Tribal Colleges and the Uncertain Future of Native American Education
The recent increase in funding for tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) has been a welcome relief for many Native American communities. However, the long-term commitment of the US government to supporting these institutions remains uncertain. As the Trump administration proposed cutting funding to over three dozen TCUs earlier this year, tribal citizens are left navigating the impacts of massive cuts in federal spending and the effects of the longest government shutdown in US history.
Ruth De La Cruz, a faculty member at the Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College, emphasizes the importance of these institutions in preserving Indigenous knowledge and lifeways. “This is not just a haven for access to higher education, but also a place where you get that level of culturally, tribally specific education,” she said. The college’s Four Sisters Garden, which grows squash, corn, sunflower, and beans together, is a testament to the Hidatsa practice of cultivating these crops as a symbol of community and resilience.
A History of Broken Promises
The US government has a long history of broken promises to Native American communities. The treaties, laws, and acts of Congress that established the trust responsibilities to uphold the health, education, and security of Indigenous peoples have often been ignored or underfunded. Twyla Baker, president of the Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College, notes that the US “prepaid” for the land and resources it took from tribal nations, and it is now time to honor those commitments. “They carried our languages under their tongues. They carried them close to their heart. They carried these knowledge systems with them and protected them to bring them forward to us. So I feel as if I have a responsibility to do the same,” she said.
The education pillar of the trust responsibilities takes many forms, including the hundreds of elementary schools on reservations funded by the US Bureau of Indian Education and the funding that pays for Native history and language classes taught at TCUs. However, the funding for these programs has been inconsistent, and the recent increase in funding for TCUs has been offset by decreases in other areas of the federal government that provide vital grants to these institutions.
Preserving Traditions and Cultures
TCUs play a critical role in preserving Native American traditions and cultures. The Native American Studies program at Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College, for example, offers classes on tribal sovereignty, traditional burial rites, and language instruction. Students like Zaysha Grinnell, a citizen of the MHA Nation, value the opportunity to learn from elders and community members who have passed down their knowledge and traditions. “You can’t get that anywhere else,” she said. “That experience, that knowledge, all of the knowledge that the ones teaching here carry.”
The importance of preserving these traditions cannot be overstated. The US government’s historical attempts to erase Native American cultures and languages have had a lasting impact on communities. Mike Barthelemy, head of the college’s Native American Studies program, notes that the lands where these traditions thrived were taken, and the communities were broken up. “You can look around us in any direction for hundreds of miles, and those are ceded territories,” he said. “There’s not a single Indigenous nation that got really, truly compensated for what they gave. And so I think that trust responsibility, it lingers.”
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