Education

Law School Clinical Assistance Webinar on VAWA Enhanced Jurisdiction

Kate Fort

Here.

This webinar will focus on ways for law school clinics to provide assistance to tribes seeking to exercise the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) 2013 enhanced jurisdiction. Indian tribes now have the general authority to implement criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians who violate protective orders or commit domestic violence or dating violence against Indian victims on tribal lands. Tribes wishing to exercise this Special Domestic Violence Criminal Jurisdiction over non-Indians (SDVCJ) must provide certain rights to criminal defendants and meet certain legal requirements.

NPR on the Restoration of the Phoenix Indian School

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is “Phoenix Students Restore School To Reclaim Native American Identity.”

ICT Profile on PLSI ’05 Alum Matt Campbell

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is “Matt Campbell Works the Dream Job at NARF.”

An excerot:

In 2005, he received a flyer for the Pre-Law Summer Institute for American Indians and Alaska Natives, offered at the American Indian Law Center (AILC) in Albuquerque. He called the AILC yet was told the deadline had passed. “They asked me to send my application anyway, and I got in,” he said.

Campbell describes the two-month program, which replicates the first year of law school, as “intense,” and it attracts recruiters from law schools all over the country. Not only did he do well, but he was also wooed by recruiters from three different law schools. Campbell ended up enrolling at Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University in Tempe. In addition to his J.D., obtained in spring 2008, he holds an Indian Legal Certificate, with an environmental emphasis.

Continue reading →

Students of Color (incl. Natives) Denied Intervention in Anti-Affirmative Action Suit Targeting Harvard

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here are the materials in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College (D. Mass.):

31 Motion to Intervene

37 Opposition

38 Harvard Response

42 Reply

52 DCT Order on Intervention

New Study on American Indian School-To-Prison Pipeline Problem in Utah

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is “Disparities in Discipline: A Look at School Disciplinary Actions for Utah’s American Indian Students.”

The abstract:

A number of recent studies and reports have examined the school-to-prison pipeline (STPP) and its impact on students of color. Few, if any, of these documents have focused on the troubling and undeniable effects of the pipeline on American Indian students. Nationally, 22% of all American Indian students receive disciplinary action at school, compared to 14.1% of all white students.1 In Utah, these students are almost four times (3.8) more likely to receive a school disciplinary action compared to their white counterparts.

Magistrate Decision in Griffith v. Caney Valley Public Schools

Kate Fort2 Comments

In which the student is denied the right to wear an eagle feather on her graduation cap. Her graduation from Caney Valley Public Schools, which is just north of Tulsa, is tomorrow.

Recommendation

The School demonstrated that the graduation ceremony is a formal ceremony and that the unity of the graduating class as a whole is fostered by the uniformity of the caps which are the most prominently visible part of the graduation regalia viewed by the audience to the graduation. Prohibiting decoration of any graduation cap by any student for any purpose serves these legitimate interests. Based on the application of these established principles the undersigned finds that Plaintiff has not demonstrated a substantial likelihood of success on her First Amendment Free Exercise of Religion claim.

Plaintiff’s Motion and Brief

Defendant’s Motion and Brief

20. Objection to Report and Rec (5-20-15)

21. Defs Resp to Obj to RR (5-20-15)

Public School Won’t Display Grand Ronde Flag Without Payment

Kate Fort1 Comment

And meanwhile, over near Grand Ronde:

Leaders of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde have pressed the Willamina School Board for a decision on their request, calling it a positive gesture in a district where about a quarter of the students are Native American.

It was greeted in April by a counterproposal from the board’s chair, Craig Johnson: The tribe should pay the district $25,000 over five years to display the flag. Another board member, Ken Onstot, said displaying the tribal flag could be “semi-divisive” because only a quarter of the enrollment is Native American.

Videos Available from Indigenous Peacemaking Training

Victoria Sweet

The NARF Indigenous Peacemaking Initiative held a training in Catoosa, Oklahoma on October 6-7, 2014. NARF partnered with NAICJA and Columbia Law School for this training and is working on organizing future Peacemaking events.

Videos of the training are now available here.

Anishinaabe nibi inaakonigewin (water law) gathering

Victoria Sweet1 Comment

Announcement from Professor Aimée Craft:

I hope that you will consider joining us for the Anishinaabe nibi (water) gathering taking place in the Whiteshell this June. After a few years of gathering with Elders on a project relating to Anishinaabe nibi inaakonigewin (water law), we are inviting people to come and learn about water teachings in an outdoor teaching lodge format.  We want to focus on youth participation and attendance.

Please share with your networks and people you think would be interested in attending.  All are welcome. 

To RSVP and for questions: watergathering2015@gmail.com

*Also, please consider bringing a young person to accompany you or assist us with travel funding for youth.*

 Agenda – Nibi Gathering – June 2015

Map – Nibi Gathering

Poster Nibi Gathering

Washington State bill requiring tribal history, culture & government to be taught in public schools to be signed tomorrow

Ann Tweedy1 Comment

The bill will be signed tomorrow at 9:30. It should be one of the first bills on the list to be signed, so arrive early. Here’s the list: Bill Action May 8th