Program
offers support suppsupport for American
Indians
By
Monica Levette Clark
Daily Forty-Niner
American
Indian student enrollment at Cal State Long
Beach was the lowest at just .6 percent
among any other major ethnic minority group,
according to CSULB statistics of school
population in fall 2001.
Since
1997, the number of enrolled American Indian
students at CSULB has fluctuated between
.7 and .9 percent, statistics show.
Compared
to other major minority groups represented
on campus, including African-Americans at
6.7 percent, Mexican-American at 16.6 percent
and non-Hispanic white at 33 percent, American
Indians enrolled at the undergraduate level
in 1997 was also .6 percent, according to
the statistics.
These
statistics could very well be inaccurate,
suggested faculty of the American Indian
studies program at CSULB.
"The
number of American Indians in the United
States is generally a little more than 1
percent of the general population,"
said Craig Stone, professor and faculty
adviser to the American Indian Student Council.
"The system for identification of American
Indian students at CSULB has been one of
self-identification based on forms that
students fill out when they apply to the
university."
One
of the reason enrollment fluctuates from
year to year, according to Stone, has to
do with agenda set by the media.
"Enrollment
of American Indian students tend to rise
when the national interest in American Indians
is high, and tends to fall when American
Indians are not a popular subject in the
media," he said.
In
the past students were only able to identify
themselves with one group or another when
filling out an application for college because
categories were limited, but today there
are several categories from which a student
can personally identify themselves with.
"It
has been a nightmare in American Indian
studies," Richard Danay, director of
the program, said. "One of the most
asked questions by students is that they
think they are part Indian and want to know
if they can get any money out of it."
Students
are misguided into thinking that they can,
in fact, get extra money. Actually, the
money from tribal scholarships is figured
into the regular total financial aid disbursement
for each student.
Danay,
a member of the Mohawk tribe, said the government
identifies a person to be American Indian
if they have one quarter of American Indian
blood in them, while different tribes in
the community may recognize another as part
of their tribe based on reputation and long-standing
relationship.
As
director, Danay has been with the program
since he was hired at CSULB in 1985. Last
spring semester he was brought back on as
director after ending the position in 1991.
He said he was instrumental in consolidating
the program by eliminating obsolete courses
and establishing new ones, and re-establishing
the student council.
Today,
Danay is working on a proposal to develop
an American Indian Studies department that
offers a major instead of the certificate
and minor program currently offered.
Although
the budget for the current program is less
than other departments on campus, Danay
said the school recognized that it is necessary
to have a program to meet the needs of the
American Indian student community, however
small.
"Half
of American Indian studies programs have
folded at other universities because of
the lack of support," he said. "But
CSULB has supported the program both philosophically
and financially."
To
supplement that small budget the student
council helps to raise funds by holding
fry-bread and T-shirt sales on campus.
Along
with the student council, other American
Indian campus organizations include the
American Indians in Science and Engineering
Society, American Indian Student Council
and Alumni Association and Friends, and
the Native American Social Workers Caucus,
all of which are very active in recruiting
new students and financial support.
"I
don't think the issue is how many American
Indian students are going to one college
at a particular time, but what type of support
or reinforcement American Indian students
get in college," Stone said.
"American
Indian issues are seldom addressed in the
general curriculum," he continued.
"The opportunities to explore issues
of sovereignty, self-determination and cultural
survival often happen in tribal or socio-political
context, unless the college one is attending
has an American Indian studies program and
an active American Indian student group.
CSULB has had both longer than any other
campus in the [California State University]
system."
Located
at Puvungna, a known historical birthplace
of an American Indian religion, CSULB is
recognized by the American Indian community
as a special place and students are attracted
to the campus, Stone said.
Established
in 1968, the program at CSULB is known as
the oldest American Indian program on any
campus west of the Mississippi.
|
