For Native American students who say they are often reminded on this campus of how little their peers know about indigenous culture and history, recent progress toward creating a Native American studies minor means more than new classes.
After a nearly decade-long push for a Native Peoples of the Americas minor, proponents of such a program have cleared the first hurdle in seeing this idea come to fruition. Advocates’ push led to American studies professor Nancy Struna volunteering to draft a formal proposal, which she will present to several university officials by the end of the semester.
The 15-credit Native Peoples of the Americas minor program would educate students on a broad range of indigenous experiences of North and South America, according to the draft proposal. Once Struna completes the proposal, it will go before the College of Arts and Humanities, an undergraduate studies committee and a University Senate subcommittee for review.
“There are a lot of students on [the] campus who want to know about native peoples, and student support has stayed strong,” Struna said. “I’m taking my time now to talk with departments that have had courses, and trying to get a sense of when and how often they will continue to offer them.”
Some Native American students, including sophomore art education major Jacquelyn Grissett, said they feel students have little to no understanding of their culture and history.
“When it comes down to it, [students] don’t know real information,” said Grissett. “They go off the typical picture in their heads of cowboys and Indians. It’s a confused area in people’s minds.”
Since there are limited resources relating to Native American history, Grissett said students are presented with few opportunities to learn about and understand the culture.
“The minor would clarify any kind of thinking of Native Americans as mainly historical,” she said. “It would make [the culture] more realistic and less of a fairy tale, and help people understand more.”
When they first proposed implementing a minor several years ago, the program’s proponents faced some ambivalence from university officials. However, the university made investments to help fund classes relating to Native American studies. The provost’s office has given $11,000 to the anthropology department since 2009, and last year both the provost’s office and the College of Arts and Humanities donated $2,500 to the American Studies department.
And although many officials said they are optimistic they will soon see a minor offered, Associate Provost for Academic Planning and Programs Elizabeth Beise said long-term support from the university will depend on sufficient student demand and enrollment.
“There needs to be a large enough suite of courses to make the minor attractive to a large enough group of students,” Beise wrote in an email. “And they have to make a coherent, high-quality program.”
Although only 32 students identify as Native American or Alaskan Indian on their applications to this university, current courses — including AMST 498L: Native Americans and U.S. Cinema and AMST 498K: Indigenous Thought in the Americas — are nearly filled up each semester.
“I think a lot of people will take [the minor], not necessarily being Native American, just as a general interest,” said Javier Vaca, vice president of the American Indian Student Union.
Dottie Chicquelo, an assistant director in the Office of Multi-Ethnic Student Education, who also works with Native American students and initiatives on the campus, said she would like to see community elders and storytellers serve as adjunct faculty to teach the courses.
Although Struna said she cannot speculate whether officials will choose to move forward with implementing the minor, some staff and students said they are more confident.
“I’m not even thinking that this isn’t going to happen,” Chicquelo said. “Hopefully with this minor, their truth will be told and people will be educated about falsehoods, as well as the blessings that come out of knowing what Native people really stand for.”
lurye@umdbk.com
