Experts from around the state and nation will gather at the Knight Law School today for an eight-hour symposium to promote Native American education and sovereignty, highlighting a troubled history and proposing ideas for future generations.
The Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics is sponsoring “Sovereignty and Native Education,” a free symposium at the Many Nations Longhouse and Knight Law Center today from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. The symposium is part of the Morse Center’s 2005-07 theme, “Indigenous Peoples: National Policy and International Human Rights.”
The current symposium will cover Native American education, sovereignty, the afflicted history of boarding schools and current legislation and initiatives pertaining to Native American issues.
The Morse Center will host conferences, symposia and other events emphasizing Native American issues, including sovereignty and Native American law, education and women’s leadership throughout the next two years. The center has partnered with the Center for Indigenous Cultural Survival and the Many Nations Longhouse to continue its work with the nine federally recognized tribes in Oregon to educate the community on these issues.
Peterson Zah, the Arizona State University’s president on American Indian Affairs and former president of the Navajo Nation, will give the keynote address at today’s symposium.
“Zah is an expert on education,” Morse Center director Margaret Hallock said. “The overall theme of this event is to focus on issues of sovereignty and self determination. One of the resources to achieve sovereignty is education.”
Brenda Child, another keynote speaker, will share her speech, “Boarding Schools as Metaphor.” Child wrote “Boarding School Seasons: American Indian Families, 1900-1940,” which was inspired by her grandmother’s experiences at the Flandreau Indian Boarding School in South Dakota during the 1920s.
Child teaches courses on multiculturalism and Native American history at the University of Minnesota and is a member of the Red Lake Band of the Chippewa Indians in northern Minnesota.
Hallock said that Wilma Mankiller, this year’s Morse Chair professor and former principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, has attracted a lot of attention to the University and is allowing the University to connect with high-profile leaders in the Native American community.

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