UCR Center for California Native Nations
and Public Policy Initiative Host Symposium at Palm
Desert Campus
By Christine Kitano, Student Intern of CHASS College
Computing
The continuing struggle between Native Americans and the U.S. Government was one of the main topics addressed last week at a symposium hosted by the UCR Center for California Native Nations and the newly established Public Policy Initiative. The symposium, the first of its kind to be held at UCR’s new Palm Desert Campus, explored the growing influence of tribal governments in public policy as well as other matters of importance to California and the Native American community.
The 2-day event was comprised of panel discussions with tribal leaders and local government officials. Topics of interest included Indian gaming, the relationships between tribal and local governments, tribal policy making, and the creation of partnerships between the UCR Center for California Native Nations and the California Tribal Governemnts.
The Inland Empire and its surrounding communities are home to more than 30 federally recognized tribes. “I see my role here at UC Riverside as someone who can help connect the needs of local tribes to the expertise already here at UC Riverside,” said Kate Spilde Contreras, Ph.D., visitng scholar at the Center for California Native Nations, and one of the organizers of the symposium. “I am convinced that Riverside, because of its location, is the appropriate place to study California’s Indian tribes.”
UC Riverside owes much of its existence to California Indians Rupert Costo and Jeannette Henry Costo who helped found the campus in the mid-twenteith century. In 1986, the Costos endowed the University’s first chair and donated their library and collections to establish what is now the Rupert Costo Library of American Indian History, one of the largest collections of Native American research materials in the country. UCR is currently one of only 2 universities in the nation to offer a Ph.D. program in American Indian History and is home to the Center for California Native Nations.
For more information on the UCR Center for California Native Nations, please visit http://www.nativeamerican.ucr.edu