IV

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. RES. 539

To encourage the President to establish an advisory commission on tribally

controlled institutions of higher learning.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SEPTEMBER 21, 1994

Mr. SKEEN (for himself, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. WILLIAMS, Mr. RICHARDSON, Ms.

ENGLISH of Arizona, Mr. FAZIO, Mr. OBERSTAR, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr.

POMEROY, Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota, Mr. SWIFT, Mr. FLAKE, Mr.

HILLIARD, Mr. DELLUMS, Mr. OWENS, Mr. STUPAK, Mr. BEREUTER,

Mrs. MEYERS of Kansas, Mr. TEJEDA, Mr. PASTOR, and Mr. BARRETT

of Nebraska) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to

the Committee on Education and Labor

RESOLUTION

To encourage the President to establish an advisory commission on tribally controlled institutions of higher learning.

1 Resolved,

2 SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

3 The House of Representatives finds the following:

4 (1) The Federal Government has a special trust

5 relationship and a fiduciary duty to American Indi6 ans and the Federal Government’s Indian education

7 policies have progressed to a point where Indian
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1 tribes establish, control, and administer educational

2 institutions on or near Indian reservations.

3 (2) There currently exist 29 tribally operated

4 post-secondary institutions serving over 300 tribes

5 nationwide and over 16,000 Indian students in 13

6 States including Arizona, California, Kansas, Michi7 gan, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, North Da8 kota, South Dakota, Washington, Wisconsin, Iowa,

9 and Nebraska.

10 (3) Tribally controlled and administered post11 secondary institutions promote tribal sovereignty

12 and self-determination and promotes individual aca13 demic achievement in culturally sensitive environ14 ments.

15 (4) Despite the overall improvement of edu16 cational opportunities for American Indians within

17 the last 20 years, tribally operated post-secondary

18 institutions remain largely underfunded and Amer19 ican Indians continue to experience the lowest over20 all college attendance rate in the United States.

21 (5) The efforts of tribally operated post-second22 ary colleges to secure continuing and sufficient fund23 ing, staff and educational resources which are vital

24 to a successful academic institution have been frus25 trated by the lack of Federal assistance in promot-
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1 ing the National Education Goals for American Indi2 ans and the lack of awareness of the successful con3 tributions of Tribal colleges to tribal communities

4 and tribal members.

5 (6) The participation in federally sponsored

6 programs by historically black colleges and univer7 sities has been promoted by an Executive order since

8 the Carter Administration and that order has been

9 reaffirmed unconditionally by each subsequent ad10 ministration. The Hispanic community has also had

11 a similar Executive order for several years. The Na12 tion’s 29 tribally controlled institutions of higher

13 learning have been seeking a similar order.

14 (7) An Executive order would require no appro15 priation, but would promote the awareness by the

16 Federal departments of the fact that there exist fully

17 accredited tribally controlled institutions of higher

18 learning among the postsecondary educational insti19 tutions in this Nation.

20 (8) The tribally controlled institutions of higher

21 learning are not included in many department’s de22 fined program eligibility criteria due solely to the

23 fact that most departments remain unaware of the

24 existence and tremendous successes of the institu25 tions.
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1 (9) Due to the minuscule proportion of the pop2 ulation which American Indians comprise, they re3 main the last minority community which does not

4 benefit from this unique program, and efforts to in5 clude them within the executive branch have been

6 overshadowed by issues which confront larger demo7 graphic sectors. A legislative resolution to this defi8 ciency would ensure that this compelling inequity is

9 addressed expeditiously.

10 SEC. 2. PRESIDENTIAL ACTION REQUIRED.

11 (a) ACTION REQUIRED.—The President is urged to

12 issue an Executive order fostering the advancement of the

13 National Education Goals for American Indians, promot14 ing Federal assistance for tribally controlled and operated

15 post-secondary institutions, and establishing an advisory

16 commission on tribally controlled institutions of higher

17 learning.

18 (b) FUNCTIONS OF COMMISSION.—Any commission

19 established pursuant to subsection (a) should be respon20 sible for the development and implementation of policies

21 and programs designed to achieve an increase in the par22 ticipation by tribally controlled institutions of higher

23 learning in federally-sponsored programs.

24 (c) MEMBERSHIP OF COMMISSION.—Any Commis25 sion established pursuant to subsection (a) should be com-
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1 posed of members appointed by the President, but should

2 include representatives of tribally-controlled institutions of

3 higher learning, participating Federal departments, and

4 agencies, other institutions of higher education and enti5 ties from the private sector, and elected officials.

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