For Native Americans, Harvard and Other Colleges Fall Short

When Samantha Maltais arrives at Harvard this autumn, she will be the first member of the Aquinnah Wampanoag tribe to attend its law school. In some ways, she will be joining an ancestor.

More than 350 years ago, an Aquinnah Wampanoag man named Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck became the first Native American to graduate from Harvard University. He attended because of its 1650 charter calling for the education of "English and Indian youth of this country."

Maltais says she understands "Harvard's impact" because she has always lived nearby. And she is the daughter of her tribe's leader.

Harvard is "a symbol of New England's colonial past, this tool of assimilation that pushed Native Americans into the background in their own homelands," she said.

Maltais will arrive on campus at a time when Native American tribes, students and University teachers and officials are pushing the famous university and other colleges to do more for Indigenous¹ communities. Many feel the schools need to admit their past wrongs. It is similar to the call for states and other communities to admit to the wrongs of slavery and discrimination against Black people.

Calls for return of lands, lower costs

In Minnesota, 11 tribes have called on the state university system to return some of the lands taken from tribes. They have also asked for Native American students to attend without payment and to increase the number of Native Americans in the administration.

Tadd Johnson is the University of Minnesota's director of tribal² relations and a Chippewa tribe member. He said the university will create a "truth and reconciliation³" process to investigate the historical wrongs and find ways to correct them.

"We're listening," he said, adding the university system is acting⁴ on "everything that has been thrown at us."

Meanwhile in Colorado, state lawmakers are considering legislation to permit students from certain tribes to pay much less to attend the state university system.

And in California, Native American students also want lower costs. Most California state schools have released statements that admitted their past wrongs against Native Americans and their lands. Tori McConnell is a 21-year-old member of the Yurok Tribe who graduates from the University of California, Davis in June.

"It's only right that they do these things," she said. "Actions speak louder than words."

University spokesperson Ryan King said officials are working hard to continue supporting Native students and tribal communities. He pointed⁵ out that the school created an advisory⁶ board that includes tribal leaders and others.

Looking to change the future

Many American universities are a product of an 1862 law that paid for the creation of public universities through the sale of federal government land. But a study found that much of that land had been taken from about 250 tribes of Native Americans.

At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT, near Harvard, Native American students looked into the school's past as one of the original federal land universities.

Luke Bastian is a 22-year-old Navajo student from Phoenix⁷. He says he and other students presented the results of their class project to MIT's president earlier this month. The students also asked him to create a Native American studies program.

University officials say conversations with Native students continue. Bastian believes they will make progress. Native American students asked for, and received, a meeting place for themselves, say Indigenous community backers.

South Dakota State University uses private donations to provide scholarships to local tribal members. It also uses money earned from the land to improve Native American programming, research and other efforts.

"We can't change the past, but we can change the future for these young people," says Barry Dunn. He is the university's president and a member of the Rosebud⁸ Sioux Tribe who started the Wokini Initiative in 2017.

Native Americans have the lowest graduation rates in the country, said Cheryl Crazy Bull. She added that the pandemic has made it even harder for Native American students. She is president of the American Indian College Fund, which awarded Maltais her scholarship.

At Harvard, there is a concern that Native students are being asked to withdraw from the school for poor grades at higher rates than other students, said Emily Van Dyke⁹. She is president of Harvard's Native American alumni group.

Students and alumni are also pushing Harvard to admit that it stands on land where Indigenous peoples once lived, Van Dyke said. MIT and the University of California, Davis have both admitted to being on land once owned by Native Americans.

Harvard spokespeople refused to comment.

However, Joseph Gone heads the school's Native American program. He said the university is in talks with local tribes and plans to release a statement in the future.

For her part, Maltais says Harvard and other schools should help Native students coming from distant tribal communities adjust to university life with counseling and other services. She also supports the idea of free education for Native Americans, but thinks it is not enough.

"Sometimes the only reparation for land is land," she said.

Words in This Story

youth - n. someone who is young

impact - n. a powerful or major influence or effect

assimilation - n. to cause (a person or group) to become part of a different society, country,

indigenous - adj. produced, living, or existing naturally in a particular region or environment

reconciliation - n. the act of causing two people or groups to become friendly again after an argument or disagreement

scholarship - n. an amount of money that is given by a school, an organization, etc., to a student to help pay for the student's education

alumni - n. someone who was a student at a particular school, college, or university

adjust - v. to change in order to work or do better in a new situation

reparation - n. something that is done or given as a way of correcting a mistake that you have made or a bad situation that you have caused

1 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

2 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

3 reconciliation   

n.和解，和谐，一致

参考例句：

• He was taken up with the reconciliation of husband and wife.他忙于做夫妻间的调解工作。
• Their handshake appeared to be a gesture of reconciliation.他们的握手似乎是和解的表示。

4 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

5 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

6 advisory   

adj.劝告的，忠告的，顾问的，提供咨询

参考例句：

• I have worked in an advisory capacity with many hospitals.我曾在多家医院做过顾问工作。
• He was appointed to the advisory committee last month.他上个月获任命为顾问委员会委员。

7 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。

8 rosebud   

n.蔷薇花蕾，妙龄少女

参考例句：

• At West Ham he was thought of as the rosebud that never properly flowered.在西汉姆他被认为是一个尚未开放的花蕾。
• Unlike the Rosebud salve,this stuff is actually worth the money.跟玫瑰花蕾膏不一样，这个更值的买。

9 dyke   

n.堤，水坝，排水沟

参考例句：

• If one sheep leap over the dyke,all the rest will follow.一只羊跳过沟，其余的羊也跟着跳。
• One ant-hole may cause the collapse of a thousand-li dyke.千里长堤，溃于蚁穴。