Q: Why wasn’t it fulfilling, what did you want to do?
I wanted to do something to help the Navajo and all native people, and realized I had the skills to do that so I went to work on Capitol Hill for Democratic New Mexico Sen. Jeff Bingaman. It was the first time I worked on tribal college issues.
Q: What did you do in the Senate on tribal issues?
I was the first director of the White House Initiative on Tribal Colleges and Universities established by (President) Clinton. It helped tribal colleges and universities to grow in every area. But since Clinton left office, we’ve been fighting just to maintain what we had when he was in office. Now with the incoming Obama administration, we’re looking toward building on what was established under Clinton, not just fighting for what we had.
Q: Why did you leave the Hill?
I decided to leave the Senate because I decided I could make the largest term difference by working on one thing I was really passionate about — tribal college issues. I believe that for reservation-based Indians, tribal colleges are the best hope for a strong sustainable future. If we didn’t have tribal colleges our language, culture and economic stability would be lost.
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