The University of California has announced a new initiative that will see the waiving of tuition fees for Native American students. The initiative will begin in Autumn 2022, and students who are state residents and members of federally recognised tribes will be eligible.
It comes under the university’s Native American Opportunity Plan. The aim of the plan is to increase student diversity while making the uni more affordable and accessible for Native students. The program will cover tuition and student service fees for undergraduate and graduate students who are members of federally recognised Native American, American Indian and Alaska Native tribes, of which there are currently 109.
Michael V Drake, the university system’s president, said: ‘I am hopeful that this new program will benefit our students and continue to position the University of California as the institution of choice for Native American students.’
Conflicting opinions
However, not all Native students are happy with the news. Jayden Lim, a 20-year-old at Stanford University and a descendant of the Pinoleville Pomo Nation, spoke out about being part of a non-federally recognised tribe.
They told The Guardian: ‘Just like the other Native people who are enrolled, we suffer all the historical trauma and the legacy of the shortcomings and the crimes committed against our people. Except the main difference is we don’t get all the benefits of being tribal people.’
Lim, who has a Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood issued by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, can trace her Native ancestry at least as far back as 1850. At just 15, she delivered a speech in front of Michelle Obama, and currently hopes to attend the University of California for graduate school.
She said: ‘It kind of just felt like, once again, everyone who lies in this politically grey area gets swept under the rug, overlooked.’
Hoping for change
In hopes of making change, Lim emailed UC, writing: ‘My family has worked extremely hard to increase access for California Indians and this policy, as it currently stands, will not result in that outcome.
‘I hope that you are able to revise this policy quickly in order to rightfully serve and uplift the descendants of all California Indian people.’
Stett Holbrook, a spokesperson for the UC president’s office, told The Guardian that the decision to limit the initiative to members of federally recognised tribes comes from Preposition 209 which prohibits affirmative action based on race.
He said: ‘UC can provide financial aid to students based on their membership in federally recognised tribes because such membership is legally deemed a political classification, rather than a racial classification, due to the sovereign-to-sovereign relationship that the law recognises between the federal government and federally recognised tribes.’