An article on Justice Stevens here.
And an article on attacks on law school clinics here.
Education
American Indian Higher Education Consortium Brief in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez
Michigan Senate Efforts to Allow Indian Gaming Revenue Sharing to Benefit Schools
News article here (with an assist from A.K.):
School districts could use money received through agreements with tribal-run casinos to fund college scholarship programs through legislation approved by the Michigan Senate.
The bill approved by unanimous vote Thursday now goes to the House.
Michigan has more than 20 casinos run by American Indian tribes. The tribes have agreements with the state that typically provides 2 percent of certain gaming revenue to local governments, including schools.
The bill passed Thursday would allow school districts covered by those agreements to use their proceeds for scholarships for their graduates.
The legislation sponsored by Republican Sen. Ron Jelinek of Three Oaks was sparked by a plan from New Buffalo schools to fund a scholarship program.
Sundance Film Screening at Michigan Critical Issues Conference — UPDATED
The date and time is March 5, 2010, at 7 PM at the Grand Traverse Resort & Spa.
Aliza Organick on Tribal Law and Best Practices in Legal Education
Aliza Organick has posted her article, “Tribal Law and Best Practices in Legal Education: Creating a New Path for the Study of Tribal Law,” on SSRN. The article appears in a recent issue of the Kansas Journal of Law and Public Policy.
Here is the abstract:
Teaching culture in the law school classroom is enormously challenging. Teaching culture to law students in a clinical setting poses additional challenges in that we are not solely teaching the theoretical components of cultural competency, we are asking students to put them into practice. Law schools currently do not provide an effective framework for students to do this. By introducing tribal law into the curriculum, law schools begin the process of introducing students to the cultural component of legal theory and practice in culturally distinct communities. Law schools can begin this process by teaching the three-sovereign system endorsed by Justice O’Connor. In addition law schools should consider ways to provide a cross-cultural practice opportunity such as practice in tribal communities. Best practices provide a framework for developing an overall methodology for creating an institutional model that supports inclusion of this topic across the curriculum. This article explores the importance of introducing law students to tribal law and the culture of other local legal systems early and often, identifies key components of best practices that establish a framework for teaching culture in general and for teaching it alongside tribal law in particular, and finally identifies a few teaching techniques that may be helpful to those interested in trying cultural education.
Colorado Legislator “Sorry” about Proposing End of Tuition Waiver at Fort Lewis College
Here.
News Coverage of Michigan v. Illinois/US in Asian Carp Suit
One question might be … why wait until the Supreme Court goes into its holiday recess?
From the Detroit News:
Detroit — Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox is calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to flex its muscle in the fight to keep invasive Asian carp from Lake Michigan. In a press conference this morning, Cox announced his intention to sue the State of Illinois, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago to force them to close off waterways leading to the lake.
His move comes just weeks after authorities poisoned a section of the Chicago Sanitary and Shipping Canal to halt the spread of the carp, which are considered a major threat to the ecosystem of Lake Michigan. That project produced one Asian carp above an electrical barrier designed to keep the fish out of Lake Michigan.
“With the finding of (Asian carp) DNA within 6 miles of Lake Michigan recently … quite simply, now is the time,” Cox said. “These agencies have not acted quickly enough.”
Cox is calling for:
News Article about Tohatchi Elementary School
From Yahoo:
TOHATCHI, N.M. – Fifth grader Darius Yazzie’s after-school chores include hauling water for horses and feeding chickens, while his classmate, Shanika Begay, rides a bus 15 miles each way through the rolling hills of this impoverished corner of the Navajo Nation.
Some students travel a much greater distance, as far as 45 miles on dirt roads that become impassable in bad weather. Some of their homes lack electricity and running water. About 83 percent of Shanika’s and Darius’ classmates are poor, according to state data, with about 80 percent designated as English language learners.
While Tohatchi Elementary School is a new building this year, with walls decorated with Navajo language posters and student artwork, the demographics of poverty and language have added up in the past to some of the worst test scores in New Mexico.
But about four years ago, Shanika, Darius and other students noticed a change.
A bespectacled, mustachioed man with a buoyant character was there to greet them each morning. George Bickert, who as a first-year principal had to get a special waiver to take the job, immediately learned his students’ names. He gave them smiles, hugs and high fives. He led early morning basketball games, which Darius loved.
Like those games, Bickert turned academics into a challenge, one that he believed these students could win. And win they did.
Tohatchi boosted its math scores from 15 percent of the students being proficient in 2006 to nearly 78 percent this year. Reading scores rose from nearly 28 percent of the students being proficient to almost 71 percent this year, according to state data. Continue reading
Michigan Indian Day is TOMORROW!
Registration materials are here.
Here is the agenda:
Morning keynote:
9:15-10:30 AM — Historical Context of Boarding School Experiences & the Reverberation to Subsequent Generations
—Suzanne Cross, PhD
10:45 AM-Noon — S-1 — Intra & Inter Generational Effects of Boarding School Experiences: From the Voices of Native Women
—Le Anne Silvey, PhD, MSW
10:45 AM-Noon — S-2 — Intergenerational Trauma: Recognizing & Treating Grief & Loss in American Indian/First Nations College Students
—J. Tawa Sina, PhD
10:45 AM-Noon — S-3 — Boarding Schools & Scholarship: Considerations in Research
—James M. McClurken & Veronica Pasfield
10:45 AM-Noon — S-4 — Traditional Approaches to Prevention of Stress, Diabetes & Heart Disease
—Reddog Sina, DO, PhD
1:30-2:45 PM — S-7 — Healing the Hidden Scars: Coping with the After Effects of Historical Abuse
—Susan M. Montroy, MSW/LMSW
1:30-2:45 PM — S-8 — The Role of Language in the Revitalization of Identity Formation
—Helen Roy, Adam Haviland, and Autumn Ellie Mitchell
1:30-2:45 PM — S-9 — Substance Abuse Prevention & Treatment
—Cheryl Samuels, PhD
1:30-2:45 PM — S-10 — Elders’ Discussant Session: Historical Trauma, Boarding School Food Socialization, Intergeneration Eating Habits & Health
—Heather Howard, PhD
Afternoon keynote:
3:00-4:15 PM — Healing the Wounds: Historical Trauma & Urban Health Disparities
—Jerilyn Church and Josette French, MD
Amicus Brief in American Indian Religious Freedom Case
We filed a short amicus brief in A.A. v. Needville Indep. Sch. District before the Fifth Circuit (Needville-Historian Amicus Brief) on behalf of Drs. Suzanne Cross and K. Tsianina Lomawaima.
The ACLU of Texas is lead counsel in this case, a challenge to a Texas public school’s decision to suspend a kindergarden student because he refused to cut his long hair. He is a member of the Lipan Apache Tribe. The family was successful before the district court, but the school district appealed.
Other materials:
Turtle Talk 
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