Staff Editorial: A course of action

A university seal hanging in Stamp Student Union depicts two pilgrims standing beside the state flag: One, wearing a top hat, yields a shovel; the other, a sailor, carries a knife. Knight's armor and a crown sit above the flag. The seal is one of the few reminders on the campus that we were not the first people here.

Four hundred years ago, Algonquin North American Indians fished, farmed and ruled on the lands where we now study. The English settled the state in the 17th century, and through a long string of land deals and wars, early Englishmen eventually overtook the region.

As a university, we can hardly bare responsibility for this conquest. But as an academic institution, we are responsible for learning about the history and culture of the people today's Americans displaced. Next semester, students here won't be able to.

Because of budget cuts across academic departments, the university will not offer any Native American studies classes next semester. While the university offered two this semester - one in anthropology, one in American studies - the chairs of both departments said they had to focus on saving required classes amid financial strain. The Native American classes were electives.

The cuts come at a time when the field of Native American studies is growing. For decades, it was muddled in obscurity as the few academics who focused on the field struggled to find and preserve records. But recently, evolutionary biologists have turned to the study of indigenous peoples to explore humanity's early history. Agronomists and environmental scientists have found new relevance in Native Americans' relationship with land in a time of global warming and worldwide food shortages.

But on this campus, Native American issues remain mostly unseen. Native Americans make up 0.4 percent of the undergraduate population, rendering them the university's smallest minority group. And the pockets of American Indians living on the Atlantic Coast have largely settled in cities, removed from their heritage - most of the country's remaining tribes have been forced West. It all adds up to a general unawareness of Native American culture here and underscores the need for classes exploring it. Many students have taken note. Both of this semester's Native American classes have six open seats out of 35. Dustin Richardson, president of the American Indian Student Union, said Native American classes were just as popular when the university once offered six.

The truth is, administrators can't cater to every minority student group clamoring for classes, a certificate program, a minor or a major. There aren't enough resources. Just last week, the Latino Student Union rallied to draw attention to the tenuous state of the university's U.S. Latino/a Studies program, and Asian American students are fighting for their own major.

But administrators should heed Native American students' call. They're not asking for costly new programs or new faculty positions, just $15,000 to fund a few classes. It wouldn't cost anything to adapt existing curricula in English, history and the sciences to incorporate Native American themes. With this, we wouldn't merely be offering token recognition to Native American students. American Indians set the foundation of our country, and their culture is quickly fading - these classes can help to preserve it.