RD95 - Virginia Council on Indians Findings and Recommendations from 2007


    Executive Summary:
    1. Address a history of racial inequality in higher education by providing tuition waivers to land-grant and state-funded universities for American Indians who are members of Virginia’s state-recognized tribes.

    2. Strengthen existing partnership efforts at Virginia Tech, William & Mary, UVA and other state-funded universities by providing funding for tenured faculty and administrative positions in American Indian Studies and related subjects. State universities should be encouraged to hire American Indian faculty members whenever possible for these positions, to correct the imbalance that currently exists. Additional funds should be sought for Visiting Scholars in these fields.

    3. Assist the state-recognized tribes in developing a relationship with the Smithsonian to identify and return “culturally unidentified” or “culturally unaffiliated” human remains that should be repatriated to Virginia.

    4. Include Virginia Indian representatives on state Boards, Commissions and Advisory Councils, not limited to but including those in education, Boards of Visitors of state-supported universities, historic and natural resources, and state-funded museums with historic content.

    5. Investigate purchase of land for state parks, wildlife refuges, and natural heritage areas near centers of state-recognized tribal populations. Prioritize funding for land conservation grants for tribally owned lands.

    6. Create and fund a position in the Virginia Department of Historic Resources to function as a tribal historic preservation officer, with responsibility to the state recognized tribes of Virginia.