AIHEC’s Patrese Atine underscores the importance of reauthorizing part F of Title III funding in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Tribal college and university (TCU) delegations travelled to Washington, DC this week for the American Indian Higher Education Consortium’s (AIHEC’s) annual legislative summit. As the federal government recovers from the longest shutdown in American history, the chronically underfunded TCUs are tasked with the reauthorization of part F of Title III funding, which heretofore has allocated $30 million annually to the nation’s 35 accredited TCUs. AIHEC leaders warn that Congress’s failure to reauthorize this funding could lead to wide-spread cuts in TCU programs and staff.

On Monday, February 4, AIHEC held an advocacy workshop to prepare the delegations for visits with their respective congressional representatives and senators, briefing them on the details of a proposed reauthorization bill, which Senator Doug Jones of Alabama has drafted. They also attended a plenary session in the Dirksen Senate Office Building where they heard from congressional staffers about the prospects of Jones’ reauthorization bill.

On Tuesday, TCU delegations convened again in the Dirksen Senate Office Building where they honored Representative Deb Haaland of New Mexico, the first Native woman—along with Sharice Davids of Kansas—elected to the U.S. Congress. Haaland greeted the students and TCU presidents, promising that she would always advocate on their behalf. Following the honoring, delegations fanned out across Capitol Hill to meet with their respective representatives and senators to underscore the importance of reauthorizing part F of Title III funding.