(Editor’s note: Voice of the Presidents is an occasional column in the Tribal College Journal. Jamie Robertson of Leech Lake Tribal College wrote “The hidden perils of globalization” in Vol. 12, N. 4.)

Last April, representatives of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) and of Historically Black Colleges and Universities traveled to Panama to meet with indigenous non-profit groups there. The Foreign Agricultural Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture funded the trip. Attending the meeting were Jacqueline Ballew of Northwest Indian College (Bellingham, WA) and Ron McNeil, J.D., president of Sitting Bull College (Fort Yates, ND). Ron McNeil was asked how the trip shaped his thoughts about international work.

Q: Why do you think it is important for your tribal college to work with indigenous people in other countries?

Ron McNeil: Indigenous people in other countries are facing the same problems we had 20 years ago: Only the best of the best make it to college. The rest of the students are told they’re not good enough for college. When they do go to college, they are treated like second-class citizens. They’re told (just as we were told) they are savages in the way of progress.

Right now the best of their best will go to universities in United States. Universities basically bid to have those students come. When they come to the United States, they get a pretty good education, but they’re being taught their culture has no value. [On the other hand,] when they meet with us from tribal colleges, we get to share with each other our own cultures. It’s important for them to see how we have formed our own tribal colleges, how our curriculum is centered around who we are, which they will never see elsewhere.

Q: Some tribal colleges question whether they should be involved with international initiatives when the tribal colleges are so chronically underfunded. How can you afford to help people in other countries when you’re struggling to meet your own core mission?

Ron McNeil:  I was one of the opponents. As a result of my trip to Panama, however, I’ve changed my mind. Funding is always an issue, of course, but we need to look beyond our own needs. When you form a partnership, it benefits both parties. Having a partnership brings more attention to us as well. There is strength in numbers. They can advocate for us while we share our information with them.

It’s great when our students can go there and see what other indigenous cultures look like and how much of a struggle these other people have. Our problems pale almost in comparison, and our students need to see that.

Our students need to think about what our people are doing here and how that can help others. They are going through the same things that we did. We have found ways of overcoming racism and extreme poverty. Likewise, they can learn from some of the mistakes that our tribes have made or have had forced upon us.

For example, they are losing language; their languages are disappearing. Their young ones are just like our young ones, they don’t see a value in it. We can show them it does have value.

Q: Can you find funding sources that match the work you want to do, or do the funders have their own agenda?

Ron McNeil: Bits and pieces can be put together. There are monies to bring their students up here. We would have to bid for them [just as the other universities bid for foreign students]. As far as sending our students down, we would have to look for private sources. For example, Kellogg [the W. K. Kellogg Foundation] now funds our students in leadership development. We have so much, and these people have done so much with so little. This will be important for our students to understand.