CU to Expand American Indian Program

Ten years after student protests put the issue on the map, Columbia administrators are finally taking steps to start an American Indian studies program.

The move is a small one: a five-part speaker series that will bring American Indian scholars from around the country to Columbia to talk about their scholarship.

But officials said it is the only way to catalyze change.

"We don't have a critical mass [of faculty]," said Jean Howard, vice provost for Diversity Initiatives. "We're trying to create interest by bringing people through."

Howard and others said the interest in starting the program has never been the problem: the challenge lies in finding the staff and resources.

"There hasn't been a lot of strength in our Native American studies department," said Claudio Lomnitz, the new director of the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race. "We want to educate ourselves, faculty and students on the scholarship that's emerging."

One challenge is hiring: though the center would be responsible for running the program, it has no hiring power. As a result, individual departments will have to make the hires. While Howard said that several, including the departments of history, anthropology, and psychology who are sponsoring the event, have expressed interest, none have made a commitment.

Interest in developing the program began ten years after student protestors demanded the University develop an American Indian studies department. In 1995, a Committee on Ethnic Studies and the Core Curriculum was formed to try and create an Asian American studies, Latino studies, and American Indian studies programs, as well as changes to the Core to make it more inclusive.

The administration addressed many of the other concerns, forming the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race in 1999. The Center coordinates all these ethnic studies programs, including comparative ethnic studies, which was introduced in 2003. American Indian studies, which was on the original list of student demands but was dropped over the course of negotiations, has yet to become part of the center's mission.

But while Columbia has been slowly moving forward, other schools-including Harvard, Dartmouth, and the University of Michigan-have been busy building up programs, said Nicole Adams, communications director for the American Indian College Fund.

"Columbia was not on the cutting edge," said professor Evan Haefeli, who teaches American Indian history. "Columbia's now sort of coming back up to speed."

Haefeli said one problem is the relative youth of the field. "Native American studies is a very small field," he said. "Few professors did it until the last ten years."

But Adams disagreed.

"Other institutions have had their [American Indian studies] program in place," she said. "If that were the case, how could other Ivy League institutions keep going?"

There have been positive signs. This year, Barnard hired professor Severin Fowles, who specializes in Native American archaeology, to a tenure track position.

While he said it is sometime difficult to be a member of such a small field, Fowles said he is glad to be here.

"In some senses it [the lack of professors] may discourage certain scholars ... it's a bummer not to have other colleagues to talk to," he said. "On the other hand, you feel like you're coming to build a need."