UMC eyes Native American recruitment

A task force for formed to look into the low percentage of Native American students at Penn. A top priority for the United Minorities Council this semester is improving Penn's recruitment of Native American students, a group that currently accounts for less than 1 percent of the student body. The UMC is forming a task force with admissions officers and faculty members to address the University's low Native American enrollment. The UMC has begun to plan the membership of the committee, but no date has been set for its first meeting. Part of the reason for Penn's limited Native American enrollment, UMC Chairman and College junior Jerome Byam said, is the lack of resources at Penn targeted toward Native Americans. Other Ivy League schools, such as Dartmouth College and Harvard and Cornell universities, have devoted resources to attracting Native American students. Dartmouth has had an active recruitment program since the 1960s and has a department and a residential house dedicated to Native American studies, said Leslie Smith, a director of undergraduate admissions at Penn. Penn currently has no such department or resource center. In addition, there are no Native American professors teaching at the University. College freshman and UMC Admissions Co-Chairwoman Iman Martin said Penn needed more classes devoted to Native American studies. "There is nothing here from an infrastructural standpoint targeted directly towards Native American students," she said. "Classes on Native American issues would make us a little more enticing to people of different backgrounds." UMC leaders met with Admissions Dean Lee Stetson last Thursday and, among other minority issues, discussed the formation of a task force. Smith will serve as the representative from the Admissions office on the UMC task force. She said Native American recruitment has been "an ongoing effort" at the Admissions office. Admissions has also worked with the University Museum in an effort to recruit Native American students. In 1997, Penn invited students and educators from Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations in South Dakota to tour Penn. Anthropology Professor Robert Preucel was part of the 1997 program. He and the UMC plan to meet later this month and discuss working more closely with Admissions to improve recruitment. Preucel said several faculty members go into Native American reservations as a regular part of their research but, as of now, there is no program in conjunction with Admissions to recruit students from those reservations. He added that Penn needs to establish fellowships and support systems for Native Americans. "There has to be a persuasive argument [for Native American students to enroll]," he said. Rodney Morrison, director of minority recruitment in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, also said he will work closely with the UMC in this effort. "I think part of the issue here at Penn is that Native Americans that are closely tied to their culture don't tend to look at schools that are as urban as Penn," he said. Byam also said that Penn has become trapped in a "cyclical process." He said the University does not devote resources to Native American students because of their tiny percentage; as a result, Native American students do not come to Penn because of the lack of resources. "It's a very, very complex issue," he said. Along with the administration and faculty, the UMC hopes to enlist the help of the United American Indians of Delaware Valley, a cultural group that provides advising services to Native Americans. "I don't expect to see any tangible results in my tenure as chair," Byam said. "This has to be on the UMC agenda for the next few years. I'd like to get the ball rolling."