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SDSU Wokini Initiative Grows into Farm Bill Funding for Higher Ed for American Indians

Kristi Noem and John Thune did one good thing in Congress last year. They got SDSU President Barry Dunn’s proposal for supporting American Indian education at our land-grant universities:

Located deep within the 2018 U.S. Farm Bill is a provision that could have a profound impact in the future. Section 7120 establishes a new USDA program entitled “New Beginning for Tribal Students.”

The new program authorizes the Secretary to make competitive grants, on a matching basis, to land-grant colleges and universities that provide targeted support for tribal students. The land grants can use the funds under this program for recruiting, tuition, tutoring, counseling, or other student services that would increase enrollment and retention at the university [Marshall Matz, “Farm Bill Surprise: American Indian Higher Education,” Pierre Capital Journal, 2019.06.11].

The New Beginning for Tribal Students program follows the lead President Dunn took at SDSU in 2016 with his Wokini Initiative:

The bill includes language that would support Native students to attend 1862 land-grant universities like SDSU as well as eligibility for tribal colleges with land-grant status to participate. SDSU increased its efforts to support Native students when the university launched the Wokini Initiative in 2016 to provide innovative university- and communitywide collaboration to strengthen American Indian student success by building authentic partnerships with tribal communities.

“One of the challenges with providing access to higher education for Native students is a sustainable funding model.” Dunn said. “The Wokini Initiative addresses that need and certainly the effort of many to include a pathway within the farm bill will ensure greater success” [“South Dakota State University Impacts Farm Bill,” SDSU press release, 2018.12.12].

Now if SDSU could just tie the Wokini Initiative into its agricultural science program and teach Indian students how to maximize hemp yields, we’d be getting full horsepower out of the 2018 Farm Bill.

5 Comments

  1. mike from iowa 2019-06-12 07:11

    Which close buds of Noem’s get to fondle these funds without oversight?

  2. Robert McTaggart 2019-06-12 10:13

    The larger issue is that the percentage of students who attend universities does not match or exceed the percentage of Native Americans in the state. A diverse workforce has benefits.

    While I would like to see an influx of students interested in engineering, physics, and chemistry…and some would like to see a focus on growing hemp…that’s really up to the students.

    A good thing about SDSU is that you can come in interested in one thing, but find out that there are other career paths available. Programs here are pretty flexible in accommodating student goals.

    Sorry jerry, they are not building the new structure for Native American students on campus with bricks made out of hemp. But maybe we can do something with plastic hemp bricks for radiation shielding, if they are not flammable.

  3. Porter Lansing 2019-06-12 10:50

    Q ~ Is the “Brain Drain” of Native youth equal, more, or less than the loss of white kids to progressive cities and states?
    *I could have utilized Cunningham’s Law and simply stated, “Native kids stay in SD more than white kids do!” As Cunningham asserted, “The quickest way to find a correct answer is to post a wrong assertion on the internet.” However, the level of intelligence on DFP makes Cunningham mostly unnecessary.
    Does anyone know or has the question ever been researched?

  4. Debbo 2019-06-13 20:38

    Bad news from DC. Perdue wants to move 2 USDA agencies from DC to Kansas City. The fear is that this is an Out of Sight, Out of Mind ploy.

    “Nearly 550 positions at the Economic Research Service, a statistical agency, and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, which funds cutting-edge agricultural science, are expected to be moved before year’s end.”

    “‘This is not just a change of address,’ said Jack Payne, University of Florida’s senior vice president for agriculture. ‘It cuts NIFA off from the collaboration with other federal funding agencies in D.C. that are its major partners.’

    “NIFA unionized earlier this week, and ERS unionized in May in the face of the decision. Union officials have promised to fight the move.

    “‘The announcement today should be met with great skepticism that Secretary Perdue has the best interests of either federal employees or American agriculture in mind,’ said Kevin Hunt, acting vice president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 3403, which represents ERS employees.

    “Gale Buchanan, USDA chief scientist under President George W. Bush, and Catherine Woteki, chief scientist in the Obama administration, predicted the relocation would set ERS back ‘five to 10 years’ due to a loss of specialized employees, as they wrote in a 2018 letter to Congress signed by dozens of agricultural leaders.

    “‘There isn’t a plan in place for how to manage this,’ Woteki told the Washington Post. The offices, which together employ about 700 people when fully staffed, are roughly two-thirds the size they were during the Obama administration.

    “Workloads have ballooned as ERS employees have quit at double the normal rate since October, the Post reported. Acting officials have filled several vacant ERS leadership positions.

    “USDA lacks a chief scientist, who oversees ERS, NIFA and other USDA research offices.”

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