Native American Center Coordinator Dropped

PSU’s Native American Center is running in the red, and the university administration has had enough. Here’s how cutting corners will save dollars, but may highlight a clash of cultures

By Jeff Wickizer

Since opening in October of 2003, the Native American Student and Community Center (NASCC) has provided spiritual and cultural support for the university’s Native American students. Paulette Watanabe, director of Educational Equity Programs and Services at PSU, said, “The center is a place away from home for Native American students to gather. It is a crucially important building.” But recent administrative changes have raised concerns about the future of the NASCC among its staff and students, as well as in the community.

The center’s fiscal deficiencies have led to an annual operating deficit. From late 2003 through 2009, the NASCC incurred $125,000 in operating losses, which PSU’s Department of Student Affairs has been left to cover, on top of the roughly $60,000 per year they already contribute to the center.

Watanabe is currently acting as a liaison between the center and the administration. According to her, the PSU Department of Finance and Administration gave the NASCC and Student Affairs several years to correct the problem and come up with a viable plan to run the center. Now, after another year of operating losses, Watanabe said she was informed, “You have to come up with something concrete.” The NASCC is classified as a mock auxiliary which requires it to be self-sufficient. According to a budget analysis conducted by Student Affairs, if the center continued with a coordinator running the facility, operating debt would reach $147,898 by fiscal year 2011. But with a low-level administrative position, like an office manager, running the facility, the center would start returning a profit as early as the end of this fiscal year. By 2011, the deficit would be reduced from $125,000 to $68,000.

Based on this assessment, Tabitha Whitefoot, the coordinator of the NASCC, was let go on January 28, in large part due to salary concerns and the financial strain it placed on the budget. Whitefoot’s involvement and impact on the center appeared to have already been in transition. “Changes that happened over the last year for me were reduced involvement in student/university support, reduced responsibility for ‘educational’ objectives, lack of support for community functions and increased administrative restraint,” she said, and also claims that there was “stated suspicion of my ‘work’ and ‘ethics’.”

The “office manager” role will handle almost all of the same functions, but with a reduced salary. With the cancellation of this administrative position and negotiations between PSU and NASCC still ongoing, concerns about the future of the NASCC are beginning to grow among its staff and students, as well as in the community. According to Watanabe, “The outcry came from replacing staff that wasn’t essential to running the center.” According to Whitefoot, the timing and manner in which this transition was handled could have a significant impact on the center, “This could undo significant good work that had been done. Policies of student use and charges were changed, community access diminished and greater scrutiny of expenses, maintenance costs, and contracting.”

Watanabe has seen initial concerns turn into rumors, noting, “We need to clear the misconceptions.” What she has heard from students and those in the Native American community is that the university is attempting to get rid of student groups or turn the center into “just another academic building.” Watanabe adamantly denies these claims, saying, “It is a crucially important building and it brings more value than just revenue.”

She also points out that the building—only 13,000 square feet—is not big enough to house Native American studies and is not designed to hold large classes. It was designed for and meant to be a student and community center. Professor Cornel Pewewardy and Professor Grace Dillon, whose offices are in the NASCC, lease the space, which provides revenue to the center. Whitefoot suggests that this is in contrast to the center’s status as a mock auxiliary. If groups are not charged for use of the center, it makes it increasingly difficult for the center to sustain itself financially.

Construction funding for the NASCC came from a wide variety of sources. According to Pewewardy, a large portion of the money came from the Grande Ronde and Siletz tribes, as well as contributions from individuals and local companies. Roughly $1.2 million was issued in a bond by the university to aid in the construction of the current facility. This bond was not required to be paid back by the center; it came from a surplus of student fees already paid to the school.

Six months before the opening of the center, it became apparent that there was not a viable plan in place to fund daily operations. The Advisory Board of the NASCC and PSU’s Student Affairs decided that it would lease portions of the facility to outside community groups and private parties to generate the necessary funds. The fact is that leasing the center has not provided the revenue needed, and to do so, it would have to be leased on a consistent basis. Leasing the center constantly would make it a “rental facility,” denying Native students the access they need and are accustomed to according to Watanabe, who added, “If we tried to promote external use of the center, we would have less time in the schedule for students.”

Pewewardy, relatively new to his position as a member of the NASCC Advisory Board, has plans for the NASCC as well. Pewewardy said, “I would like to implement advisors and mentors and create workshops with students.” As a Native American community member and teacher at the university, he has developed a strong bond with many of the students. As stated on the NASCC Web site, the goal is to “enhance the student experience through linking students with tribal leaders, Native American professionals, Native service organizations and traditional community activities.”

Watanabe wants to make it clear to the Native American community, Native American studies, and all students of PSU that there is a strong commitment to the success of the center. “I think the real value has been the knowledge and understanding non-native students have gained regarding Native culture,” adding, “We have a lot more Native American graduate students.” Watanabe points out, “Traditionally the retention of Native American students in higher education has been on the low end; all the tribes want to see their students be successful, as well as the university.”

Whitefoot has a vision for the NASCC that she hopes will continue after her departure, as well as a message for the university, its students, and the community. “The center can have a great positive effect on how the university engages and works alongside Native populations. As a population, Native Americans have had numerous things done to them by the dominant society. We no longer tolerate this style of ‘administering.’ It is time for all institutions to commit to working with us.”