00:01.90 heritagevoices So now that we're back from the break I Want to go back like I mentioned before the break and touch back on that diversity versus sovereignty issue and why you know being lumped in this category of of Diversity. Um. But so uncomfortable. 00:21.34 jason Well I you know first of all I don't think they made treaties with diverse on the name as as an excuse ah under diversity. They made treaties with. 00:31.25 heritagevoices Oh. 00:37.56 jason Sovereign Domestic Nations Tribes whose lands were dissolved in the process. Ah diversity is those types of efforts should include Native Americans but they. Should not include government entities and and sometimes we don't see tribes as Sovereign domestic Governments. We only see them as ah. 01:14.68 jason As institutions see them as one of the groups. 1 of the protected groups. Um, and tribes have much more ah specific enrollment. Ah. 01:21.33 heritagevoices Ah. 01:34.73 jason Methods just just like any country would have like the United States you have to be Abc to become an american citizen. Well the same thing applies to tribal governments. We have requirements. For you to become a citizen of a sovereign domestic nation in diversity efforts. You can take anybody who checks the box and that that isn't always the way. That things should be done. Ah and I like I said I believe native americans should be part of diversity efforts. But the governments are to be nurtured. Through the relationships designed by and in effort of the president of the institution. That's how governments work. And the hona is showing you are a great example. Todd Daho Sid Hill um he only meets with one person. Um, when it comes to government government regulation relations he well he'll he'll meet with particular tribal chiefs or chairs or. 03:06.13 jason Or government officials but he meets exclusively with the president of the United States he knows that his role is not to diminish the seat that he currently sits in now if you applied that to the state of Oregon and to the 9 tribes. They too will not diminish the chairs that they hold in their governments by meeting with people who are in diversity equity and inclusion. The relationship has already been established. With the president and that's the relationship to be retained. So I I do enjoy being part of diversity. But I the work that I do needs to make sure that there is a very ah. 04:03.20 jason Finite line between Dei and sovereignty relations. 04:10.50 heritagevoices Yeah, so let's keep talking about Oregon and what are what are some of the efforts that you have really focused on in your time in Oregon. 04:28.84 jason Oh goodness. Um I you know I had a whole list of things that I wrote on my board when I first came back and you know increased native Faculty on campus um help Chimawa get better. Tuition rates. Ah you know there was. There's just a number of things that I had expand the long house. There's which I haven't got to quite yet I gotta I gotta find somebody with you know $20000000 to help me with that. But there's there's the big. 05:00.24 heritagevoices So if you're listening and you have $20000000 you know where to find Jason. 05:04.81 jason Yes, that's right I'll put my name my number in the chat hub. Um, so I think probably my biggest accomplishment has been in tuition equity. Ah you know. 05:24.81 jason In each and every one of our treaties that says access to Education. Um, and when education higher education has become so expensive that you can no longer afford it. Ah you end up in situations that many tribes are in very. Poverty stricken and with all of the bad things that go with poverty. We All know that education is the Silver bullet out of poverty and that tribes need future stewards to come back to their. Reservations and to help them rebuild from generational trauma and institutional ah devastation meaning that the the government put us in these places out of the way where we can't We don't have a. Chance to have an economy. Ah and so how do you get native students who can't afford to go to college to you know if they are truly a scholar and graduate high school. They're are a defeated they already say well I can't afford to go to college So where am I going to go work. There's no work on the reservation. So I have to leave the reservation and then they rarely return tuition The cost of higher education is extraordinary. It's extraordinary for everybody. But when you you and your family only make. 06:59.40 jason $10000 a year. That's a different level of poverty and some of our reservations here in Oregon were are at that very destitute level so the in in 1996 the the first action that our native American Advisory Council passed was residency by aboriginal right? That allowed 43 tribes who had aboriginal rights to the state of Oregon like the nez purse. 07:24.84 heritagevoices Yes. 07:36.93 jason They have parts of Oregon that they the wallow a valley that they had aboriginal connections to but they are out of state and paying an extraordinary cost to come to the University Of Oregon just like if an Oregon. Tribal member went to California they would pay outof-sate tuition rates. It's about a twenty Twenty five thousand dollars above in state tuition rate. So it's it's quite extraordinary for ah to get a tribal scholar who's. Very very comes from very modest ah background to get them to even consider that they can go to college each each and every one of us has and this is what I tell. 08:30.24 jason Once we pass the residency by original right? and we should go back there and edit that part out because I jumped ahead of myself. Let me start here. 08:37.97 heritagevoices So so which part specifically would you like them to edit or like where would you like them to go back to. 08:47.36 jason Oh gosh I don't know I started talking about residency by aboriginal right? right? Why don't I start by ah, starting back up with that so 9096 we passed night that the residency by aboriginal right? It gave. 08:54.33 heritagevoices Um. 08:56.31 heritagevoices Okay. 09:03.63 jason 43 tribes who had aboriginal rights and ah to Oregon like the nez purs and the wall walloa valley they definitely are from Oregon but they're paying out of state tuition. So when we pass our tuition effort. At that time. Ah, nez purs were allowed to come to the University Of Oregon under in-state tuition race a 20 to $25000 discount one year later the state of Oregon passed the residency by aboriginal right. Forcing all of the oregon university system to apply that to their tuition schedule and and so you know our native American Advisory Council had immediate impact within two years we had. A significant reduction in tuition rates by ah 2000 and oh goodness 6 or 7 um we we ah added. Few more names to that list. There were some adjustments some tribes that had been termined or have been terminated restored and were terminated again. We maintain our promise to them. 10:35.14 jason And kept them on that in-state tuition list but by 2015 when I had returned to Oregon I noticed that Chimawa the the oldest running indian boarding school. Located in Salem Oregon and and I had joined the the the school board at the at chamala they are tamala school was not built for oregon indians it was built for out-of-state indians. And if anybody knows about boarding schools indian boarding schools. Ah they know that they know that the students were taken from their parents intentionally to separate them from their parents. So the cokewell were sent. To Carlisle out in Pennsylvania and chamawa was largely for Arizona New Mexico Montana Alaska and the student body still reflected that old determination. 11:31.30 heritagevoices I. 11:46.67 jason So they go to chamawa for 4 years and then they graduate and they find out even if they're duck fans or not they've gone to school for 4 years here that because their address is from Arizona that they have to pay out-oftate tuition. So we got the Oregon legislator to add chimawa indian school graduates all the way back to 1930 if you graduated in 1930 you're eligible for in-state tuition rights as well. So that was another tuition were eroding that that. 12:11.90 heritagevoices Wow. 12:24.18 jason Tuition barrier. Ah, just recently the oregon tribal student grant was passed and I helped author this between Oregon state portland state and the University Of Oregon but the Oregon tribal student Grant was just. Ah, funded and passed and it provides the full cost of attending a institution of higher education in the state of Oregon and so any tribal member. 12:50.61 heritagevoices Wow. 13:01.20 jason Any tribal citizen from the 9 federally recognized tribes in the state of Oregon are eligible to attend and everything is cost is is covered on top of that the University Of Oregon 13:16.24 heritagevoices That's amazing. 13:19.92 jason Knows because we've been in the business of trying to nurture and build cohort education since 90 ninety six at least that it's a lot more than cost barrier. Um, we offered the home flight scholars program. The home fly scholars program allows any citizen of a federally recognized tribe all 574 as long as they are Oregon residents can come to the University Of Oregon with a tuition waiver. So if you are. 13:54.24 heritagevoices So. 13:58.20 jason Ah, citizen of a federally recognized tribe and you are Miami or you are Navajo or you are one of the you are Onondaga and you live in the state of Oregon you can come to the University Of Oregon and have your tuition waived. 14:15.36 jason But we also know that there are other things that influence the success of native scholars acclamation to the campus living and learning in a cohort. We have a native american dorm here. We have the entire fourth floor set aside. For american indian scholars and they spend their first year if they're second if they want to their second year even their third year they could spend there living with other native scholars. We also have the many nations Longhouse. We. Received a very generous donation and unfortunately is and is never enough I I swear that the native kids that come to the uvo have never been fed before but we have a pantry a food entry and. Because it was ah it was a add on to the university I actually have to fund this I can't believe how much those kids eat but they quite literally walk into the longhouse which is right across from the native dorm. They've blowed their backpacks full of food. They go to class. They come back for lunch. They eat more food and they just keep. 15:13.00 heritagevoices No. 15:27.54 jason Doing this in the pantry. It's always needing to be replenished ah and land acknowledgements university of Oregon knows Atlantic acknowledgements are. 15:45.72 jason Are not um, it's a good first step but it is not necessarily the final step in acknowledging where the institutions are or who the students are that are on your campus and and they need to appreciate. Where they are going to school and who was there first. The University Of Oregon's land acknowledgement was asking the 9 federally recognized tribes of Oregon if we could install their flags in the center of campus. So we have Oregon's nine flags flying in the center of campus at the student union about 7000 students pass by there every single day but as a native student when you're coming onto campus here in Eugene. To see the native dorm to see the the long house to to be able to access the pantry to take classes from the northwest indian language institute to be part of the teacher education program such what? um. And then to walk over and get a cup of coffee at the student union and see your tribal flag flying that is a huge statement that the university has made and an endorsement by the tribes that we truly understand that land acknowledgements. 17:23.16 jason As nice as they are there still needs to be more action behind those land Acknowledgements. So All of those things contribute to making a welcoming campus environment for students who are coming onto Campus. From very remote locations very different populations at least they can see people that look like them. 17:52.39 heritagevoices Well I mean it sounds like you've done really incredible work so far. But what's next like what's what's the next thing you want to tackle. 18:03.21 jason Oh I would like to take a nap for about two or three years um Netflix and chill. That's what I want to do know the the important part for any. 18:11.82 heritagevoices Oh good. 18:20.57 jason Native that is contributing to or doing whatever they are supposed to be doing is to make sure that there's somebody. That's that follows you you cannot simply do your job and then leave you have to mentor the person that's going to come behind you. 18:28.43 heritagevoices M. 18:40.33 jason Because ah, you know institutions we tend to change change our minds change our faces frequently. Ah I frequently update the tribal chair list. Um, and contactless and and I give it to everybody that we senior communications you know the president's office make sure that we know when when birthdays are make sure we know you know who's recently passed. There's just so many things that you do because. You are in a personal relationship as an institution to a tribal government. One of the things that I have to do is to make sure that I am not working in a silo I am working with other native communities native faculty and staff. So that the momentum we have won't slow down. Ah there won't be any hiccups like we had in previous years the tribal councils do not change significantly. 19:53.97 jason Over time whereas University Presidents come and go more so than tribal councils change so you got to you got to really make sure that the institution knows that we change a lot quicker than. 20:03.29 heritagevoices So. 20:14.10 jason Tribal councils. It may the names might change but they're all related in some way. 20:23.58 heritagevoices Yeah, so okay, what. 20:27.52 jason That was it I said that was ah a long answer to probably a very simple question but let's. 20:35.57 heritagevoices No I Love it. I Love it. Um I feel like that was ah, an answer that ah that hadn't come up on this podcast before which is kind of cool. Um, and we are. We're like we're at the End. So I just. Want to ask as the final question you know if there's anything else that you want to to share or anything that you you wish that I would have asked. You. 21:02.54 jason Well I will say this ah and this is this is for all American Indians that are out there every one of us has had ancestors that sacrificed and survived so that we can have the choices that we do today. 21:16.62 jason Now that we have the tuition barrier tore down here at the University Of Oregon the question is no longer can I afford to go to college the question is where do I go to college choose where you are comfortable that is gonna be the biggest difference. In your transition and make sure you take a look at the University Of Oregon 21:42.69 heritagevoices Well I think you've definitely sold it I can't imagine anyone listening to this not being like I want to go to the University Of Oregon also that ah Rochester Institute Of technology play seems pretty neat too. 21:49.52 jason But yeah, well. 21:56.66 jason Yeah. 22:00.92 heritagevoices All right? Well thank you so much for your time and all of the work that you've done you know across across your journey and just really appreciate again. You you taking the time to to come back. Not not just once on this podcast but twice. So thank you. 22:16.41 jason Thank you Jessica I appreciate you guys having me.