She didn’t go to Standing Rock because she was teaching classes at the time, but she has followed it closely both legally and culturally. On December 5, 2016, the Army Corps of Engineers announced it would look for an alternate route for the Dakota Access Pipeline — a route that would not cross Lake Oahe. On January 24, 2017, President Trump signed an executive order to advance the Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines. Legally, she said, the tribe is probably going to lose the case. But the Standing Rock legal issues show an advance for Native American culture, she said. “But the tribe has been very successful in the sense of culture and history in standing up for the sanctity of its rights in land and its right to be consulted by the federal government,” Steele said. “And at least holding the United States accountable for the choices that they’ve made.”