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Native resiliency and ingenuity have shown strength again – this time in the world of academia.

Even as colleges across the nation deal with yet another Free Application for Federal Student Aid deadline of Dec. 1, tribal colleges still struggle with miscommunications from the U.S. Department of Education – and delays in software updates, which, in turn, delay processing of applications.

Yet tribal college leaders find solutions that fill the financial gaps for their students.

On Tuesday, a governmental watchdog group chastised the current administration and education department for poorly serving vast swaths of students since the disastrous first roll-out of a new FAFSA application and website starting in late 2023.

After detailing several missteps, the U.S. Government Accountability Office called for stronger leadership after what it called a failure to improve FAFSA.

Most tribal college staff, however, seem to have adapted to the chaotic changes while doing their utmost for their mostly Native students. It’s resiliency at its best.

A trio of tribal college financial aid directors spoke with ICT prior to today’s public testimony. READ MORE — Renata Birkenbuel, ICT

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OGLALA, S.D. – As darkness descended, the procession to rebury Samuel Flying Horse (also known as Tasunke Kinyela) made its way along a dirt road to the Brave Blue Horse Family Cemetery outside of Oglala, S.D., on Sunday, Sept. 22. The memorial service and community gathering had run behind schedule and now the blue skies that marked the day and golden light of the setting sun were gone.

Samuel died as a student at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School and waited 131 years to be disinterred and returned to his homeland. Those gathered were not about to let darkness make him wait longer.

Approximately 20 vehicles in an open field encircled and directed their headlights on the small fenced-in cemetery. The pounding of the drum, the singing of songs, and prayers drifted up as pinpoints of starlight began dotting the night sky. Eventually, a group of men lowered Samuel’s casket, covered in a star quilt and a bouquet of red roses, into the ground. Samuel was now part of the land he had left behind in 1891.

Along with Fannie Charging Shield and James Cornman, Sameul was reburied on the Pine Ridge Reservation this past weekend. Fannie and James were buried at St. Julius Cemetery in Porcupine on Saturday, following a community gathering at the Pahin Sinte Owayawa School to celebrate the homecoming of the three Oglala Lakota students. Samuel was reburied the following day. READ MORE — Charles Fox, Special to ICT

After an eight-year wait for approval, the Osage Nation said the federal government has agreed to place 41,521 acres into trust.

The ranch in central Osage County has become the nation’s second largest fee-to-trust application behind 60,000 acres in the Santa Ana Pueblo, according to a news release.

“Every day, Osages are working to uphold our sovereignty in various ways, both big and small, and this is the result of those efforts,” Osage Nation Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear said in the release. “Our Nation is stronger because of our people and our perseverance in upholding what is ours. We’re getting our land back.”

The ranch will not change, the tribe said, now that the land title has been transferred to the United States for the benefit of the Osage Nation. The ranch is home to hundreds of bison and cattle, as well as oil and gas infrastructure.

“Additional law enforcement is necessary and something we’ve been proactively addressing by patrolling the area as part of our jurisdiction,” Secretary of Public Safety Nick Williams said in the release. “We already know what it will take, and we are ready.” — Felix Clary, ICT and Tulsa World

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RAPID CITY, S.D. – A petroleum pipeline previously shut down by the federal government for its route through Pipestone National Monument, an area sacred to over 23 tribes, will now be relocated and re-opened adjacent to the site.

In April 2023, Magellan, an Oklahoma-based energy pipeline company, filed a route permit application for an existing petroleum pipeline it previously built under the monument and was forced to shut down in 2022. Initially, Magellan sought to relocate approximately 0.74 miles of an existing eight-inch petroleum pipeline onto private property adjacent to the site.

On Sept. 11, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission granted Magellan’s permit, though it did pick a route farther from the monument than the one Magellan initially proposed.

Both the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe and the Upper Sioux Community submitted alternative routes that the pipeline could take further from the site. The Public Utilities Commission chose the Mille Lacs-proposed route, though the tribe no longer supports it. READ MORE — Amelia Schafer, ICT and Rapid City Journal

With the Native Farm Bill expiring in a few days, and food package delivery delays to Indian Country still persisting, tribal leaders are advocating more than ever for the bill to be reauthorized.

Tribal leaders said in a recent House Committee on Agriculture hearing in Washington D.C. that reauthorizing the farm bill, with expansions of the 638 programs, could solve these delays.

The bill not only allows tribes, including the Muscogee, Cherokee, and Osage Nation, to partake in food package delivery programs, but it helps provide funding for sustainable agricultural strategies, conservation efforts and rural development.

“Whoever is going to be controlling the food during a crisis has way too much power,” Standing Bear said at a traditional meal on the Osage reservation in Pawhuska, as he explained the tribe’s reasoning for operating Harvest Land Farms during the COVID-19 pandemic. READ MORE —Felix Clary, ICT and Tulsa World

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