For the past 25 years American Indians have struggled to find a place at the table of higher education.
T
he struggle to earn a four-year degree for many American Indian students too often rests on the challenge to overcome cultural barriers, particularly when attending a predominantly White college or university.
Despite the growth of American Indian studies programs on campuses across the nation, more Native faculty, and the creation of nonprofit Indian education advocacy agencies, colleges are recognizing that creating community is the first step toward recruiting and retaining students.
Ona Knoxsah, Prairie Band of Potawatomi, found out just how crucial community was when she transferred from a tribal college to the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. Knoxsah, who is 28 years old, was eager to be the first in her family to earn a bachelor’s degree. But when she entered the University of Minnesota, she quickly discovered that academic rigor would be secondary to the difficulties of adjusting to being part of an underrepresented and often misunderstood group on campus.
“At Haskell there were 800 Indian students,” Knoxsah says, in referring to Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kan. “All the faculty were Native. Indians were working at the movie theater. Driving around town you’d see people with eagle feathers hanging from their rearview mirrors. But it was culture shock at the University of Minnesota. I didn’t have that community. I didn’t see Indians every day.”
Native Americans have always struggled to find a place at the table of higher education. According to a 2007 report by the Institute for Higher Education Policy, only 13 percent of Native Americans hold bachelor’s degrees as compared to 28 percent nationally. Connection to culture explains a great deal. In the past 25 years, tribal colleges have seen tremendous growth — much of that growth is simply because the 32 campuses are established on reservation land or within close proximity to Native communities.
