ALASKA NATIVES COMMISSION
JOINT FEDERAL-STATE COMMISSION
ON
POLICIES AND PROGRAMS AFFECTING
ALASKA NATIVES
4000 Old Seward Highway, Suite 100
Anchorage,
Alaska 99503
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Witness List | PDF
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COMMISSIONER TOWARAK: Florie Leckenoff, Sr.
(Pause.)
Last week we had a discussion about the last senior, and we were actually discussing the word -- why Junior? My brother's thinking about dropping his name from Clarence Towarak, Jr., to just Clarence Towarak (laughing). Very rarely do I still see (laughing) somebody say Senior. (Laughing.) That must mean that there is a Florie Leckenoff, Jr.?
MR. LECKENOFF: There is a Florie Leckenoff, II.
COMMISSIONER TOWARAK: Oh, okay. (Laughing.)
MR. LECKENOFF: I had to call myself something besides that.
COMMISSIONER TOWARAK: Okay, okay ( laughing).
MR. LECKENOFF: Well, Mr. Towarak, Ms. Masek, and I know Nettie doesn't have a name in front of her, but I know here, I'm glad she's here --
MS. PERATROVICH: So does he.
MR. LECKENOFF: -- the rest of you. I won't take too much of your time. I just wanted to let you know that I'm a product of a village school system, St. George Island out in the Pribilofs, up to the point of the Second World War; then I went on boarding school at Wrangell Institute. Didn't finish there. I got sick with tuberculosis and was sent down to Tacoma, where I took some correspondence courses and eventually graduated from Lincoln High School in Tacoma, Washington; and on to Whitworth College in Spokane, fortunately; and then on to University of Washington to get my Master's Degree in education; and then I have spent over a year now at the University of Alaska in Anchorage, taking courses -- I'm still taking courses there.
With that background, I would like to make a strong suggestion to the task force here, on behalf of the students at the University of Alaska in Anchorage. Time is of the essence. A decision is going to be made by the administration out there pretty quick; maybe even tomorrow. I think there ought to be a statement sent to the Board of Regents, or the President out there, with the signature of the Aleut -- Alaska Federation of Natives, asking them to cease and decease on their Umbrella Plan for Bilingual Education on the campus, until the Commission has completed its study on Native education in Alaska. That's my recommendation personally.
I don't think you're going to get much of an action in a hurry besides doing that; but it -- with the signature of the AFN, and with the great big convention going on here in Anchorage, I think it will make an impact for our Native students. (Applause.)
That's action.
UNIDENTIFIED VOICE: That is.
MR. LECKENOFF: Now that's one of our themes, you know: A Call for Action. And that's exactly what this is.
My second one is on survival. Now how can
education contribute to our survival? I think it can. And it's
about time that we took action again in a futuristic plan here.
Fifty, sixty years ago, high school education was equivalent,
compared to today; to a college education. For instance, I
was the first one to graduate from high school from my village.
That’s saying a lot, just to graduate from high school -- first
one from my village, at that time, about 225 people. I was
the first one to graduate from college with a Baccalaureate
Degree. Not to say too much about that, I was the first also
to get my Master's Degree from the village.
But, you know, today you have to have college education in order to survive in this world -- in the business world, and in the society in which we are caught. To further that cause of getting our Native people to pursue higher education. I recommend that this task force look into the possibility -- serious -- seriously look into the possibility of recommending to the feds and to the state to which the
Commission will recommend, that there be studied very seriously the possibility of a Native college or university in Alaska.
Let me tell you why I believe this way. The -- certainly, the Afro-Americans have shown us that they can do it; and recently the Native Americans in the Lower 48 have shown us that they can do it. In fact, the -- 14 of the colleges that are in existence, according to the newspaper a few days ago, are in the reservations of South Dakota and Montana. And the students there are doing very well. And there is also a university in the state of Washington run by the Indian people in the Puget Sound country.
And I think we ought to look at those, and then take those ideas up here and look in -- seriously into the possibility of an existence and a room and a funding for a Native-run college and/or university. If Alaska Methodist University, which was started by an Aleut years ago, can start out, I think the Native people in Alaska can start their own university.
Now, the reason I think this way is I have read recently that only nine percent of our Native American population graduate from institutions of higher learning, as opposed to 20 percent of all others who succeed at getting their young people through higher education at 20 percent. Now that's more than 50 percent less for us.
I think if we succeeded in producing Native leadership from Sheldon Jackson School, which was a boarding school, and from Mt. Edgecumbe School, which was a boarding school; and other private high schools in Alaska, which no longer exist, then our leaders of our Native people today, I think we ought to look at the possibility of starting a university.
Because back then, high school education was good. I mean, you know, you could get a lot of things done with that kind of education then. But today it requires a college education to compete in our society, as we know, today.
If we do that, two things can happen. One, we can compete academically with everybody else, with our own university. Plus, we can put a lot of emphasis in our own indigenous cultures in Alaska in the school curriculum, in the courses that are taught, and our languages, the whole history that we're worried about. That's survival. To me, that spells survival. And let me say it, and I can't think of any stronger words in which to put it, let's seriously look at establishing a Native college or university in Alaska, so that our cultures will survive. We need it.
And without having to spend too much time, I'll stop there. Thank you.
COMMISSIONER TOWARAK: Thanks. I might mention to you, in our draft statement, that we did have a Native operation of a tribally-controlled college; and that would be something close to what that would be, I guess, in -- is that what you're --
MR. LECKENOFF: Yeah, I'm putting a lot of emphasis on higher education; but I'm also a believer in industrial arts and vocational education; because, you know, if you look at nine percent, how about the other 91 percent-of our people? They need to be given livelihood in life also; and we ought to look at that seriously as well.
COMMISSIONER TOWARAK: And to the UAA students, we had, during the break, discussed some sort of an action like he was discussing. So, it -- we are talking about it. But he says it's time for a call to action. Yeah.
MS. PERATROVICH: And I would like to suggest that he -- because I know how well Florie can do this -- that he write up a resolution, or whatever; and that we'll vote on it. And, Florie, I want to know, is this the $20 million of bilingual money that Senator Murkowski promised Alaska last year, that went to the University of Alaska? I thought it was supposed to go out to rural Alaska.
MR. LECKENOFF: Well, there's two million. It's -- the money isn't available yet.
MS. PERATROVICH: Two million? I --
MR. LECKENOFF: Yeah.
MS. PERATROVICH: -- thought it was 20.
MR. LECKENOFF: No, it's $2 million.
MS. PERATROVICH: Two million?
MR. LECKENOFF: Yeah, for all the ethnic
groups in Alaska that are indigenous to Alaska to preserve
the languages and the culture. No, there's only two million
in it, so when you're looking at a discussion on it, previously
they're looking at 20 different languages, perhaps. You’re
only talking about a hundred thousand towards each of the distinct
la -- dialects or languages.
MS. MORRISON: Florie, that's
for all tribes.
MR. LECKENOFF: That's for all tribes.
MS. MORRISON: All 50 (indiscernible -- speaking simultaneously) --
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: All 50 --
MS. MORRISON: -- states.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: -- states
MR. LECKENOFF: No, no, no. This is Murkowski's bill. Excuse me.
MS. MORRISON: Murkowski --
MR. LECKENOFF: Murkowski's bill is only strictly for Alaska. There is another bill that was introduced by Inouye and joined by other senators, such as Murkowski and Stevens, that speaks to a program across the Lower 48 and Alaska as well. But it's a separate bill.
COMMISSIONER TOWARAK: Thank you, Florie. Next to testify --
MR. BARNHARDT: Sam? Sam?
COMMISSIONER TOWARAK: Yeah?
MR. BARNHARDT: Just for a point of information,
and this may or may not be adequate for what you’re suggesting,
but at the education workshops yesterday and day before, there
were at least two resolutions on the UAA situation, and one
on tribal colleges, that went forward to AFN; and you might
want to take a look at those and see if they address the issue
at a level that you are calling for.
MR. LECKENOFF: Yeah, the resolutions are supposedly being passed out, so --
MR. WILLIAMS: Yeah, right --
MR. LECKENOFF: -- I'll go up and check that out.
MR. WILLIAMS: -- I got 'em right here.
MR. LECKENOFF: You have them there? Is it --
MR. WILLIAMS: The -- it's in there.
MR. LECKENOFF: -- it's in there?
MR. WILLIAMS: Yeah.
MR. LECKENOFF: Well, I'm glad it's in there. I think we'll certainly act favorably on chose resolutions. Thank you very much.
COMMISSIONER TOWARAK: Thank you, Florie.
COMMISSIONER MASEK: Thank you.
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