The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of SIU at Carbondale. Except during vacations and exam weeks, The Daily Egyptian is published Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and TWThF during the summer semester."

Native American Heritage Month ends on skeptical note for future festivities

After a successful month of lectures and other events, campus organizers of Native American Heritage Month are left with one final question.

Will there be any enthusiasm next year?

"In three years, I've learned how much apathy SIU has for culture," said Nichole Boyd, a senior in University Studies from Bolingbrook who has arranged Native American Heritage Month festivities at SIUC for three Novembers now. "The administration needs to step up interest in getting a Native American program on campus. Once the administration shows some interest in getting Native American faculty, it will change."

Boyd's frustration stems from the writing she sees on the walls.

Next year, after her graduation in May, there may not be anyone to step up and take the reins of the Native American Student Organization, and that could result in little attention when heritage month comes next year. The group has only a handful of members, and Boyd said many of them are graduating as well.

"I believe it's going to end," Boyd said.

Concerns at SIUC come at a time when the Native American profile across the nation has been on the rise. The National Museum of the American Indian, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., opened its doors to the public in September, and President Bush noted in a proclamation that more than $1.1 billion had gone to the Bureau of Indian Affairs during his first term in office.

Also, Native American studies programs have sprung up at universities across the country. A report edited by Robert Nelson of the University of Richmond points to 79 colleges in the nation that have taken on some kind of Native American academic program, something Nelson said is a rise from a decade ago.

Although SIUC is not on the list, many on campus say the program would be a benefit to the academic curriculum.

"The University would be well served to have as full a range of ethnic studies as possible," said Father Joseph Brown, director of SIUC's Black American Studies program. "The world is truly diverse and always has been."

Wanda Pillow, a professor at the University of Illinois in Urbana, thinks along the same lines. As the director of the university's Native American House, an organization that first appeared on campus last year, Pillow oversees both the university's Native American academic program and its associated cultural events. She said the program was a long time coming, particularly for a school that has taken so much criticism for Chief Illiniwek, the university's controversial Native American mascot.

"[The controversy] was always linked to a request for an academic program," Pillow said. "We've developed this because we're trying to build a program despite the mascot. We have strong ethnic and gender studies on campus. This is a good next step."

At SIUC, however, implementing such a program may prove more difficult. Native American enrollment last year did not even cross the 100 mark, and the number of undergraduate Native Americans was down almost 40 percent from its peak in the early 1990s. When compounded with budgetary constraints and the many other ethnic groups vying for attention, some sources say implementing a program is a tough proposal.

"The University tries to embrace diversity," said Seymour Bryson, associate chancellor for Diversity, "but we need to look at the number of students on campus. Right now, there's serious discussion about Latino studies. I haven't heard much about Native American studies except at this time every year."

Carl Ervin, a coordinator for Student Development, said he could at least be happy about that.

Despite the Native American's lack of influence on campus, Ervin said this year's heritage month programs brought varied perspectives on Native American issues to campus and gave the SIUC community some substantive discussion on the topic.

Although the future looks gloomy from his point of view, Ervin stressed that Boyd and the Native American Student Organization did a good job filling the month with programs this year.

"We added a different approach this year," Ervin said. "We had a diversity of speakers and topics. It was a good year."

 

 

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