• printer friendly
• mail this article
• iPod format
• digg

Photo

Students, professors, and members of California tribal communities celebrate the official opening

After two years of work and with the aid of a $4 million endowment from the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, one student’s vision to facilitate collaboration between educational and tribal leaders became a reality with Wednesday night’s official opening ceremony for the Tribal Learning Community and Educational Exchange program.

Housed under the UCLA School of Law within the Native Nations Law and Policy Center, TLCEE’s main focus is to foster a curriculum that educates students – both native and non-native – about the various aspects of native communities, including tribal law.

Chris Duro, a native of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians and an American Indian studies student, spearheaded its creation after transferring to UCLA and realizing that none of his courses were relevant to his origins, he said.

“I hope the program will attract native students in Southern California to get an education that is relevant to what they are doing back home,” Duro said.

With over 100 federally recognized tribes in the state of California, the program strives to establish a series of courses that are relevant to native students and can help them address the specific needs of their communities.

“We want to generate courses that draw together the knowledge and learning priorities of tribal communities (and then) draw that together with the knowledge that resides in the university,” said Carole Goldberg, a UCLA professor of law.

In addition to law students, undergraduates may also take courses developed under TLCEE.

DeAnna Rivera, director of TLCEE and a member of the Boriken Taíno community, said the program is not just a means to encourage university education, but to make native communities more comfortable with American higher education.

Already home to a tribal legal development clinic, the UCLA School of Law is no stranger to native communities – faculty and students have been assisting tribal communities in strengthening their legal structures.

“Because of long-standing federal and state policies that have stood in the way of exercising their sovereignty ... we help (them) execute what they want to do,” Goldberg said.

With several hundred guests, traditional bird songs and hors d’oeuvres at the opening, faculty, students and native members of nearby tribes eagerly talked about the innovative program.

Though other universities do have centers that deal with tribal communities, UCLA is the first to launch a program where students and tribal leaders learn directly from one another.

TLCEE also offers online courses – open to anyone – on pressing issues facing native communities such as violence against native women.

Members of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians hope programs like this will provide exposure to cultures often weighed down by exaggerated misconceptions.

“Giving people the opportunity to learn about us is key to shaping minds” away from preconceived notions of native peoples, said Deron Marquez, chairman of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, who mentioned that people still ask him if members of his reservation live in teepees.

“This program will allow for a proper paradigm shift,” he said.