Thursday, April 29, 2010

NIEA Board Members Meet Senators Mondale and Kennedy while Developing Indian Education Act of 1972



Left to Right- Sen. Mondale, William Demmert Jr. NIEA Treasurer, Sen. Kennedy, Will Antell NIEA President, Dillon Platero NIEA First Vice President

The National Indian Education Association (NIEA) was created in 1970 following the first convocation of American Indian scholars at Princeton earlier in the year where the idea of a national organization focused on Indian education was discussed. William Demmert, Dillon Platero, and Rosemary Christensen, who incorporated the organization in Minnesota, were early organizers of NIEA had all attended the convocation. Will Antell's brother Lee had also attended the First Convocation of Indian scholars. In the fall of 1970 Will Antell was the resident Director of the American Indian graduate program in Education Administration at the University of Minnesota where his brother Lee and I were among the first group of students attending.

In the second year of the Minnesota Indian graduate program Lionel Bordeaux, Lowell Amiotte, Ken Chuck and Jim Ross, Joseph (Bud) and Herschel (Ace) Sahmaunt and Rosemary Christensen joined the Minnesota Indian graduate program. Ace Sahmaunt had been a congressional staffer during the time the Senate Subcommittee on Indian education held hearings in Washington DC in 1969 at which Rosemary Christensen and Will Antell had both testified. Ace also was a participant of the first convocation of Indian Scholars at Princeton in 1970.

Will Antell in 1970 was on loan to the graduate program as the resident Director from his position as the Director of Indian education for the State of Minnesota. The Indian graduate program at the University of Minnesota was one of four such programs supported by the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) including also Harvard, Penn State, and Arizona State University in that first year. We are all very grateful to Dr. Jim Wilson, Oglala from Pine Ridge, who was the Director of the Indian OEO for establishing these graduate programs. He was also the first American Indian to accomplish a Doctorate degree from ASU graduating in 1965. Another student of the Minnesota Indian graduate program in 1970 was Chuck Robertson who had along with his wife then, Gay Kingman had been students of Dr. Jim Wilson at Chadron State University in Nebraska. Both went to Washington DC where Chuck remembered assisting with putting together the graduate programs prior to coming to Minneapolis to enroll that first year. Jerry Gipp, Sandra and Dennis Fox and John Tippeconnic were among those that attended the Indian graduate program at Penn State in those early years. Rick St.Germiane was among those who attended the ASU program.

Bill Demmert was the administrator of the Kolwock Public School, Alaska when he attended the Convocation of Indian Scholars in 1970 and was by fall that year attending Harvard in the Indian Graduate program there. Dillon Platero was the Director of Rough Rock Demonstration School on the Navajo Reservation.

Initially Will Antell was asked to work on the statute as he was a personal friend of Sen. Mondale. Will could only do this part time and agreed to do it only if they hired Bill Demmert. Bill indicated that the Senators told him that the statute may not include everything that Bill wanted but it would not include anything for which he was opposed. It was from Harvard while working on his doctorate that Bill Demmert began to work with Sen. Kennedy on the development of the Indian Education Act that was to become law in 1972. The effort of working on the legislation ultimately became his thesis when debating on whether or not he could work on the legislation for the Senator or his degree at the same time, an accommodation agreeable to all was made to merge the efforts into one project and Bill began to work on the statute full time.

Among the Harvard Indian students were included Rosemary Christiansen who had been at the Upper Midwest Educational Lab in the Twin Cities, Anita Pfeiffer, who had been Assistant Director for Educational Services at Rough Rock Demonstration School and Joe Abeyta the long time and now retired Superintendant of the Santa Fe Indian School. Prior to holding hearings on the Indian education, it was Bill that recognized that Senator Kennedy’s staff hadn’t sought or had received much tribal leader support and consequently organized over a weekend the Harvard students to man a phone campaign to generate letters of support for the legislation from their tribal leaders and others. As a result a significant tribal leader voice was heard in support of the statute and it received favorable hearings and passed.

After the passage of the Statute and Bill Demmert completed his doctorate at Harvard was called upon as a special assitant to the Deputy Commissioner for Elementary and Secondary Education lead the effort at putting what was necessary into place, hire staff and all that is required to acquaint Indian people, communities and schools with the statute. Lee Antell was hired and though I was invited to consider a position in the summer of 1972, I declined and instead went to Northern Minnesota close to the White Earth Reservation where I am a member to work at Moorhead State College. The Indian Education Act programs were implemented in the US Office of Education in the Department of Health Education and Welfare (HEW) Following President Nixon’s election in 1968 and President’s new Indian Self Determination Policy of 1970, the Indian Education Act of 1972 passed. In the fall of 1972 four days prior to the November 7 1972 Presidential election of Nixon and McGovern, the American Indian Movement took over the BIA building in Washington DC.

Appropriations were provided for the Indian Education Act but President Nixon impounded the appropriations not allowing them to be applied. Bill Demmert in place in the Office of Education in HEW had a statute but no funds despite their appropriation to implement the statute. Jerry Buckanaga, Director of the White Earth Pine Point Experimental School, Secretary Treasurer of the White Earth Tribal Council and Secretary Treasurer of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe led the effort which resulted in the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe’s suit in January 1973 against the President to force the President to implement the statute. On April 10 1973 the Coalition of Indian Controlled Schools also filed a suit to seek release of the appropriations. The suit was joined by other tribes and the federal court found against the President’s request to have the case dismissed on the grounds of separation of powers, ruling that even the President is not above following duly enacted laws of the United States. By May 1 HEW proposed rules for the implementation of the Act, on May 15th sent names forward for NACIE appointments, and committed on May 21 to have funds obligated by July 1 1973.

Will Antell had served as President for the first three years of NIEA essentially through the time period in which the Indian Education Act was being developed and then passed and then became the Chair of the National Advisory Committee on Indian Education (NACIE) and a member of the National Council on Indian Opportunity (NCIO) and Chair of its Indian Education Subcommittee. Dillon Platero became the second person to be President of NIEA

© 2009-2010 David Beaulieu All Rights Reserved to Big River Man News-American Indian Education

1 comment:

Ms.M said...

Thank you M.Demmert