[IPSM] Syracuse University offers 'Haudenosaunee Promise'

[hhazel at gmail.com]

Syracuse University offers 'Haudenosaunee Promise'
August 26, 2005
by: Tom Wanamaker / Indian Country Today
		
Full scholarships to qualified students starting fall 2006

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Students of Haudenosaunee ancestry now have a strong
incentive - a free college education - to study hard in high school.

Syracuse University announced on Aug. 19 that it will foot the bill
for an undergraduate education to any enrolled Haudenosaunee student
who qualifies for admission to the university.

''Education at its best is a two-way process,'' said Chancellor and
President Nancy Cantor in a news release. ''I am delighted that we
will be building - and expanding - upon our historical relationship
with the Haudenosaunee. The benefits and opportunities to be created
are truly exciting.''

''This is an extension of our hand of friendship and honor to the
Haudenosaunee,'' said David C. Smith, the university's vice president
for enrollment management and emissary to the Haudenosaunee. ''We hope
that this will be seen as an opportunity for inspiration.''

Students qualifying for the Haudenosaunee Promise Scholarship Program
will receive full-time undergraduate tuition, on-campus room and board
and payment of university fees. Based on current rates, the package is
worth over $38,500 annually. The scholarships will not be limited in
number.

In return, students must qualify for admission to the university and
must maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average of 2.5.
Students must be enrolled members of one of the six Haudenosaunee
(Iroquois) nations and also be citizens of one of the territories
throughout New York state and Canada that are part of the
Haudenosaunee nations. These include: Akwesasne Mohawk, Ganienke
Mohawk, Kahnawake Mohawk, Kanesatake Mohawk, Kantatsiohareke Mohawk,
Tyendinaga Mohawk, Tonawanda Seneca, Six Nations (Canada), Oneida (New
York), Oneida of the Thames (Ontario), Onondaga, Allegany Seneca,
Cattaraugus Seneca, Oil Spring Seneca and Tuscarora.

Smith said that university and tribal officials are in the process of
determining exact criteria for the enrollment and residency
requirements. Since the announcement, the phones have been ''ringing
off the hook'' with calls from prospective students, he said.

Smith told ICT that the impetus for the scholarships came from Cantor
herself. The idea is to remove the financial barriers faced by many
Native students while recognizing the cultural, political and
historical significance of the Haudenosaunee.

''We sit here, six miles away from the center of the Haudenosaunee at
Onondaga, and we might as well be on different planets,'' Smith said.
''Now we're not any more.''

''The last time Indians got a free education was at a boarding
school,'' said Robert Odawi Porter, Seneca, director of SU's
Indigenous Law Center. ''No other university has made this kind of
commitment to neighboring Aboriginal peoples.''

Porter said that there are several states and colleges around the
nation that offer reduced tuition to American Indian students, but he
knew of nothing on the scale of the Haudenosaunee Promise.

''This is different from any other scholarship initiative in that it
supports helping the Haudenosaunee sustain themselves by educating
some of their people who will live and work within their nations,''
said Odie Brant Porter, Seneca, assistant provost, in a news release.
''We have turned the corner in the education process, where education
can be used to sustain our distinct culture and values, rather than
being used to destroy it.''

SU will enroll approximately 12,000 undergraduate students for the
upcoming fall semester; only 35 are of Native ancestry, 11 of whom are
incoming freshmen.