University Daily Kansan, January 31, 1985
Page 9
CAMPUS AND AREA
Indian tribes at crossroad director says
Ladonna Harris, president and executive director of Americans for Indian Opportunity, talks about the need to strengthen Indian tribal governments. Her speech yesterday in the Kansas Union was the first public appearance by a woman elected to the national title series is sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
By KEVIN LEATHERS Staff Reporter
Future policy decisions of the Reagan administration have the ability to shape the destiny of the American Indian, the president and executive director of Americans for Indoor Opportunity said yesterday.
LaDonna Harris, the president and a Comanche Indian, told a audience of about 75 people in Alderson Auditorium of the Kansas Union that the governments of the Indian tribes across the United States were at the crossroads of economic and political progress.
Her speech was the first in a series of four lectures focusing on the role of traditional Indian values in a rapidly changing society. The series is presented by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in connection with the centennial of Haskell Indian Junior College.
"Tribal governments are not progressing as they should be," she said. "The governments have become mere extensions of the federal government. But this is not how things should be. Tribal governments are just as much of a sovereign entity as any other local government."
Indian tribes, Harris said, can be either seriously helped or hurt depending on the actions of the federal government.
But a recent policy directive made by President Reagan in regard to government relations is encouraging house of the American Indian, she said.
"The administration has finally acknowledged that they will deal with the tribal governments on a government-to-government basis." Harris said. "This is encouraging because the only reason for these governments to be successful are reflective of the tribal community. And the only way for
Harris' organization, Americans for Indian Opportunity, is a national group that works to strengthen tribal engagement and economic self-sufficiency.
them to be reflective of the tribal community is if they are allowed to be responsible for their own actions."
REAGAN'S STATEMENT appears to reflect the findings of a study done by a commission he appointed to investigate the political and economic conditions of tribal governments, she said. The study found that the governments were unstable and operated inconsistently.
"It's nice to see the federal government taking steps to try and remedy the situation," Harris said. "But we've known this situation has been so long that we can point of view, continued government involvement in the day-to-day affairs of the Indians will continue to foster this instability."
Too often, however, the lawmakers don't initially take the Indian into consideration when they make laws, Harris said.
"I've seen it happen many times before," she said. "The federal government will enact a law and then turn around and say 'whoops, we forgot the Indians.' Sometimes it's a bit frustrating."
Harris said that American Indians always had been an integral part of society and that they would continue to be so.
"It's been a lot of work, but we've survived all this time and we're going to continue surviving," she said. "And with the recent actions the government has taken, I'm very optimistic for the future."
...
Center's use to decide tax status
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The question of whether the Adams Alumni Center is used exclusively for educational purposes will be the key to whether it will become tax tuppe, the coronary for the University Alumni Association said yesterday.
Brad Smoot, the attorney, said a clause in Kansas law saying that all property used exclusively for educational purposes was tax exempt would be the argument the association would use to seek tax exemption.
THE ASSOCIATION owed about $64,900 in real estate and property taxes but paid half of that amount as well. The other half was when a taxpayer pays under protest.
The facts on how the case will be decided will depend on how the clause is interpreted, Smoot said. It can be interpreted broadly.
The Alumni Association paid its personal property and real estate taxes on the Alumni Center, 1266 Oread Ave., on Dec. 19 under protest, for the building and a refund from the Kansas Board of Tax Appeals.
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But Don Gordon, Douglas County appraiser, said he thought the Alumni Center was not used exclusively for educational purposes and could not be compared with the NCAA
"We may have another Supreme Court decision, because I think we can convince the state Board of Tax used for educational purposes."
Smoot said, "It's the position of this office that the office is used exlusively for educational purposes."
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"That is a little different situation," he said. "They have administrative offices, but they have other facilities
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The association now will wait for a hearing date. At the hearing, the board will hear arguments from the association as to why it paid its taxes for the business. The board will schedule a hearing within 90 days after the filing of a refund request.
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Until 1983, the Alumni Association's office was in the Kansas Union, which made it exempt from personal and property taxes.
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the association will base its arguments on the 1984 Kansas Supreme Court decision that ruled the National Collegiate Athletic Association's offices in Kansas were exempt from taxes because they were used to benefit education, Smoot said.
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State law allows any taxpayer to pay taxes under protest by filing in the county treasurer's offices when the taxes are paid. Upon filing the protest, the taxpayer may request a hearing by the state Board of Tax Appeals. The board may approve the protest and refund the taxes paid, or it may deny the protest and the refund.
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The NCAA case could be compared with the Alumni Association case, he said.
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In 1983, when the association moved to the Alumni Center, it lost its tax exemption. The land on which the Alumni Center now sits was owned by the Kansas University Endowment Association until it was transferred to the Alumni Association.
"The NCAA is not an educational
facility at all," he said. "It doesn't teach a single class."
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When the Endowment Association owned the land, it was exempt from property taxes because it was used as a University parking lot. But when the ownership changed, it lost its tax exemption.
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CAMPUS INTERVIEWS February 15, 1985