#9: A Powerful Speech Given at 2009 Haskell U Commencement

Thank you, Dr. Venida Chenault, for giving me permission to post the remarks you made upon accepting the award for 2009 Outstanding Haskell Indian Nations University Alumni. These are the words of a true and courageous leader whose love for Native People and Tribal Nations is evident and in practice every day.

2009 Outstanding Alumni Address

Venida S. Chenault, Ph.D. – Prairie Band Potawatomi and Kickapoo
Haskell Indian Nations University – Lawrence, Kansas
May 2009

On behalf of Haskell alumni, I extend greetings and words of appreciation to the students who are graduating today, the parents, friends and relatives who have supported and encouraged you, the platform guests; and the exceptional faculty and staff who make the Haskell experience possible, year after year. I’d also like to express my sincere appreciation to the Haskell Alumni Association for the honor of being recognized today. I know there were exceptional candidates being considered and to be selected on the basis of my dedication to higher education for our tribal people is very humbling.

The Haskell experience is remembered, shared and honored by tribal peoples throughout the United States, including my own family. Today my son, Derrick White, is completing his degree in American Indian Studies and we’re very proud of his accomplishments. His decision, like those of his peers to major in a discipline dedicated to advancing our governments, changing the politics of colonization, and advancing the sovereignty of Indian Nations is one to be commended rather than condemned. He, like many of your sons and daughters follow the footsteps of our grandmothers, grandfathers, fathers, mother, and other relatives who stood up against all odds to ensure our cultures and homelands, our fishing and hunting rights and the right to determine our futures on our terms would be protected.

As I reflected about the effect of Haskell on our family, I counted 24 of our close relatives who attended Haskell, beginning with Haskell Institute, Haskell Indian Junior College and Haskell Indian Nations University. I followed my brother and sisters to Haskell in 1975 and returned in 1984 for one semester before transferring to the University of Kansas where I completed my degrees. I came back to Haskell without hesitation in 1991 when I was asked to bring the social work program back to life.

This year, Haskell, the university of Indigenous Peoples, marks its 125th year in carrying out trust responsibilities for education to tribal peoples on behalf of this nation. There are both rights and responsibilities that come with the education we receive from Haskell, including educating those unfamiliar with our unique political status and working to protect our sovereignty and self determination.

There have been many periods of darkness in our history that should never be permitted to be repeated, including the abuse and mistreatment of our kids at Haskell and Indian boarding schools like it and practices that take away the hope of those we are sending out into the world to make a difference.

At Haskell, we have worked over the past two decades to ensure that trust education is not an inferior education and to ensure that Haskell would serve as an institution of excellence within the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the tribal college system. We made great progress in charting a new direction and mission for Haskell that required fundamental and strategic changes throughout our organization, the most significant of which was moving from a junior college to a baccalaureate degree granting University.

I remember a meeting in which the idea of becoming a university was ridiculed and laughed at as something we could never pull off.

I remember a meeting when an individual who believed passionately in the vocational programs stood up and said that Indians were only good at working with their hands and that we really had no need for college degrees.

These were not bad people but simply people who had learned it was dangerous to dream or to dream big.

For nearly two decades, beginning in 1989, Haskell became an innovative model for what Indigenous self-determination in higher education can look like. Under the leadership of President Martin, we began our transition into University status and four new baccalaureate degrees were advanced and fully accredited, including American Indian Studies, Elementary Teacher Education, Environmental Science and Business Administration. Today we see the product of that work.

Under the leadership of President Swisher we refined and advanced strategic planning and made further investments in our core mission of education, including supporting faculty in pursuing terminal degrees and mentoring new faculty. Today, we have the most well-credentialed faculty in the tribal college system. In 2005, we earned ten-year accreditation status from the Higher Learning Commission for our baccalaureate programs. Today we see the products of that work.

I am very proud of my leadership and service to Haskell during these times but the credit for our accomplishments is not mine, it belongs to faculty who tutored students on weekends and evenings, who purchased supplies for classrooms and mentored students into success as college students. It belongs to residential assistants who counseled and encouraged students who were lonesome for home and families into staying another day, another week, another semester. It belongs to staff in Curtis Hall who nurtured the spirit of students and teased them into coming back again and again. It belongs to counselor’s who stayed with students through crises and heartbreak and it belongs to the guys in facilities who helped students get their cars running so they could make it back home and come back safely.

Our work at Haskell is made possible because our employees are truly committed to the sacred responsibility to do whatever we can to help the people and our Nations. Today we see the product of that commitment.

At this time, we come together to remember and celebrate accomplishments and to renew our commitment to excellence at Haskell because it is excellence that our people deserve.

The lifelong friendships, relationships and sense of belonging that comes with attending Haskell, the cultural diversity at Haskell, the unique learning that occurs both within and outside the classroom and the beauty of tribal people coming together to accomplish something for the greater good has no parallel in any other University.

It is only at Haskell that students can pursue a degree, participate in sweat lodges, NAC meetings, remembrance feasts, Film Festivals, Empowerment Summits, Indigenous HipHop Peoples Project and wear their traditional regalia at graduation without threat of penalty.

It is only at Haskell that we have the opportunity to be taught by internationally recognized Indigenous scholars, grassroots scholars and distinguished faculty in nationally recognized disciplinary organizations.

We come to Haskell and we remain committed because we want to make a difference in the lives of Indian Country and today we see the difference passion for what you do makes.

As you move onward from this point graduates, remember that our history documents the struggle, the resistance and the sacrifices that have been made for the greater good of Indigenous Peoples. There have been no gains and few victories without persistence, the willingness to struggle and sacrifice. Standing up for what is just and right is a lesson in integrity regardless of the outcome.

Without the fierce determination of brave and courageous tribal people and our many beloved allies throughout history, without the audacity of hope, we would not be here today.

Go from here strong in who you are and fully confident in what you have learned and most importantly, remember to use your thunder wisely, dream big and pursue passion in all that you do.

Igwien.