Section A · Page 3
The University Daily Kansan
Monday, March 6, 2000
Singing a traditional Native American "song to our mothers," Jack Anque welcomes a crowd of more than 100 at the Kansas Association for Native American Education banquet dinner Sunday evening. The three-day conference began yesterday at the Holiday Inn Holdome, 200 McDonald Drive. Photo by Selena Jabara/KANSAN
Native-American forum begins
By Ryan Blethen
By Ryan Biehn
writer@kansan.com
wriller@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
A performance by the New Dawn Native Dancers and an intertribal powwow kicked off the Kansas Association for Native-American Education conference yesterday.
The conference, which is in its eighth year, is meeting at the Holiday Inn Holidome, 200 McDonald Drive.
Cornel Pewewardy, assistant professor for teaching and leadership, said the goal of the KANAE's conference was to improve the education of Native Americans.
"KANAE is a statewide non-profit organization consisting of concerned parents, educators and students who advocate for the educational empowerment of indigenous peoples in Kansas." Pewwardy said.
The conference is called "KANAE 2000: Just Do It!" Pewwardy said that the event borrowed the title from Nike but that it also suggested that people needed to break out of old mindsets.
"It's also our reality that this is the year 2000, while some people's reality may be locked in the past, like the 1970s, 1980s or even the 1990s," he said.
Jim McKinney, Holton resident, was at the conference to make a presentation on preserving tribal languages. He said the conference was a wonderful way for tribes to learn from one another.
"There is quite a bit of variance between tribes," McKinney said. "We can all learn something from somebody."
Having a conference dedicated to the education of Native Americans is important, said Bob Marley, an instructor of kinesiology and sports skills at Wichita State University who was attending the conference.
"Most of our children have dropout potential." Marley said.
A lot of Native-American and other minority children are put into special education programs because they are perceived as being less smart than their Caucasian counterparts, which prevents them from succeeding, he said.
KANAE 2000 CONFERENCE
, tribal leader's summit on Native-American education:
1:30 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. today.
Holiday Hideout,
2001 MdAsphalt 9.
Sweat lodge ceremony: B to 11 ton at Haskell Indian Nations University
Speaker: Brad Hamilton:
Hamilton, the director of Indian affairs of the state of Kansas,
will speak about the state of NativeAmerican affairs in Kansas from 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. tomorrow at the Holiday Inn Holland.
KANAE 2000 awards presentation: 12:45 p.m. to 2 p.m. tomorrow at the Holiday Inn Holidem
Sherman Parks, office manager of the U.S. Census Bureau in Topeka, speaks to Mary Loveland, co-chair of Douglas County complete count committee. Before yesterday's Kansas-Missouri men's basketball game, Census workers were encouraging students to fill out their Census forms. Photo by Aaron Lindberg/KANSAN.
Census stop encourages students to fill out forms
By John Audelaheim
writer@kansas.com
Kansas staff writer
The U.S. Census Bureau was outside yesterday's Kansas-Missouri men's basketball game to promote this year's census count.
The Census 2000 Road Tour had one of its 12 vehicles in front of the fieldhouse, where workers handed out pens, pencils, buttons and brochures and encouraged people to fill out census forms.
Sherman Parks Jr., office manager of the U.S. Census Bureau in Topeka, said the van was at the game to target its 16,300 fans.
"The purpose is to bring awareness to the census," he said. "We try to do high-visibility events."
Parks said the vehicle was traveling from Arkansas to Minnesota with two drivers and their new dog, all of
whom sleep in the recreational vehicle.
"This is MTV with the census." Parks said.
John Fortney, Atlanta resident and one of the van's drivers, said the yellow mutt puppy, Cencolo, was from a litter in Fort Smith. Ark.
"He's awesome," he said. "He keeps us sane."
Fortney said he was working for Alem International, a publicity company based in Boulder, Colo., with which the government had a contract to promote the census.
Parks said students should fill out and mail in their census forms because that would help ensure that Lawrence received its fair share of federal dollars.
"Twenty-three out of the top 25 federal agencies depend upon census data to distribute money," he said.
The federal census has two challenges to overcome. Parks said — the timing of
the university's spring break and the fact that Kansas is doing its own census at the same time.
He said one concern was that students might return from break and throw out the form along with the regular stacks of credit card advertisements and blue coupon packets.
Census forms come out in the middle of March, just before students leave for break.
"If they can mail it in before spring break, that would be great." Parks said.
"It's addressed to the residence. You may think it's just junk mail," Parks said.
He said Kansas was the only state in the United States that conducted its own census.
In that census, KU students are counted as residents of their hometowns, he said, but the federal census is concerned with where people live on April 1.
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