Univ. woos Native American students

Administrators took one step toward addressing the campus' least represented minority group Saturday, courting 41 visiting Native American high-schoolers to enroll at the university.

Thirty-one Native Americans made the trek from New Mexico to College Park as a part of a week-long tour of the Washington area, joining 10 Native American students from Baltimore to share cultural experiences and prepare for the college application process.

But for university officials, the visit had an added bonus.

The 41 Native American high school students equal half the university's American Indian population, and Dottie Bass, the assistant director for outreach and programming in the Office of Multi-Ethnic Student Education, acknowledged the visit served as an important opportunity to recruit.

As of last year, the university enrolled 82 Native American undergraduate students (less than one percent of the student population) and did not have any Native American professors. Student groups drew attention to Native Americans' plight at the university through several protests last spring when two classes with American Indian themes were canceled.

Dustin Richardson, former president of the American Indian Student Union, said these small numbers sometimes make it hard to be a Native American student at the university.

"It becomes a little frustrating when you see a Redskins logo during football season, and it can also be frustrating when a professor makes a racial comment during class," Richardson said. "You constantly have to defend your identity."

For the 41 Native Americans visiting, Saturday was all about embracing their identities.

The students represented a range of tribes including the Navajo, Cherokee, Black Crow and Lumbee, and those from New Mexico introduced themselves in their native tongues before speaking in English.

Brian Butlar, one of the Native American students from Baltimore, noted the New Mexico students represented a culture vastly different from his urban American Indian experience.

"I think it's pretty cool," Butlar said. "I've been to powwow, but I've never seen kids who speak Native American languages. They don't live in the city like we do, but we're all Native American and have Native American culture and understanding."

College preparation classes, essay workshops and financial aid information sessions started the students' day, and they later met with representatives from Towson University and Johns Hopkins University who were also looking to recruit Native American students.

Tracy Canard-Goodluck, of the Native American Community Academy of Albuquerque, said the trip served the students as well as the colleges by introducing them to the country outside the West.

"It's really benefited our students, especially because our students don't get a lot of exposure outside our state," Canard-Goodluck said. "It broadens your perspective on where the students can go to college."

After leaving the university, the New Mexico students learned about internship opportunities at American University, met with their state's congressmen and learned how to lobby on behalf of Native American issues.

"The trip was designed as a youth leadership Washington, D.C., experience from an indigenous perspective," Canard-Goodluck said. "Our students are now being thoughtful of 'Oh, how do I get an internship?' … and learning that tribes have a political clout."

As for this university, Richardson said he hoped the trip would result in at least a few new Native American university students.

"More Native American students would add diversity to the college campus," he said. "It would also add culture. Moreover, it would help people on campus connect with those who have a different personal and world view."

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