Native American students make voices heard

"You're standing on Indian land." Last week, chalked messages on Cross Campus called attention to an increasingly vocal and integral group of Yale students: Native Americans.

JULIA TIERNAN/YH NATIVE SPIRIT: The small but active Association of Native Americans at Yale turned heads with this chalk mural outside Lanman-Wright.

Over the past few years, the number of Native American students at Yale College has risen steadily. This fall, 51 Native American undergraduate students are enrolled at Yale, as opposed to 42 in the fall of 1996 and 44 in the fall of 1997. Now, along with the student-run Association of Native Americans at Yale (ANAAY), the University is taking steps to accommodate the needs of Native American students and to attract more Native Americans to Yale.

This year, Yale is providing a senior peer advisor to offer guidance to Native American freshmen and sophomores. Ross-Alan Tisdale, MC '99, this year's peer advisor, also serves as ANAAY moderator. "I believe deeply that the Native experience at Yale is one of constant struggle both in our classrooms and in our colleges," Tisdale, who is Affiliated with the Osage tribe, said. "Few outsiders are able to grasp the complexity of our diverse backgrounds."

Yale's Native American students appreciate measures like these. "Involvement in cultural activities is very important to me," Nelvan Cerventes, JE '02, said. Cervantes, born and raised on a Native American reservation, said the vibrancy of Yale's Native American community led her to select Yale."I hoped to be able to continue to be a part of an active and supportive Native American community," she said " ANAAY has made this possible." Founded in 1991 by three Native American students, ANAAY's aim is to unite Yale's Native American community.

When Rebecca Feinberg, BR '01, applied to Yale, she was not aware of the existence of ANAAY. Feinberg has since become heavily involved in ANAAY and is the organization's secretary and historian. Now an American studies major planning to concentrate on Native American studies, she said that her "involvement in the group has influenced what I want to do at Yale."

Although Yale's Native American population is small relative to other minority groups, ANAAY is an increasing presence on campus, and Native American undergraduates and graduate students from many backgrounds and tribes are active in its activities. Last week's Cross Campus chalkings were part of a movement to commemorate Indigenous People's Day on Sun., Oct. 11. The centerpiece of the event was a Candlelight Vigil co-hosted by ANAAY and Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Azlan, the Chicano students' association. Feinberg said that the events were an attempt to "commemorate, celebrate, and remember our ancestors' struggle and our struggles today, and to raise an awareness that Columbus Day may not be the most appropriate celebration."

In addition, ANAAY plays a role in a major annual Native American Conference held at Yale. Last year's conference featured such distinguished Native American scholars as N. Scott Momaday, Elizabeth Cook-Lynn, and Vine Deloria. This spring will mark the second year of the conference. At the end of the conference, ANAAY will host its first pow-wow, a traditional Native American festival that includes dance, drumming, singing, crafts, and food.

ANAAY is trying to make prospective students aware of its presence as well. The association is pressuring the Undergraduate Admissions Office to begin recruiting students on Native American reservations to increase the small number of students who have made the transition from a reservation to Yale.

ANAAY Political Action Co-Chair Amanda De Zutter, PC '01, serves as a student recruitment coordinator focusing on Native Americans in the Minority Recruitment Program. "It's very important to inform minorities of the opportunities at Yale," she said. "It's a way to diversify Yale even more. Some [students] have no idea they could go to an Ivy League school."

Outside of ANAAY's activities, Yale has other resources available for Native American students. The Native American Cultural Center, which shares a house on Crown Street with the Asian-American and Chicano Cultural Centers, is a place for students to meet, study, and relax. The Administration is also implementing a chapter of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES), a nationwide organization.

ANNAY's and Yale's recent efforts to bring together Yale's Native American community--and to increase its numbers through recruitment--are making progress in addressing an important concern: the retention rate of Native American undergraduates at Yale.

Of the 42 enrolled Native American students at Yale in the fall of 1996, only 33 stayed for the spring semester. Last year, however, showed a significant increase, with 41 out of 44 Native American undergraduates remaining in the second semester.

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