[nativestudies-l] Yale lags behind peers in Native American outreach

[Ruth Garby Torres]

Yale lags behind peers in Native American outreach

BY NEENA SATIJA, The Yale Herald, 4/4/08

     
            BRYAN TWAREK/YH

            The Native American Cultural Center, remodeled under Shelly Lowe, Dean of Native American Affairs. 
     
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. 

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." 

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. 

Such staff support for Native American recruitment has brought results at other schools.  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. 

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. 

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.

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." 

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."

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. 

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."

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. 

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. 



http://www.yaleherald.com/article.php?Article=6333
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