'We are past the point of crisis' Professors push for University of Alaska system to overhaul Indigenous language programs Author: Apr 30, 2021 Stewart Huntington ANCHORAGE — Alaska is home to a rich tapestry of more than 20 Native languages, but some are fading and others are threatened. Now a group of Native scholars is urging the University of Alaska System to adopt a major overhaul of its Indigenous language programs in a fight against time to preserve living cultural treasures. “We are past the point of crisis,” said X̱ʼunei Lance Twitchell, a citizen of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes and associate professor of Alaska Native languages at the University of Alaska Southeast.