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<DIV>Yale lags behind peers in Native American outreach<BR><!-- Kicker goes here--><FONT class=print_text></FONT>
<P><!-- Byline--><FONT class=print_text>BY NEENA SATIJA, The Yale Herald,
4/4/08</FONT><BR><!-- Body processor--><FONT class=print_text><BR><!--image-->
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<TD align=right><FONT class=sidebartext>BRYAN TWAREK/YH<BR><B>
<DIV align=left>The Native American Cultural Center, remodeled under
Shelly Lowe, Dean of Native American
Affairs.</DIV></B></FONT></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!--end image-->The
record-low admissions rates of some of America’s top universities this year
reflect the growing popularity of these schools among elite high schoolers. But
though the number of Ivy League applicants continues to rise, this growth has
not been seen amongst prospective Native American students. </SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align=left>Yale admissions
officers face unique challenges in attracting Native American students to the
university. Recruiting on Indian reservations can be difficult for officers,
explained Allison Neswood, TC ’10, Vice President of the Association of Native
Americans at Yale (ANAAY), as they must canvass large, generally unpopulated
geographical areas. Recruiters often prefer to tap major metropolitan centers,
so Indian reservations, usually located in rural areas, “are often missed or
skipped over as a result.” </P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align=left><SPAN
style="LETTER-SPACING: -0.1pt">Nolan Smith-Kaprosy, TD ’10, President of the
ANAAY, was encouraged to apply to Yale through the College Horizons program, a
five-day pre-college workshop organized for Native American high school
students. Yale is one of 42 universities that send a representative to the
program. Besides College Horizons, however, Smith-Kaprosy said that Yale relies
heavily on its undergraduate student recruitment coordinators to attract Native
American students to apply. “The Admissions office would benefit, in its
recruitment of Native American students, by designating one [or more] admissions
officer[s] to oversee outreach to Native American reservations and schools,”
added Neswood. <?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = O /><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align=left>Such staff support for
Native American recruitment h<SPAN style="LETTER-SPACING: -0.2pt">as brought
results at other schools.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Dartmouth
College and Cornell University, both of whom employ senior administrative
officers dedicated to the recruitment of Native American students, sport the two
largest Native American undergraduate populations in the country. Cornell’s
Native American Program also contains a key outreach component in which the
university works with Native Americans in communities throughout New York State
by means of an outreach system entitled the Cooperative Extensive Program.
</SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align=left><SPAN
style="LETTER-SPACING: -0.2pt">For this reason, said Smith-Kaprosky, “A lot of
the Native students are aware of Dartmouth and Cornell in particular.” Both
colleges sponsor Native American houses and cultural centers on campus. In
addition, each offers trips structured to allow admitted Native American
students to see firsthand the prominence of the Native community on campus.
</SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align=left><SPAN
style="LETTER-SPACING: -0.1pt">Kayla Carpenter, a sophomore at Stanford
University, highlighted the Stanford Pow-wow as an influential factor in her
decision to both apply to and attend Stanford. The Pow-wow, a celebration of
Native American culture for all students on campus, has become an important
recruitment technique at Dartmouth and Cornell, and all three schools organize
events with student Pow-wow committees. Carpenter also met Stanford recruiters
through the College Horizons program, as well as through participation in Summer
Rez, a four-day residential program that prepares Native students for higher
education in California. She also received phone calls from Stanford students,
all members of her own tribe, and received personal notes encouraging her to
apply from her recruiters. “I thought that if they were treating me this well as
a potential student, I would be well supported and valued as a part of the
Stanford community once I enrolled,” she said.<O:P></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align=left>Stanford’s Native
American Cultural Center and Native American-themed dorm were also influential
in Carpenter’s decision to apply. She was also welcomed to Stanford’s Summer
Native Immersion Program (SNIP), a two-day pre-orientation program designed for
incoming Native students. The resources available to Carpenter helped ease the
transition from her childhood community to college. Said Carpenter, “I had lived
on the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation my entire life, and these programs helped
to lessen what was largely a cultural shock for me.” </P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align=left>Smith-Kaprosy agreed
that one of the biggest challenges any university faces in recruiting Native
students is convincing them that they will be comfortable in their prospective
new environment. Through his interactions with prospective American Indian
students as a student recruiter, Smith-Kaprosy fields many questions about the
Yale community and its atmopshere. “There are a lot of East Coast and New Haven
stereotypes,” he said. “Yale’s a very different environment. It’s a very urban
environment, very fast-paced. A lot of high-achieving Native students are going
to be coming from communities that are very tight-knit, making them apprehensive
to attend an institution like Yale.”</P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align=left><SPAN
style="LETTER-SPACING: -0.1pt">Smith-Kaprosy noted significant improvements in
the facilitation of a Native culture and community on campus since Shelly Lowe’s
appointment Assistant Dean of Native American Affairs and Director of the Native
American Cultural Center. In addition to re-modeling the Native American
Cultural Center, “she has brought in numerous speakers and numerous
opportunities that we haven’t seen in the past,” Smith-Kaprosy noted. Neswood
referred to Lowe’s inclusion in Yale’s staff as a “huge step” in providing more
cultural resources for Native students at Yale. <O:P></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align=left><SPAN
style="LETTER-SPACING: -0.1pt">While Yale’s championing of its Native American
student body has seen significant encouragement, the university could certainly
do more. Smith-Kaprosy reinforced Neswood’s call for the Admissions Office to
hire an officer specifically designated for Native American student recruitment.
History professor Alyssa Mt. Pleasant, who will be Yale’s single Native American
professor following Serene Jones’ departure from the Divinity School next year,
echoed these sentiments. “We have seen tremendous growth in the Native American
student services since Dean Shelly Lowe was appointed the first full-time dean
for Native American affairs in Yale College,” Mt. Pleasant said. “I would expect
similar improvement in undergraduate recruitment, should Dean Brenzel and the
Admissions Office follow the lead of their colleagues in the Yale College Dean’s
Office.”<O:P></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align=left><SPAN
style="LETTER-SPACING: -0.1pt">Jones’ departure for the Union Theological
Seminary underscores the dearth of Native American faculty members in the Yale
community, which Smith-Kaprosy explains is an additional barrier to drawing more
Native students to campus. “Native students on campus have really pushed for
more professors and more courses,” he said, noting the importance of “adding a
Native perspective to the academic environment.” Judith Chevalier, the William
S. Beinecke Professor of Economics and Deputy Provost for Faculty Development,
noted, “The PhD. pool is not enormous.” However, she explained that “hopefully,
the scholarly community [at Yale] interested in Native American history and
culture will be a draw” in the recruitment of Native American faculty members—a
key priority in the hiring process for professors. <O:P></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align=left><SPAN
style="LETTER-SPACING: -0.2pt">According to Mt. Pleasant, the recruitment of
Native faculty and of Native students is closely connected. “American Indian
faculty are most interested in knowing that an institution has American Indian
students and is committed to supporting their intellectual development,” she
said. Yale’s Native American student body—over 80 students—is, despite fewer
support programs for Native students, second only to Cornell and Dartmouth. As
the Native community continues to grow on campus, additional administrative
support and resources from the admissions office might give Yale the extra edge
it needs in the pursuit of a more diverse student body. </SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align=left><SPAN
style="LETTER-SPACING: -0.2pt"></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align=left><SPAN
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