Jared Walking Eagle said he is disappointed with the lack of regard on campus for American Indian students and their cultures.
“We’re such a small population,” said the junior in film studies. “There’s not much incentive to correct certain issues.”
Walking Eagle, the president of the Intertribal Student Association, said that the near-cancellation of the group’s annual powwow because of budget cuts is indicative of the U’s inattention to the American Indian community on campus.
The association, which holds weekly meetings to organize cultural events and provide a way for American Indian students to get involved on campus, organizes the powwow with the Indian Walk In Center, an American Indian resource and education center in Salt Lake City. Walking Eagle said the powwow is a large celebration of different tribes’ cultures. Many of the students and the Salt Lake community look forward to the event all year, he said.
“More traditional and contemporary students love the powwow,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that it was almost extinct (this year) due to budget cuts. But we’re plugging along.”
Roughly 60 percent of American Indians in Utah live in urban settings. The remaining 40 percent typically reside on reservations throughout the state, in counties such as Duchesne, Iron, Washington, Tooele, Box Elder and San Juan.
“In 1950, the government, in its infinite wisdom, decided to put us in the urban setting to improve our lives with more jobs and education, etc.,” said Lacee Harris, the mental health therapist for the Indian Walk In Center. “A lot of us came and went back (to the reservation).”
Now, however, many of the young natives come to cities to get an education, he said.
About 200 American Indian students are enrolled at the U. Walking Eagle called the number “dismally low” compared to the total population in the state.
“A lot of native students come from tribes, from reservations, so assimilating to a predominantly white community, let alone to a university, can be extremely difficult,” he said.
Off campus, American Indian students can still find a connection with their heritage at the Walk In Center, which co-sponsors the powwow.
Like most of the staff at the Walk In Center, Harris is a U alumnus who graduated in social work. Some U students volunteer at the center by teaching classes. Carrie Dallas, a junior in psychology, teaches children about traditional shawls. Other classes include courses on cultural heritage, mental health, diabetes prevention, native languages and substance abuse. The center also offers after-school programs for school-age children, a food pantry and testing for HIV and sexually transmitted diseases.