Introduction: Native Student, Faculty, and Staff Experiences in the Ivory Tower

On July 1, 2003, I sent out the following ad on a variety of listservs read by hundreds of Natives and non-Natives involved in Native studies: Because of the numbers of Natives (and many of our allies) who have found themselves in tough situations in academia because of their political views, teaching styles, and quite simply, because of their race and/or gender, the American Indian Quarterly is seeking submissions for the forthcoming special issue, Native Student, Faculty, and Staff Experiences in the Ivory Tower. Also welcome are comments from our non-Native allies. Questions to consider include: What have been your experiences as a Native student and faculty member? Are you an activist, and if so, what are your interests? Have you experienced racism, discrimination, and harassment because of your race and/or political beliefs? Have you experienced discrimination because you defend Natives and their interests? Or, has your experience as an academic been stress-free? Why is that? How have you dealt with your situations? What advice can you give up-and-coming Native students and faculty who may face racism from the status quo? Commentaries can include experiences in the classroom, teaching strategies, job interviews, promotion and tenure problems, questionable essay and book submission rejections, and activism activities (that is, are your "extracurricular" activities as an activist welcomed or frowned upon?). [End Page 46] Authors do not have to reveal the place where they work (or worked) and you can be anonymous for publication (although as editor, I will need to know who you are; confidentiality is assured by me and University of Nebraska Press). Identify your tribe and if you are tribally enrolled or self-identified. For each comment, AIQ would like from three to fifteen pages. Please send your submissions by August 30 to the address below, or you may e-mail us at aiquarterly@nau.edu. Within a week of this ad, almost one hundred people e-mailed me to discuss their past and present problems in the ivory tower. Every issue listed above, plus many more, were addressed. These myriad problems faced by Native peoples in academia are constant, serious, and often overwhelming. Native students are not the only ones facing racism. Assistant, associate, and full professors face discrimination in curriculum, promotion, and merit decisions, and they watch as non-Natives who write about Natives win fellowships, grants, and jobs that evidently are off-limits to them. Indigenous professors hear that they were hired only because of affirmative action, or because the university is trying to meet a quota, or that they really do not know their stuff and somehow they were passed at their schools simply because they are Indians. Now, in some cases, this is true enough. I know that because I have seen it happen. But for the majority of Native scholars who have been devastated by their colleagues determined to keep them from succeeding (and being hired in the first place), these Indigenous people are unquestionably the victims of stereotyping, territoriality, and jealousy. Sometimes these attacks are so purposeful, planned, and vicious that the scholar leaves the university altogether or wishes that he/she could and in the process suffers tremendous self-doubt, anger, and resentment. It is truly impossible for me to understand how some scholars can say they are not aware that these transgressions occur. The stories told to me for this project are the same as what I have always heard and, indeed, experienced. I am not surprised at any of the stories that have emerged here, and I imagine that most Indigenous readers will not be either. What is perplexing, however, are the numbers that came forth. The response to this call for papers might seem overwhelming, but consider that over nine hundred people, for example, subscribe to the H-AmIndian listserv, and this is only one of several listservs where the ad [End...