Resolution # DEN-18-038
TITLE: Support for Higher Education Admissions Departments Engaging Tribal Nations Regarding Recruiting and Admissions Practices
WHEREAS, we, the members of the National Congress of American Indians of the United States, invoking the divine blessing of the Creator upon our efforts and purposes, in order to preserve for ourselves and our descendants the inherent sovereign rights of our Indian nations, rights secured under Indian treaties and agreements with the United States, and all other rights and benefits to which we are entitled under the laws and Constitution of the United States, to enlighten the public toward a better understanding of the Indian people, to preserve Indian cultural values, and otherwise promote the health, safety and welfare of the Indian people, do hereby establish and submit the following resolution; and
WHEREAS, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) was established in 1944 and is the oldest and largest national organization of American Indian and Alaska Native tribal governments; and
WHEREAS, American Indian and Alaska Native tribes are governments with the sovereign right and authority to determine their own citizenship standards; and
WHEREAS, tribal membership is a political status derived from the sovereign determinations of tribal nations and this unique status is recognized under federal law in the context of the sovereign-to-sovereign relationship between tribal nations and the United States; and
WHEREAS, the United States Constitution, treaties, and other federal laws preempt state law, and federal law controls relations among the tribal, federal, and state governments; and
WHEREAS, the federal government has treaty and trust responsibilities to tribal citizens; and
WHEREAS, Congress has “declare[d] that a major national goal of the United States is to provide the quantity and quality of educational services and opportunities which will permit Indian children to compete and excel in the life areas of their choice. . . .” 25 U.S.C. § 5302(c).
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) does hereby call on institutions of higher education to work with tribal nations to identify appropriate ways to address the misidentification, recruitment, outreach, admission, and retention of American Indian and Alaska Native students; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this resolution shall be the policy of NCAI until it is withdrawn or modified by subsequent resolution.
CERTIFICATION
The foregoing resolution was adopted by the General Assembly at the 2018 Annual Session of the National Congress of American Indians, held at the Hyatt Regency in Denver, Colorado October 21-26, 2018, with a quorum present.
Jefferson Keel, President
ATTEST:
Juana Majel Dixon, Recording Secretary