UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Friday, March 5. 1993
7
S'92 F'92 S'93
40% 43% 42% Full-blooded
22 19 19 Full-blooded representing blood quantum from one tribe
17 24 23 Full-blooded representing blood quantum mix of 2 or more tribes
17 14 16 3/4 blood quantum
29 31 24 1/2 blood quantum
12 12 12 1/4 blood quantum
2 3 4 1/8 blood quantum
Heritage
Family statistics
67 percent of Haskell's new students (S'93) are first generation college students.
31 percent of Haskell's new students (S'92) were first generation college students
Source: Haskell Indian Junior College Counseling Center, estimated percentages taken from student responses from Spring 1992, Fall 1992, and Spring 1993.
$16,000 is the estimated average family annual income of Haskell's new students (S'93)
S'92 F'92 S'93
24% 22% 28% Speak tribal language
10 13 5 Understand tribal language, but do not speak
Language
Haskell balances traditions, future
Continued from Page 1.
said Doug Roberts, president of Haskell's Student Senate. "A Native American gets drunk, and people see him downtown and say, 'There's another drunk Indian.' But when you go downtown and see white KU students drunk, people don't see them as representing their entire race."
Many at Haskell, including Roberts, have tried to reach out to Lawrence and the University of Kansas. Roberts has met several times with KU's Student Senate to try to bridge the gap between Haskell and KU students. He talks about merging Haskell and KU intramural sports, and linking Haskell's library to KU's libraries through computers.
"There are people here who are curious
"There are people here who are curious about KU," he said. "There just aren't any avenues or reasons to go up there. Haskell is a city within a city. It's been liket,at for 109 years."
David Skeeter, a former Haskell student and a graduate student at KU, said many Haskell students resented KU.
"A lot of them hate it," he said. "A lot of it has to do with the way they're treated in town. KU students aren't followed around or stared at. Restaurants and businesses welcome KU students, not Haskell students. It's frustrating to deal with this town sometimes."
City leaders and Haskell faculty and administration are starting to try to bring the two communities together.
starting to try to bring the two communities together. The Lawrence City Commission declared Oct. 12, Columbus Day, American Indian Day. And Wildcat points out that the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce has given money to Haskell to promote arts fairs and other community programs at the college.
This spring, the first of several planned teacher exchanges between Haskell and KU began. Raymond Pterioi, assistant professor of systematics and ecology at KU, is teaching a course called Native and Western Views of Nature at Haskell. Don Bread, chair of the federal-tribal relations department at Haskell, will teach a U.S. Government-Tribal Relations class at KU.
And KU and Haskell have begun to work more closely to help KU students transfer to KU after graduation.
From painful past to hopeful future Changes at Haskell, when they come, will grow from a painful past.
Haskell's history mirrors the United States' treatment of American Indians. Opening in 1884 as the United States Indian Industrial Training School, the school's mission was to "civilize" American-Indian children. Forcibly taken off reservations, young American Indians were forbidden to speak their native languages while being taught English, which many had never heard.
The school's buildings had no heating or plumbing, and 100 students died within the first 10 years.
In 1890, the name was changed to Haskell Institute in honor of Dudley Haskell, the congressman who lobbied to have the school built in Lawrence. By the turn of the century, Haskell had become a high school and a vocational training school.
During the early 1900s Haskell was known more for its football program than anything else. Haskell teams played and beat Notre Dame, Oklahoma and Baylor. In 1970, the high school program was discontinued and the school became an accredited junior college.
"The biggest challenge that young Native Americans face in 1993 is learning to live in a modern, global culture while at the same time not losing the strengths and values of their own culture," Wildcat said. "It's a constant struggle between heritage and traditions and the modern world. Haskell has it to do two things: instill pride in Native American ways while still training students to go out into the world."
Today. Haskell's mission is a difficult one.
The problems American Indians face are well documented. On reservations, a 70 percent unemployment rate is common. Almost 90 percent of Haskell students have some history of alcoholism in their families. And American-Indian teenagers are five times as likely to attempt suicide than other U.S. teens. These problems often must be dealt with on campus.
"The problems Native Americans face need to be addressed by educated people," said Bob Martin, Haskell president. "It is imperative that Haskell students have the abilities to help their communities."
Under Martin's leadership, Haskell has made changes in many areas. The school has done everything from adding computers to expanding student services such as counseling and academic advising.
With the addition of the new residence hall, Haskell
four year degree program in elementary and secondary education begins this fall, and the school hopes to add more degree programs in the future.
"Wherever you go in Indian country now, you hear parents talking about college degrees for their children," Wildcat said. "They want more lawyers and doctors and accounts. There is a great need for more professional roles in the communities."
Students also think Haskell's growth is necessary
"It is essential to add more opportunities for all of us," said Dorothy Stitten, a second-year student.
"all of us," said Dorothy Sites, a second-year student planning to major in personal and human resources at the University of Oklahoma. "Adding four-year degree programs here is a giant step for all Native Americans."
But some say increasing Haskell's size and services isn't all good.
"Educationally, it's great," said Manny King. "But at times I wonder if it's the right direction. We shelter our students so much here, at times it seems like a small reservation. We might do better by sending them out to other schools after two years, where they can learn to face the racism and prejudice that is inevitable."
Challenge of change
While Haskell administrators and faculty are determined to see their school grow, change comes slowly to any institution controlled by the federal government. Haskell is financed through the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington.
"One of the biggest problems we face is operating a college within all the federal bureaucracy," said Hannes Combeset, executive assistant to the president. "And it's not just red tape. There are things like personnel. It's hard to attract quality Native American educators without having any flexibility in terms of salaries."
Combest said it was common to have job openings take a year to fill. And she noted that the new residence hall, which has been in the planning stages for more than a year, will not be ready until the fall of 1994 at the earliest.
"And because we are federally funded, our budget must be approved by Congress each year," Combest said. "A lot of our teachers get tired of hearing each year that their programs might be cut."
The challenge for Haskell is the challenge that all American Indians face: To draw strength from long and proud traditions while coping with the hard realities that face American Indians on reservations and in cities.
While Haskell students and faculty look to the future while holding on to their heritage, many say that the real challenge is for white America, from Lawrence to Washington, to accept them.
"It's sad, but the stereotypes are still very much alive," said Bread, head of the department of tribal-federal relations at Haskell. "People need to realize that these kids have the same problems everyone has. Yes, they come from distinct cultures, but they have grown up in the same country, the same society. They wear Reeboks and Nikes, and they like Nintendo. They weren't raised in teepees and they don't wear war paint. We are all human beings."
At left, part of the American Indian tradition is carried on by Dan Marmon and the Thunderbird Theater, a group made up of Haskell students. Below, Brenda Seaton, left, and Rita Whitehorse look at the results of an experiment during a Haskell physics lab.
Daron J. Bennett / KANSAN
Some of Haskell's history still stands on the campus as students use the basket ball court in Tecumseh Hall, which is nearly 100 years old. Although the school has a new sports complex, Tecumseh still is used for afternoon free time.
Plans are underway for a new dormitory at Haskell, but at the beginning of last semester overcrowding at Keokuk Hall forced administrators to place up to 1.3 students in what was originally a study room.