25 years alone, yet the value to the
land from the Old Fort property is estimated at less than $20
million. This deficit puts this very successful education
program at risk. Nobody ever foresaw the rapid expansion of
this program and thus the State and the college were unable to
fully prepare for the rapidly rising costs.
Thus, your bills, S. 484 and S. 3504, allow the State of
Colorado to hold true to the original intent of the 1911
legislation by providing tuition-free education to the area,
in-State, Native students, while providing funding for the out-
of-State students, frozen at the levels at the time of passage,
with the State being responsible for the continued future
growth of the program. This gives the State a degree of relief
from the Federal Government for this national scale program,
without relieving the State of its long-term obligation, while
allowing the State government a planning window to address the
future costs and growth of the program. Though the out-of-State
student participation at University of Minnesota Morris is much
smaller, it would also provide the State of Minnesota similar
relief.
As the affected States and institutions are limited and the
annual cost is capped, passage of this legislation will not
allow these limited costs to grow beyond enactment. Also, it
should be noted that this legislation is inclusive of more than
one State and institution.
Mr. Chairman, your legislation will not only provide relief
to two States who have operated in good faith for more than 100
years under terms of an agreement that has grown in scope
beyond anyone's reasonable expectations, but it will also
protect programs that are providing valuable educational
opportunities where it is needed most. Every dollar spent on
Indian education is multiplied in dollars saved in welfare and
dependency. It raises a generation of people up to break the
cycle of dependency. Fort Lewis College and the University of
Minnesota Morris are teaching men and women to fish, not merely
giving them a fish, and that is money well-spent.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for your efforts to protect and
enhance Indian education.
Senator Campbell. And, also, if you would, pass on our
thanks to Chairman Harkin and Ranking Member Enzi for allowing
us to hold this hearing. I certainly appreciate their help and
support in this.
I was jotting some little ad lib notes on a piece of paper
back there as I heard the testimony. And I don't know of
anyone, Mr. Chairman, that wants to get out of the deal.
Certainly, some errant people here in the legislature in the
past--a couple of them have tried that, as you know. As John
Echohawk testified, the courts slapped their fingers and said,
``No, no. A deal is a deal. You're not going to get out of
that.''
But I know of nobody that wants to do that now. In fact, I
don't know of any citizen in Colorado that wants to get out of
the deal. They know that we have that obligation, that the
State of Colorado signed that, and it should go on.
But I'd like to just maybe broaden my comments a little
bit, too, since even though it's common knowledge in Indian
country, maybe not so much for the people that do support the
waiver to recognize what they're supporting from a human
standpoint. My friend, Bill Mendoza, comes from what we call a
hard core reservation, Pine Ridge, SD. The highest unemployment
in the Nation is in Pine Ridge, SD. The highest suicide rate in
the Nation, to my understanding, is also Pine Ridge, SD, where
in some years, one out of every three girls has tried suicide
before they got out of their teenage years, and one out of
every four boys.
There are many other places the same. Most of us recognize
that dependency on the Federal Government has not worked.
Otherwise, we would not have the highest high school dropout
rate, the highest unemployment rate, the highest suicide rate,
the highest substance abuse rate. All the other devastating
things that have happened to Indian people are 10 times worse
than on the outside.
You talk about an unemployment rate nationwide now of
roughly 9 percent. Try 70 or 80 or 90 percent in the cases of
some Native Alaskan communities. In Pine Ridge, I believe it's
probably 70, maybe 80. Bill was a speaker at our little tribal
college in Montana--Lame Deer, MT. It's called Dull Knife
Community College. The unemployment there is 78 percent in the
winter--a little lower in the summer because some people,
through their courage, get jobs fighting forest fires, and
there's a number of them that had firefighting experience over
the years.
But from a broader standpoint, most people recognize that
education is the key, that if government dependency worked, why
the heck are we in such bad shape now after 150 years of
government dependency? There's got to be an alternative, and
that alternative, many of us believe, is education. Now, if you
look at what's happened to our youngsters who are getting out
of college, whether it's the University of Minnesota Morris,
whether it's Fort Lewis, whether it's any institution in
America--University of New Mexico, University of Arizona,
Northern Arizona--they graduate many Native American students.
Now they are productive people. They haven't forgotten
their old ways. They participate in their religions, beliefs,
their ceremonies. They've really hung onto that, and I
certainly commend them for that. But they've learned how to
function in 21st century America in business, in medicine, in
government, in literally every facet. Native Americans have the
highest enlistment rate of any ethnic group in America in our
military. That says something.
It's nice to know that after years and years of silence,
the Navajo code talkers were, in the last 15 years, really
recognized by the president. That was President Bush. Most
Americans recognize the contribution they've made to keeping
this country safe. There were also Comanche code talkers and
Lakota code talkers and others, too. But we have paid our dues.
I have a real close connection with Fort Lewis, because I
was kind of an accidental politician. Before I ran for office,
I taught part-time at Fort Lewis in the Art Department. Both of
our youngsters graduated from Fort Lewis. My wife was on the
board of trustees. We've had a really close relationship with
it. And I have seen firsthand the benefits, that a good
education helps not only Indian kids, but all youngsters. But
because of the problem we have in Indian country, it's helped,
I believe, Indian youngsters even more.
This bill, your bill, and the corresponding House bill,
which has probably 8 or 10 co-sponsors on the House side now,
as I understand it--it doesn't answer all the problems. But it
certainly alleviates some of the problems that the State of
Colorado is having now paying for the deal that they signed 100
years ago.
Lieutenant Governor Garcia mentioned--in some of my
scribbling, if I can remember--that, in fact, the money that
goes to Fort Lewis and the State comes from the financial aid
fund. But that's not the only money that comes out of the
financial aid fund. And with every increase that the State
financial aid fund must give to Fort Lewis pursuant to the deal
with the Federal Government, they have to decrease it to other
colleges or to other entities that are also needed.
And if you'll give me a little latitude, let me just be the
devil's advocate and ask this rhetorical question. What happens
if we don't do something? What happens, since we have twice the
national birth rate of the Federal numbers at large and, on
some reservations, four times the national average? Many more
Native American youngsters are being born. What happens when
the roughly 300 Indian tribes that are now seeking Federal
recognition get it? Many tribes, as you know, in our history,
were taken away from them in the 1950s under the misguided
actions of the Federal Government when they, by virtue of their
wisdom in Washington, said to tribes, ``You are no longer a
tribe.''
That was obviously a way to get out of the Federal
Government's responsibility to tribes because the old treaties
weren't signed between individual Indian people and the Federal
Government. They were signed between tribes and the Federal
Government. So some wise person back there said, ``Oh, I'll
tell you what. What happens if we de-recognize the tribes and
no longer recognize them as Federal entities? We don't owe the
Indians anything.'' And that's how they got out of a lot of the
responsibilities of the old agreements and the old treaties.
Well, that's beginning to change. So, as I continue as the
devil's advocate, what happens when many of the tribes who are
seeking recognition now are re-recognized and then can avail
themselves of the tuition waivers at Fort Lewis or Minnesota
Morris? What happens when the number that's now, I think,
roughly 850 Native American kids at Fort Lewis becomes 8,500
instead of 850? That is certainly in the realm of possibility
if you look at the last 2 years, where they've grown 10 percent
per year, 10 percent last year and 10 percent this year, in the
number of Native American youngsters, but also the
corresponding amount of money the State of Colorado has to put
in.
Last year, it was $2 million more than the year before.
This year, it'll be $2 million more than last year, in other
words, $4 million more just in the time that this bill has been
moving around, people talking about it, trying to find a
solution, and so on. It's been several years, 3 years or so.
It's gone up to about a $4 million cost to the State of
Colorado, and I don't know how much to the State of Minnesota.
We know that if we don't do something, we're on an
unsustain-
able course somewhere along the line. Nobody wants to wait
until that train wreck happens. Most of us believe we've got to
take some kind of a positive action and do something before the
fact so that we don't get to that doomsday scenario, and that's
what this hearing is all about.
I think that it is certainly incumbent on the Federal,
since that was part of the deal. Nobody in those days knew that
maybe six students would turn into 600, or some day in the
future maybe 6,000. So we think the Federal Government has some
responsibility under what has been defined as the trust
responsibility.
I thank you for this hearing. I might also add that I
chaired hundreds of hearings back there in the dozens of
committees I was involved with. None of mine ever went this
smooth. So you've got the right touch, I'll tell you.
Senator Bennet. Thank you for that. I want to just see if I
can respond a little bit to what you said. First of all, on
behalf of the committee, thank you for your leadership on this
issue and also on issues that have been of concern to Native
Americans over many years, and issues of concern to many
people, whether Native Americans or not, all across the
country.
You've been respected and admired as a leader for many
years, and I, for one, continue to appreciate your continued
active involvement in all of this. I hope that you'll let us
know how we can move this forward. I'd like to get us to a
place where we're marking up the bill and we're not just
talking about it.
To respond to your last point, I work in a town 4 days a
week where people consistently let matters get worse before
they're actually addressed. And in this context, it seems that
that would be enormously unfair to the students that are at
Fort Lewis College today and to the students that are coming in
the future. That's why we have to get on with this, so let's
get this done.
The other thing I want to respond to are your comments
about education, because, unfortunately, these issues don't
receive the attention that they need in our national political
debate. You can listen to this Presidential campaign that's
going on right now, and you wouldn't think that education
mattered very much at all to the American people, and it
matters an incredible amount to the people that I represent.
I mentioned earlier at the outset that the worst the
unemployment rate ever got for people with a college degree in
this recession was 4.5 percent. That's the worst that it got.
But if you're a child living in poverty in the United States,
your chances of getting a college degree are 9 in 100. We've
heard testimony today that that's even tougher in Indian
country.
If you take the changing demographics in the United States
and just extrapolate those out over time, we know what those
are going to be. It's completely predictable. And if the
achievement rates and the graduation rates and the college
attendance and completion rates don't change, we're not going
to recognize ourselves as an economy or as a democracy.
I think this is the central question that we face in this
land of opportunity. I can't think of anything that is more at
war with who we are as Americans than those college completion
numbers and our high school graduation rates for children that
are living in poverty, whether they're living in Indian country
or whether they're not.
We have to get after this, and we have to make this our
single most important domestic priority. Otherwise, we're going
to continue to see income inequality rise. We're going to
continue to see opportunity shut off for millions of people in
this country.
Thank you for giving me that opportunity to say that. I
want to thank all the witnesses who gave testimony today. I
deeply appreciate your traveling here to do it. In addition to
that great testimony, I also have a collection of resolutions
and letters of support to introduce into the record at this
hearing, which I will do now, including the letter that the
Lieutenant Governor referenced from our own Governor, John
Hickenlooper.
[The information referred to may be found in additional
material.]
Throughout this hearing, we've heard about the important
role the tuition waiver program plays in the education of
Native American students throughout the country. Moving
forward, I hope that we can work together to preserve these
tuition waiver programs while also providing some degree of
budgetary relief to the States of Colorado and Minnesota.
The hearing record will remain open for 10 working days for
any additional questions or statements. Once again, I want to
thank the witnesses for traveling here today. Thank all of you
for your interest and for being here.
And with that, the hearing is adjourned.
[Additional material follows.]
ADDITIONAL MATERIAL
Prepared Statement of Lewis Wittry, Vice President, Associated Students
of Fort Lewis College
Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, my name is Lewis Wittry
and I am vice president of the student body at Fort Lewis College:
I believe that Federal funding should be provided to support the
Native American Tuition Waiver mandated by the Federal Government in
1911 because the conditions under which that agreement was made have
changed dramatically since that time. The agreement was originally made
that the State of Colorado would be granted the Old Fort Hesperus
property on the condition that they would provide free tuition for all
Native American students at a school on the site. At the time this was
reasonable for the State because there was presumed to be only a
handful of Native students to educate. In the 100 years since that
agreement was made, an increasing amount of Native students have begun
to take advantage of this opportunity for a free education. Today, Fort
Lewis College's native population consists of about 860 Native American
students from a variety of different tribes across the country, an 85
percent majority of which are non-resident students who are receiving
free tuition paid for by the State of Colorado, a total allocation of
$13.7 million last year. While this means amazing things for the Native
communities that are able to take advantage of this opportunity, it is
a much bigger financial burden on the State budget than could ever have
been foreseen at the time the original agreement was made. Since a
large portion of Colorado taxpayer's money is and has for the last 100
years been going to pay for the education of non-resident students, I
believe that it is a reasonable request for the Federal Government to
contribute a significant portion of the total cost of the waiver. State
governments are supposed to provide resources for the residents of
their State, and national governments are supposed to provide resources
for the residents of the Nation at large. Since we are currently in a
situation where the State of Colorado is providing a significant
resource for students of the Nation at large, I think you should
support the passage of S. 3504 to create a more fair situation where
the State and Federal Government are providing for their fair share of
the cost of educating Native American students across the country.
In trying to formulate an opinion about this subject I kept coming
back to the original agreement made in 1911 and what that meant about
our State's obligation to pay for the cost of the tuition waiver. For a
while I had a very hard time getting behind this bill because I kept
seeing it as a way for the State to shirk it's responsibility to hold
up its end of the agreement to educate Native students free of charge.
And in some sense this is exactly what is being done. However, the more
I looked at the original agreement made the more I began to think,
``Well that's just a terrible and unrealistic agreement by today's
standards, so we should just change the agreement.'' It was explained
to me later that this is not technically possible because the agreement
was made in perpetuity. That is where this bill comes in. In light of
the fact that we cannot change the original agreement made, I think
this bill should be passed because it solves the problem without
changing the agreement. Essentially this bill will still require that
tuition-free education be provided for Native students at the two non-
tribal, Native American serving institutions listed in the bill.
However, added on to that agreement is the agreement that the Federal
Government will help cover the increasing cost of this tuition waiver
by providing the funds for all non-resident Native students up to $15
million. As I stated above, the circumstances around the tuition waiver
have changed since 1911 and the original agreement no longer makes
sense for the State of Colorado or the State of Minnesota. This is why
we need to alter the agreement, and it seems to me that S. 3504 is a
reasonable way of doing that.
The other reason I think this bill should be supported has little
to do with any agreements made between State and country, but has more
to do with the overall obligation I feel we as a country have to the
Native American community. I was reading an article in our local
newspaper sent to me by one of the administrators at our college
regarding the tuition waiver at Fort Lewis College. A man quoted in the
article put it very well when he talked about the tuition waiver as
being one small victory in a long history of defeats for the Native
American community. I think that he is right. We should not be allowing
for this one small victory to be taken away from them, and it seems as
though that is what might happen if the State is unable to receive help
in funding the tuition waiver. For all of the horrors and subjugation
that Native Americans have been put through since Europeans began to
migrate to this land, I believe it is the moral responsibility of our
country to make it possible to continue to honor one of the few trusts
that has been made between the Native and non-native community. It has
become an immense burden for our State to try and hold themselves to
this agreement alone, and it is not a burden we should have to carry
alone anymore. We are asking for help from the rest of the country so
that we may continue to help the Native American community in this
small way by offering them a free college education. A free education
will by no means ever repay them for what their people have been and
continue to be put through. However, it is at least a small trust that
we have been engaged in for the last 101 years, and the mission of
educating Native American students is one of the only sustainable ways
to try and break the destructive cycle that the subjugation of their
people has caused for their communities.
Please try and see these bills not only from a purely budgetary and
legally based standpoint, but also from a morally based standpoint. In
forming my own opinion about this issue I have tried to ask myself,
``Do these bills hold up according to previous legal agreements?'' But
I have also tried to ask myself, ``Is it the right thing to do?'' I go
back and forth as to whether or not they hold up to the original
agreement. However, I am firmly convinced that the passage of these
bills is the right thing to do. I encourage you to think about these
questions in your deliberations about where you stand.
Prepared Statement of the National Congress of American Indians
introduction
The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) is the oldest and
largest American Indian organization in the United States. Tribal
leaders created NCAI in 1944 as a response to termination and
assimilation policies that threatened the existence of American Indian
and Alaska Native tribes. Since then, NCAI has fought to preserve the
treaty rights and sovereign status of tribal governments, while also
ensuring that Indian people may fully participate in the political
system. As the most representative organization of American Indian
tribes, NCAI serves the broad interests of tribal governments across
the Nation.
Ensuring access to higher education for American Indian and Alaska
Native students is a top priority for tribes, and federally mandated
Native tuition waivers at two institutions--Fort Lewis College in
Durango, CO, and University of Minnesota-Morris--play a vital role in
making this important goal a reality. For the past 100 years, both
schools have provided tuition-free college education to American Indian
and Alaska Native students. As a result, Fort Lewis College graduates
some of the highest numbers of Native students per year in the
country,\1\ and University of Minnesota-Morris enrolls more Native
students than any other college in Minnesota.\2\ Despite this success,
the waivers are at risk of being terminated due to severe State budget
constraints. The Native American Education Act of 2012 (S. 3504)
creates a Federal funding stream to ensure sustained support for these
Native tuition waivers. Because the waivers have enabled thousands of
Native students to become college graduates, and their continuance is
critical to maintaining and growing that legacy, NCAI urges Congress to
enact S. 3504 into law.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ U.S. Department of Education. Institute of Education Sciences,
National Center for Education Statistics, 2011 Bachelor's Degree
Completion Rates.
\2\ University of Minnesota-Morris, ``American Indian Tuition
Waiver and Student Success.'' http://www.morris.umn.edu/ . . . /
UMMAmericanIndianTuitionWaiver.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
background
The Native student tuition waivers stem from both institutions'
roots as Indian boarding schools. In 1911, Colorado accepted title to
the Fort Lewis Indian School, previously operated by the U.S.
Department of the Interior. In exchange for the 6,279-acre property,
the State agreed to maintain the school and admit Native students
``free of charge for tuition and on terms of equality with white
pupils.'' \3\ University of Minnesota-Morris shares this history. When
the Federal Government transferred the campus of Morris American Indian
Boarding School to the State of Minnesota in 1909, it stipulated that
``Indian pupils shall at all times be admitted to such school free of
charge for tuition.'' \4\ Today, the waivers guarantee free tuition at
either school to all qualified members of federally recognized tribes,
regardless of State residency.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ Appropriations Act of April, 4, 1910, 36 Stat. 274.
\4\ University of Minnesota-Morris, ``American Indian Tuition
Waiver and Student Success.'' http://www.morris.umn.edu/ . . . /
UMMAmericanIndianTuitionWaiver.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Largely thanks to the tuition waiver, Fort Lewis College has become
a flagship institution for American Indian and Alaska Native students.
Native students comprise about 20 percent--or one in five--of the
college's 3,900-person student body,\5\ and in 2010, it enrolled
approximately 800 Native students representing 122 tribes from 30
different States.\6\ Each year, Fort Lewis College awards some of the
highest numbers of undergraduate degrees to Native students in the
country.\7\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\5\ U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences,
National Center for Education Statistics, College Navigator, Fort Lewis
College (2010).
\6\ Fort Lewis College, ``Fact Sheet 2010.'' http://
explore.fortlewis.edu/images/FLC_Facts.pdf.
\7\ U.S. Department of Education. Institute of Education Sciences,
National Center for Education Statistics, 2011 Bachelor's Degree
Completion Rates.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
University of Minnesota-Morris has experienced similar success with
Native students because of its tuition waiver. With a Native student
population of more than 10 percent, it is the only university in the
upper Midwest that qualifies for designation as a Native American
Serving Non-Tribal Institution.\8\ This large Native student body has
enabled University of Minnesota-Morris to build a robust American
Indian program and community, and consequently, the school's graduation
rates for Native students lead the University of Minnesota system.\9\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\8\ Elaine Simonds-Jaradat, ``New Native American Garden Planted on
the Morris Campus'' (July 8, 2011): http://www.morris.umn.edu/
newsevents/view.php?itemID=11784.
\9\ University of Minnesota-Morris, ``American Indian Tuition
Waiver and Student Success.'' http://www.morris.umn.edu/ . . . /
UMMAmericanIndianTuitionWaiver.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
need for the native american education act of 2012 (s. 3504)
Funded entirely by each respective State, Fort Lewis College's
Native tuition waiver costs Colorado approximately $13 million per
year,\10\ and the University of Minnesota-Morris waiver costs Minnesota
about $1.5 million per year.\11\ However, shrinking State revenues as a
result of the recession, coupled with rising Native enrollment, have
made it increasingly untenable for these States to shoulder the cost of
the waivers alone. At Fort Lewis College in particular, about 85
percent of the college's Native population is from outside Colorado,
which means that the State must reimburse the college at the
nonresident tuition rate of $16,072 for those students.\12\ Since the
majority of the waiver expense comes from these out-of-state students,
there have been several attempts to significantly cut reimbursements by
limiting the waiver to Native students who are Colorado residents and,
even more drastically, to terminate the program altogether.\13\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\10\ Emery Cowan, ``A Historic Promise.'' Durango Herald (June 3,
2012): http://www.durangoherald.com/article/20120603/NEWS01/706039897/
0/FRONTPAGE/A-historic-promise.
\11\ University of Minnesota-Morris, ``American Indian Tuition
Waiver and Student Success.'' http://www.morris.umn.edu/ . . . /
UMMAmericanIndianTuitionWaiver.pdf.
\12\ Emery Cowan, ``Seeking Stability in FLC Tuition Waiver.''
Durango Herald (June 4, 2012): http://durangoherald.com/article/
20120605/NEWS01/706059914/0/s/Seeking-stability-in-FLC-tuition-waiver.
\13\ For example, see Colorado House bill 10-1067: http://
www.leg.state.co.us/CLICS/CLICS2010A/csl.nsf/fsbillcont3/
AD316F1CAE9F98BF872576A80026AF1B?Open&fil=1067_01 .pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Instead of reneging on a century-old contract and denying out-of-
state Native students access to a quality, tuition-free college
education, S. 3504 offers a better solution: shifting some of the
waiver's cost to the Federal Government and the country as a whole.
Sharing this responsibility makes sense in light of the fact that the
tuition waivers benefit Native students from every corner of the United
States--in other words, they have become national programs. At Fort
Lewis College, for example, the five tribes with the highest number of
students enrolled in 2011 were not from Colorado, but were Navajo
(Arizona), Cherokee (Oklahoma), Choctaw (Oklahoma), Tlingit/Haida
(Alaska), and Chickasaw (Oklahoma).\14\ S. 3504 directs the Secretary
of Education to reimburse Fort Lewis College and University of
Minnesota-Morris for the tuition of these nonresident Native students.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\14\ Fort Lewis College, ``An Introduction to Federal Efforts to
Protect the Native American Tuition Waiver.'' http://www.fortlewis.edu/
tuitionwaiver/Home.aspx.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
By putting the waivers on more stable financial ground, Federal
funding through S. 3504 will help guarantee the programs' continuance--
as well as their tremendous benefits to Indian Country. The experience
of NCAI's executive director, Jacqueline Pata, attests to the
transformative power of the Native student tuition waiver. Three of Ms.
Pata's four children attended Fort Lewis College. As a single parent
with four kids just a few years apart in age--and who were thus ready
to attend college at about the same time--college would have been out
of the question for her family without the tuition waiver. With the
large cost of tuition taken care of, they were able to find
scholarships--from their tribe and other sources--to cover other
expenses. Now that Ms. Pata's children are grown and have graduated,
they are raising their own families and using their degrees to
meaningfully contribute to their communities.
The story of Ms. Pata's family is not unique in Indian Country. The
tuition waivers at Fort Lewis College and University of Minnesota-
Morris have been a boon to thousands of Native students who could not
otherwise afford higher education. But the waivers have had profound
benefits not just for individual Native students, but also for American
Indian and Alaska Native tribes. All around Indian Country, you will
find Fort Lewis College and University of Minnesota-Morris alumni
utilizing their college educations to improve tribal communities--as
tribal leaders, teachers, entrepreneurs, lawyers, and engineers. As the
statistics referenced above indicate, the tuition waivers have enabled
Fort Lewis College and University of Minnesota-Morris to become a vital
source of college graduates for tribes who need an educated citizenry
to lead their governments, develop reservation economies, and sustain
Native cultures.
Furthermore, investing in the education of American Indian and
Alaska Native students--and by extension, the capacity and well-being
of tribes--is one of the most important cornerstones of the Federal
trust responsibility. Supporting the Native tuition waivers through
Federal funding in S. 3504 helps to fulfill this sacred duty.
conclusion
Because the Native tuition waivers at Fort Lewis College and
University of Minnesota-Morris have played such a critical role in
expanding access to higher education for Native students, NCAI urges
Congress to pass S. 3504.
Thank you for your consideration of this testimony. NCAI looks
forward to partnering with the committee to move this important piece
of legislation forward. If you have any questions, please contact
Ahniwake Rose, NCAI director of Human Service Policy, at
[email protected].
______
Letters of Support
State of Colorado,
Office of The Governor,
Denver, CO 80203,
August 17, 2012.
Hon. Michael Bennet,
458 Russell Senate Office Building,
Washington, DC 20510.
Dear Senator Bennet: On behalf of the State of Colorado, we offer
our support of two pieces of pending Federal legislation, S. 3504 and
its companion, H.R. 3040. These bills represent a prudent legislative
effort that will enhance educational opportunities in Indian Country
and Colorado, as well as similarly impacted States.
In 1910, the U.S. Congress created a unique connection between Fort
Lewis College and Indian Country by giving the State of Colorado title
to over 6,200 acres located in the southwest corner of Colorado that
was being operated as a military fort and an Indian boarding school
under the U.S. Department of the Interior, on condition that the school
be ``held and maintained by Colorado as a school where Indians are
admitted free of charge for tuition and on terms of equality with white
pupils'' (Act of April 4, 1910, 36 Stat. 274).
The tuition waiver program funded by the State of Colorado has
enabled many American Indian and Alaska Native students to have high-
quality educational opportunities that they might not otherwise have
been able to access. One hundred years ago, the originators of this
agreement had no way to anticipate how this Federal mandate in
perpetuity would affect the State of Colorado a century later,
particularly with the advent of modern day transportation. The once
desolate military fort on the border of what then were the
``Territories'' and are now more commonly referred to as the States of
New Mexico and Arizona, would place southwestern Colorado in a central
location to Indian Country. Today the College is located within a 150-
mile radius of 25 Indian reservations or Pueblos, making it an
accessible and affordable option to many students in Indian Country. At
the time of the 1910 agreement, Indian students at Fort Lewis numbered
in the single digits. The composition of the fall 2011 class numbered
860 American Indian and Alaska Native students, 725 of which represent
138 different tribes and 35 States outside of Colorado.
For the past 100 years, Colorado has had the unique distinction of
supporting high-quality educational opportunities in Indian Country and
far surpassing the expectations set forth in the original agreement.
Indeed, Fort Lewis College awards more undergraduate degrees to
American Indian and Alaska Native students than any other 4-year
institution in the Nation, graduates approximately 16 percent of all
American Indian and Alaska Native students nationally, and last year
awarded 13.5 percent of all baccalaureate science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics (STEM) degrees earned by American Indian
students (NSF WebCaspar).
Today, many do not realize that despite the economic success of a
small handful of tribes, American Indians still face poverty rates,
substance abuse rates, suicide rates and teenage birth rates that far
exceed the national average. The unemployment rate on many Indian
reservations still far exceeds 50 percent. The key to ending this cycle
is education, and Colorado is proud of our efforts to enhance
educational opportunities for Native Americans; we simply need some
assistance in carrying out this tremendously successful national
program. To that end, I thank Senator Michael Bennet and Congressman
Scott Tipton for their leadership, and the entire Colorado
congressional delegation, as well as many Members of Congress for their
support of this effort.
S. 3504 and H.R. 3040 have my full support and endorsement, and I
request that Congress assist in funding the Federal mandate upon the
State of Colorado for reimbursement of the out-of-state students in
Fort Lewis College Native American tuition Waiver program so that the
program may be maintained for the continued betterment of all American
Indian and Alaska Native people. It is the right thing to do.
Sincerely,
John W. Hickenlooper,
Governor.
______
State of Colorado, Department of Higher Education,
Colorado Commission on Higher Education,
Denver, CO 80202,
August 17, 2012.
Hon. Michael F. Bennet,
458 Russell Senate Office Building,
Washington, DC 20510.
Dear Senator Bennet: The Colorado Commission on Higher Education
(CCHE) is writing to express our board's support of the Federal
legislation which aims to fund a portion of the cost for American
Indian students attending Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO. The CCHE
is the central policy and statewide coordinating board for higher
education in Colorado overseeing 31 public institutions of higher
education. The CCHE embraces and supports all of these institutions as
well as their unique role and mission in providing a quality post-
secondary education in the State. Fort Lewis College is unique not only
to Colorado but to the Nation in being one of only two public
institutions of higher education (University of Minnesota--Morris as
the other) with the specific duty of serving and educating American
Indians students as part of its overall role and mission.
Given Colorado's State budgetary challenges, the cost for the Fort
Lewis College Native American Tuition Waiver has been typically covered
by reducing funding to the State's other financial aid programs. The
transfers of funding from existing programs reduces the availability of
financial aid to qualifying American Indian students--over 80 percent
of all American Indian enrollments in the public system of higher
education in Colorado are in institutions other than Fort Lewis
College--as well as other students attending other institutions of
higher education in Colorado.
The CCHE believes that the current prospects of some Federal
funding to mitigate these costs at the State level are an effective and
reasonable course of action that will provide a financially sustainable
solution to help ensure that Fort Lewis College remains accessible to
all American Indian students from all regions of the country. The CCHE
reiterates its strong support of Fort Lewis College and celebrates its
ever increasing success in educating American Indian students across
the Nation.
Sincerely,
Hereford Percy, Chairman,
Colorado Commission on Higher Education.
______
Cherokee NationTM,
Tahlequah, OK 74465-0948,
May 11, 2011.
Hon. Dale Kildee, Co-Chairman,
House Native American Caucus.
Hon. Tom Cole, Co-Chairman,
House Native American Caucus.
Re: Support for Fort Lewis College Legislation
Dear Chairman Kildee and Chairman Cole: On behalf of the Cherokee
Nation, I am writing to express our support for the proposed
legislation offered by Congressman Tipton for the Fort Lewis College
Native American Tuition Waiver Program. For the past century, the
institution has provided Native Americans who qualify with tuition-free
education as mandated by the U.S. Congress. By covering tuition costs
for Native American students, the State of Colorado has given tribal
citizens access to a first-rate education and opportunity for success.
Because the Colorado school currently provides higher education to
Native American students from 124 different tribes (including the
Cherokee Nation) and 34 States, Cherokee students would also be
affected by funding cuts to the program. If this legislation does not
pass, Colorado leaders might try again to cut the Native tuition waiver
program due to State budget constraints. As introduced, the Tipton bill
would use Federal dollars to reimburse Colorado for the cost of out-of-
state Native American students' tuition--helping to guarantee that all
qualified Native American students receive tuition waivers regardless
of State residence.
Therefore, this Bill is especially pertinent to the Cherokee Nation
because many of our students at Fort Lewis are from out-of-state and
need the funding protection guaranteed by this legislation:
Over the past 10 years, 1,179 free tuition waivers were
granted to members of the Cherokee Nation, of which only 449 were
Colorado residents.
On average, 118 tuition waivers are granted per year to
members of the Cherokee Nation.
The average GPA for Cherokee Nation students is 3.20.
38 percent of Cherokee Nation students graduated with
honors (Cum Laude, Magna Cum Laude, or Summa Cum Laude).
29 percent of Cherokee Nation graduates were first-
generation college students, meaning neither parent attended college.
I respectfully urge that Congress fully fund the State of
Colorado's Federal mandate for reimbursement of the Fort Lewis College
Native American Tuition Waiver Program so that our tribal citizens and
children will continue to receive a first-class education. Tribes have
witnessed disparities in Native American education services for too
long; therefore, we must protect successful institutions like Fort
Lewis College.
Once again, it is my desire that you support Congressman Tipton's
legislation and stand with the Cherokee Nation by promoting Native
American education. Educated Americans, including tribal citizens,
strengthen the United States by providing a skilled, diversified
workforce that fuels the economy. For further information, please
contact our Washington Office Legislative Officer, Clint Bowers, at
202-393-7007 or at [email protected].
Sincerely,
Chad Smith,
Principal Chief, Cherokee Nation.
______
State of Colorado,
Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs,
Denver, CO 80203,
May 9, 2011.
President Dene Kay Thomas,
Fort Lewis College,
1000 Rim Drive,
Durango, CO 81301.
Dear President Thomas: The U.S. Congress created in 1910 a unique
connection between Fort Lewis College and Indian Country by giving the
State of Colorado title to the Fort Lewis Indian School, previously
operated by the U.S. Department of the Interior, on condition that the
school be ``held and maintained'' by Colorado as a school where Indians
are admitted ``free of charge for tuition and on terms of equality with
white pupils'' (Appropriations Act of April 4, 1910, 36 Stat. 274).
Today Fort Lewis College is Colorado's Public Liberal Arts College
that has for the past 100 years provided a tuition-free education to
qualifying American Indian and Alaska Native students and was the
educational home to 786 American Indian and Alaska Native students from
124 tribes and 34 States in 2010.
The State of Colorado has for the past 100 years had the
distinction of supporting one of only two colleges in the Nation that
offers American Indian and Alaska Native students from any federally
recognized tribe a tuition waiver and, in fall 2010, has provided the
tuition for 668 of its 786 American Indian and Alaska Native students
who are residents from 33 other States.
Fort Lewis College awards more undergraduate degrees to American
Indian and Alaska Native students than any other 4-year institution in
the Nation, graduates approximately 16 percent of all American Indian
and Alaska Native students nationally, and last year awarded 13.5
percent of all baccalaureate science, technology, engineering and math
(STEM) degrees earned by Indian people (NSF WebCASPAR 2009).
The Fort Lewis College Native American Tuition Waiver has enabled
American Indian and Alaska Native students to access top-quality
educational opportunities and academic success, which they might not
otherwise have been able to enjoy, and these many students have used
this education provided for the betterment of their tribes and Indian
Country as a whole (indeed, many of today's Indian leaders are Fort
Lewis College graduates or have a Fort Lewis student or alumni in their
family).
Nothing in Senate bill 484 would relieve Colorado of its
responsibility to reimburse Fort Lewis College the cost of tuition for
American Indian and Alaska Native students who are residents of
Colorado or any cost of tuition that exceeds the Federal funding
proposed in S. 484 for American Indian and Alaska Native students who
are not residents of Colorado.
Therefore, the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs, which
includes representatives from the Southern Ute Indian Tribe and Ute
Mountain Ute Tribe as voting members, does unanimously support Senate
bill 484 and request that Congress fund the Federal mandate upon the
State of Colorado for reimbursement of the Fort Lewis College Native
American Tuition Waiver program so that this program may be maintained
for the continued betterment of all American Indian and Alaska Native
people.
Sincerely,
Joseph A. Garcia, Lieutenant Governor,
Chair, Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs.
S6621_
Native American Rights Fund,
Boulder, CO 80302-6296,
April 20, 2011.
To Whom It May Concern: As executive director of the Native
American Rights Fund, I have met with representatives of Fort Lewis
College about S. 484, a bill sponsored by Senators Bennet and Udall of
Colorado, which would direct the Secretary of the Department of
Education to pay the Fort Lewis College in the State of Colorado an
amount equal to the tuition charges for Indian students who are not
residents of the State of Colorado. The Native American Rights Fund is
in full support of S. 484 and hopes that it is passed by Congress and
signed by the President as soon as possible.
The Native American Rights Fund, having been involved in the
litigation in the 1970s enforcing the Indian tuition waiver, is aware
of the importance of the Indian tuition waiver to Indian students
across the country and the outstanding record of Fort Lewis College in
graduating Indian students over the years. We believe that the Indian
tuition waiver needs to be continued and that Federal funding for Fort
Lewis College to cover tuition charges for non-resident Indian students
as provided in S. 484 would ensure that the Indian tuition waiver
continues.
Sincerely,
John E. Echohawk.
______
Hon. Michael Bennet,
U.S. Senate,
458 Russell Senate Office Building,
Washington, DC 20510.
Re: S. 484 & S. 3504
Dear Senator Bennet: The Native American Tuition Waiver is
definitely a controversial issue, and I feel it necessary to express my
sentiments.
I am a non-traditional, first-generation, Native American student.
I come from a small community in Southeast Alaska where most of my
friends and peers are Alaskan Native. I grew up where my cultural
values were a solid, integrated part of my life; where higher education
was not necessarily an expectation. I say this only to prove the
necessity of the Native American Tuition Waiver, particularly at Fort
Lewis College.
Generations of Native American students are still willing to
further their education because of their homelands and families; these
students want to make a difference. They represent a significant part
of not only our history, but of our future.
The Native American Tuition Waiver serves more than just a few
purposes. Perhaps one of the greatest purposes that goes overlooked is
that it brings us together. For those of us who wish to further our
education and have an impact in life, having other like-minded people
with similar life experiences only serves to benefit our educational
goals. At Fort Lewis College, 120 different tribes, villages, bands,
and corporations are represented. This allows us to be diverse, yet
similar. Our Native American population adds a great dimension to the
diversity at our school.
At Fort Lewis College, the Native American Center offers itself as
an excellent resource for any campus needs. With several first-
generation students, they are there to offer academic support as well
as cultural, and social. This is yet one more reason to reiterate the
necessity of Native American Tuition Waiver. It is bringing minority
students together and allowing us to succeed.
American Indian Business Leaders (AIBL) and American Indian Science
and Engineering Society (AISES) have both won awards for Fort Lewis
College; Wanbli Ota, who puts on the largest student run event every
year for our campus, and Miss Hozhoni who serves as an ambassador for
the Native American students highlight meaningful pieces of our Native
American student body. The Native American Honor Society, Pejuta Tipi
Society, and Native American and Indigenous Leadership Forum (NAILF)
are all great initiatives taken by our successful Native American
students who want to make a difference.
Looking at the poverty statistics and the drop-out rates of
American Indian and Alaskan Native students can be heart-wrenching as
an indigenous person. Because of the Native American Tuition Waiver I
have been a successful student at Fort Lewis College.
I support the continuation of the Native American Tuition Waiver.
Sincerely,
Alysha Guthrie.
______
August 16, 2012.
Hon. Michael Bennet,
U.S. Senate,
458 Russell Senate Office Building,
Washington, DC 20510.
Re: S. 484 & S. 3504
Da Go Te Greetings Senator Bennet: Fort Lewis College is more than
an institute of Higher Education; it's a place of hope for many
American Indian students. Historically this institute represented a
State of civilizing the Indian by washing the students of their
traditional cultures. Fortunately over time great efforts have been
made and continue to be implemented so that all individual backgrounds,
beliefs and lifestyles are respected. The tuition waiver for Native
Americans at Fort Lewis College has provided generations of American
Indians to succeed and for many it may not have been possible without
the unique opportunity promised by the agreement between our Indigenous
ancestors and the U.S. Government.
According to social psychologist and Native American scholar, Dr.
Fryberg, only .4 percent of doctoral degrees are awarded to American
Indians and only .5 percent of university faculty are American Indian
(Fryberg & Stephens, 2010). This study goes on to state that if
students have the ability to bring positive academic social
representations to mind (i.e., people they know who went to college) it
impacts their feelings of belonging.
At Fort Lewis College, I have experienced positive feelings of
belonging and enhanced self-esteem because the environment encourages
individuality and interdependency, as well as diversity. I would credit
this positive change to my fellow colleagues and classmates, the
faculty and professors as well as the administrators.
In order to learn one must feel safe. I am a senior majoring in
psychology with a minor in Native American Indigenous Studies. My
tribes are White Mountain Apache and San Carlos Apache from Arizona. In
my research of Native American historical trauma and compassion, I have
come to the conclusion that when the brain, spirit, and body experience
trauma they cannot learn until they feel safe again. Coming from a
reservation of despair; staggering unemployment, suicide, and teen
pregnancy rates, there is little hope. When I left home for college I
did not realize how my experiences would bring a new perspective in the
classroom and help ``outsiders'' understand. I also didn't understand
that I needed to feel safe in order to express, share, and learn.
Fortunately my professors and classmates provide a culture on campus
that allows for reciprocal learning.
I have had incredible opportunities to share my stories and Apache
culture with the outside world. I have been blessed to have the support
system from departments, faculty, students and mentors. The campus has
allowed for many students to feel safe and comfortable with who they
are and where they come from. Personally, I have found hope and it
gives me courage. Courage to take advantage of opportunities offered at
Fort Lewis. A few experiences stand out; after being elected a student
senator (ASFLC 2010-11) I had the privilege of writing the resolution,
``Striving for Common Ground,'' which promotes open-mindedness of all
backgrounds. This passed during the centennial year of Fort Lewis
College, 1911-11. I have also been blessed to meet with a political
activist and Tibetan nun. Her friends invited me to speak annually at a
Tibetan camp in New York where I share my Apache language, tradition
and culture. I share the message of my elders; we need to balance ones
American identity and ones Indigenous identity in order to sustain who
we are. I love the simple yet powerful statement, I am because we are.
I have been blessed to be a research assistant for an NIH (National
Institute of Health) grant that allows me to study Native American
Historical trauma and compassion. This grant has prepared me for
graduate school and the hopes of becoming the first social psychologist
with a doctorate of my tribe. I also plan to become the first Native
American professor in the psychology department at Fort Lewis College.
All of these experiences would not have been possible without the
fabric of people, the tuition waiver, and the environment at Fort Lewis
College.
Support and encouragement of students is seen and heard throughout
Indian country. Our elders, leaders and family members tell us to use
education as a way of being successful and more importantly as a way to
help our families, clan kinship, and tribal communities. In order to
prepare for the next generation, Indigenous students must honor their
responsibilities and create positive relationships with American
education systems. Traditionally college is a place for white students
to find themselves and express their independence and individuality.
This tends to be different for most Indigenous students because most
tribes and clanship exist on interdependent relationships. For Natives
like myself, college is a time when we leave our reservations, and
interact in an entirely different social context. Statistically the
odds may be against me and yet I feel hopeful and motivated every
semester.
As I approach my senior year, I look back on my time at Fort Lewis
and have feelings of gratitude and hope. I am grateful for the many
opportunities that only a unique place like Fort Lewis can offer both
Native and non-Native students. Students like me that identify as a
single parent raising my two sisters; as a first generation college
student; as an Apache woman; as a Native American determined to make a
positive difference in her community. I am also incredibly grateful to
my Indigenous ancestors that prepared for my future. The Southern Ute
and Ute Mountain Ute tribes committed an act of complete selflessness
when they humbly requested that in return for their ancestral lands the
U.S. Government must allow all Indian students to attend tuition
waivered and to be treated equal to their white pupils. I honor this
sacred trust by sharing my experiences at Fort Lewis and by identifying
as a proud Native American student and soon to be alumni.
Ashook. Thank you for your time,
Noel Altaha,
White Mountain Apache Tribe,
Class of 2013.
reference
Fryberg, S.A., & Stephens, N.M. (2010). When the world is colorblind,
American Indians are invisible: A diversity science approach.
Psychological Inquiry, 21, 115-119. doi: 10.1080/
1047840X.2010.483847.
______
Rank Order of States With the Highest Number of American Indian Tuition Waiver Recipients From 2000-2010
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
State Number of tuition waivers received
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Mexico................................................. 4,163
Arizona.................................................... 3,205
Colorado................................................... 2,513
Alaska..................................................... 1,449
Oklahoma................................................... 1,014
Utah....................................................... 368
South Dakota............................................... 249
California................................................. 230
Texas...................................................... 227
Washington................................................. 222
Montana.................................................... 125
Nevada..................................................... 97
Wyoming.................................................... 92
Oregon..................................................... 76
Kansas..................................................... 65
Idaho...................................................... 63
Nebraska................................................... 58
Wisconsin.................................................. 54
Missouri................................................... 49
Virginia................................................... 45
Minnesota.................................................. 39
North Carolina............................................. 38
North Dakota............................................... 33
Illinois................................................... 32
Arkansas................................................... 30
Ohio....................................................... 26
New York................................................... 23
Massachusetts.............................................. 22
Michigan................................................... 21
Tennessee.................................................. 21
----------------------------------------------------
Grand Total............................................ 14,763
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Resolutions
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[Whereupon, at 10:47 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.]