I. Executive Summary
Turtle Mountain Community College is a tribal community college with obligations of direct community service to the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians. Under this unifying principle the college seeks to maintain, seek out and provide comprehensive higher education services in fields needed for true Indian self-determination.
“Self-determination is ultimately about the concept of sovereignty: the right of a people to govern themselves. Indian tribes are viewed as sovereign nations by the constitution. The Supreme Court has described tribes as domestic, dependent nations, meaning that some of their aboriginal sovereignty has been given to the federal government” (Native American Netroots.)
“The philosophical foundation of the college is embedded in the system of values that stem from the heritage and culture of the Anishinabe people and expressed in the Seven Teachings of the Tribe: Wisdom, Peace, Respect, Bravery, Honesty, Humility and Truth.” (www.tm.edu)
The Turtle Mountain Community College recruits its students through various forms of media which includes, but is not limited to: radio stations, print media, social media such as Facebook, and verbally. Now days the younger generation is more apt to actually be aware of the College through different forms of social media instead of before where colleges actually had to go out in the community and other areas in order to recruit students. The College employees promotes its services at other
The history and the establishment of various Indian tribes in America took the path of revolution by human civil rights institutions. The Indian American citizen had to form a movement whose main aim was demand for their rights from the Native Americans and the government by sorting for cultural independent protection, advocating of their human rights and restoration of economic rights. Independence of the human race do not always come as an easy task but is involves a sequence of efforts against the violation of rights by their native colonies.
While they do have a tremendous focus on workforce development and training, the opportunity to take a more active role in higher education exists. By adjusting their focus to act as a bridge for students, the community college has the ability to soften the transition financially and educationally. Community colleges must move beyond their reliance on open acceptance policies and actively pursue students who would otherwise attend universities. By offering comparable course tracks that will challenge and educate they can move even further past the image of being a second class institution. More focus must be placed on both building articulation agreements with the universities and educating potential students about the benefits of making the community the next stop on their education
Students nowadays face many challenges when it comes to obtaining a college education. We evaluate an institution’s quality based on what we need the most. The qualities sought out may vary by each person’s personal point of view. However, as a student, I’ve found that most students seek for an institute that benefits them the most. Attending a community college has been an enormous advantage towards my education. I have been attending San Bernardino Valley College for the last two semesters. I have come to respect their philosophies and values. The institution has now been in business for 87 years. They venture to encourage both students and faculty towards high standards of achievement and progress into exceptional members of the society. They now offer a variety of degrees, transfer programs and certificates for a wide range of students. San Bernardino Valley College has an accomplished staff, student support services and technological tools that pave the road towards the conquest of a quality education.
They were declared a dependent sovereign state and only the federal government had any say so in their affairs. Treaties were signed and land was sacrificed in order to retain some semblance of independence but the states got greedy and wanted it all. It was the Indians who followed the treaties and never went after their lost land or left their borders but the Americans continued to encroach on them. The Memorial Of the Cherokee Nation explained how Indians were tricked into selling land that belonged to the Nation so that Indian territory became American territory despite the people having no right to sell land given to the Cherokee Nation. The Cherokee government fought the breaks in the treaties but the judicial decision was overruled and the Cherokees were still forced to move. Besides the breaches in the treaties, the Cherokee tribe was one of the five assimilated tribes meaning they adopted European customs and religions. The Cherokee had become civilized as was the European’s goal and they fought their battle through the legal system not in a war. In this sense, the Indian Removal was unjust and
Amanda Cobb (2005) defines sovereignty as “a nation’s power to self-govern, to determine its own way of life, and to live that life---to whatever extent possible---free from interference.” If tribal sovereignty falls under Cobb’s definition, Native American tribes in the United States are not completely sovereign, for some aspects of their lives are still under the control of the federal government. Tribal councils are still regarded as having tribal sovereignty, but they are limited by federal funding and authority.
In Chapter 6, Wilkins discusses how the disclaimer clauses. These clauses keep states from exercising authority on Indian land (180). They are an “important but often overlooked tool in the arsenal available to tribes to assert their own sovereignty against state threats” (177). A specific example of a disclaimer clause is Wisconsin’s territorial disclaimer of 1836 which prohibited territories or states from having any authority on Indian land (180). In Native American Church v. Navajo Tribal Council (1959) it was declared that Indian tribes actually have a higher status than states (179). This was a major victory for Indians in their fight for sovereignty. United States v. Rickert (1903) was also a win for sovereignty in that the Court prohibited South Dakota from taxing Indian land (185).After the verdict in Seminole Tribe v. Florida (1996), the balance of power between state and federal government leaned towards the states. Before this, negotiations with tribes had been conducted at the federal level and not with states (187). This was against the idea of sovereignty because now the states had more power over the tribes and could abuse that power for personal gain.
A policy of self-governance would end treaty violation, justly compensate tribes for land, prevent bureaucrats from obstructing the ability of Native Americans to participate in their religion, and prevent the serious cultural loss that may occur if the government continues to use Native American land for self-interested purposes. Arguments that these objectives are unattainable and unfounded do not hold up to analysis. Therefore, to provide a remedy for the ongoing infringement of Native American constitutional rights, Congress should both return non-privately owned land taken in violation of treaties and abolish federal plenary power over tribes, permitting greater self-governance.
For several hundred years people have sought answers to the Indian problems, who are the Indians, and what rights do they have? These questions may seem simple, but the answers themselves present a difficult number of further questions and answers. State and Federal governments have tried to provide some order with a number of laws and policies, sometimes resulting in state and federal conflicts. The Federal Government's attempt to deal with Indian tribes can be easily understood by following the history of Federal Indian Policy. Indians all over the United States fought policies which threatened to destroy their familial bonds and traditions. The Passamaquoddy Indian Tribe of Maine, resisted no less
Community college is a great institution for students to start their educational journey. Especially when they do not have the funds or lack some of the prerequisite that a university would require. Community college was created to serve the community, traditional and non-traditional students with the best higher education and lifetime learning opportunities. The faculty and staff members at a community college is there to provide leadership in education while going above and beyond to recognize the needs of the students and the community by providing excellent educational programs and support services that are available to all who have the opportunity to take advantage of them. “Student services now include recruitment and retention, counseling, student activities, student health, financial aid, academic support, career centers, transfer centers, and supplemental services such as transportation, child care, and services tailored for specific populations of students” (Cohen, Brawer, & Krisker, 2014, pg. 209). My philosophy in fulfilling the role and mission of the community college, is to establish the mission, vision, goals and values to guide all students on their journey to strive to become successful both in school and in today’s economy.
Power can be viewed as the ability to influence and/or control others. Another flaw about reservations is the fact that they are not totally governed by Native American representatives. The U.S. government actually has tight control over the majority, if not all, reservations (Perry, 2002, p 233). This tight control has left the Native American population powerless in terms of self- regulation. Despite the fact that Native American government do exist,
However, Hamilton states, “Disenrollment weakens the People, individually and collectively. Former tribal members lose their identities, their culture, and their benefits. Sometimes they lose their jobs and their homes. They struggle to put food on the table,” thus giving insight to the detrimental effects of disenrollment (n.d.). He also goes to explain that more often than not, tribes that disenroll their members experience instability and a plethora of other problems that may last for many generations (Hamilton, n.d.). Hamilton continues with facts such as blood quantum and disenrollment not being among tribal traditions, as they spawn from the U.S. federal government; “I personally think blood quantum should play some role in determining who is an Indian . . .Disenrollment should only be executed in the most extreme cases” (n.d.). The Association of American Indian Physicians (AAIP) lists other reasons against tribal disenrollment, “. . . tribal disenrollment leads to the loss of cultural identity and access to health care, education opportunity, job opportunity, and housing which are social determinants of health. . .” (Walker, 2015). Perhaps one of the most riveting effects of disenrollment would be the federal government no longer considering you an ‘Indian’ (Stretten, 2014). Following disenrollment, you would no longer be able to partake in any federal funds that are sent to the tribe, or receive any of the benefits that come with federal support (Stretten, 2014). Some of those benefits include education, law enforcement, and agriculture and range management (Stretten, 2014). Although disenrollment is not necessarily moral in all cases, it remains a part of the Native tribes’ culture and tradition
There isn't anything more important to community colleges than the certainty that they can and should provide all qualified people who are looking to be accepted with admittance (Vaughan). The people of the community college represent forty-four percent of all undergraduates and forty-nine percent of students attending college for the first time (David). These students include a lot of minority students, students with a low social standing and the non-standard (age twenty-five and older) student who commonly enters college less academically equipped (David). Most community colleges have made immense advancement in reducing a lot of geographical and economic blockades that have in the past limited college admittance (David). Community
With the federal government’s support, many Native tribes have constructed Native Governments and Corporations where the rights to land and money are placed to their own responsibility. What this actually means is that the rights of the people’s land and monetary bonds are transferred from governmental trust to
One major reading that contests this idea of sovereignty is the book Mohawk Interruptus by Audra Simpson, which discusses the trials of Native American populations and their efforts to reclaim their own sovereignty. Within Mohawk Interruptus, the people of the Kahnawá:ke tribe struggle against the colonial idea of American or Canadian sovereignty lorded over them, and through refusal of such “gifts” regain their sovereignty. “… Kahnawa’kehró:non had refused the authority of the state at almost every turn and in so doing reinstated a different political authority” (Simpson, 2014, 106). Through these rejections, the people of Kahnawá:ke and Kahnawa’kehró:non established that the current system of sovereignty does not work for them, as it is colonially based to oppress the Native American communities. Simpson uses these examples to make a larger point on the Western systems of governance and understandings of authority. Though this idea of sovereignty, Simpson argues, was a way to appropriate land and incorporate or destroy opposing cultures.
From the moment of organized European appearances in North America, negotiation has been a central characteristic of relationships between aboriginal residents and newcomers. It is a characteristic that has been evident in treaty-making throughout Canada for more than three hundred years and it continues to be the order of the day in modern treaties, claims and agreements being negotiated with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis across in Canada. 1