Being Native American isn’t only a race; it’s a marker of tribal citizenship. Colleges must figure out how to consider Indigenous identity in a new era.
UC Berkeley doctoral candidates Ataya Cesspooch and Sierra Edd and doctoral student Breylan Martin published a collective statement Nov. 11 about campus associate professor Elizabeth Hoover, who released a statement Oct. 20 rescinding her previous claim to Native American ancestry.
<p>Legally, the University of California system can only offer a tuition benefit to members of federally recognized tribes. But this runs afoul of historically complex issues of federal recognition, definitions of tribal membership based in race and ancestry, and the actions of tribes to manage their own membership rolls. </p>