By Lance Thompson

A popular Hollywood star works
her magic to help tribal colleges

Plenty Coups, a farsighted Crow chief who visited Washington, D.C., told his people in 1880, "With an education, you're the white man's equal. Without an education, you're his victim." Over a century later, the chief's powerful words appear on the wall of the Crow Tribe's own college, providing daily encouragement for 300 students attending Little Big Horn College.

Fewer than 10 percent of Native American students who go directly from reservation high schools to public colleges and universities graduate from those institutions. Few Native Americans can afford colleges of any kind.

Native American cultures teach children to learn by watching and listening, rather than by the participatory discussion that is crucial to college success. There is also lingering mistrust of outside colleges by Native Americans.

Something had to be done to reverse the academic trend for Indian students. "Our tribal elders finally said, 'Why can't we educate our own people?'" says Tom Shortbull, college president of Oglala Lakota College on the Oglala Sioux reservation in South Dakota.

The first tribal college was established at Tsaile in 1968 on the Navajo reservation near Canyon de Chelly. There are now 30 tribal colleges across the country serving over 26,000 students.

Though the colleges are mainly located on reservations where four out of five people live below the poverty level, and unemployment can reach 60 percent, the program has been an unqualified success. An astounding 90 percent of tribal college graduates go on to find jobs or to pursue further education.

The Indian colleges are also important resources for the reservation's general population. They preserve Native American cultural heritage in written and spoken language, tribal history, art, and religion. They also offer adult and continuing education courses in business development and resource management. "Tribal colleges are community colleges in every sense," says David Cournoyer, Director of Public Education for the American Indian College Fund.

"Tribal colleges offer great economic and cultural promise to Indian people," says Richard Williams, Executive Director of the American Indian College Fund, "but they are woefully underfunded."

Though tuition at tribal colleges is comparatively low (an average of $1,500 per year), the cost is still above what most students can afford. So in 1986, the tribal college presidents created the non-profit American Indian College Fund to raise desperately-needed money for scholarships and support. Since that time, the Fund has raised $35 million in donations from foundations and corporations, as well as 85,000 individual donors.

Enter Winona Ryder, who has become a member of the Fund's Board of Trustees and an enthusiastic spokeswoman for tribal colleges.

"It shouldn't have to be such a struggle," Ryder says. "Everyone is entitled to an education."

Two years ago, Ryder started donating to the American Indian College Fund. After learning more about tribal colleges, she asked the Executive Director of the Fund what more she could do to help. Williams, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, invited her to join the Fund's Board of Trustees to help lead fund raising and increase public awareness for the colleges.

Ryder is a veteran movie star with 21 film credits. Critics praise her intensity, directors appreciate her intelligence, and devoted fans follow her career with cult-like devotion.

Named for the Minnesota town where she was born in 1971, Winona (a Lakota Sioux word appropriately meaning "first-born daughter") Horowitz spent her childhood, with her sister and two brothers, on a ranch commune in Northern California.

The commune's neighbors were Northern California Indians and the two cultures--emphasizing community, simplicity, and respect for the earth--were so similar, the lines between them often blurred. "Native American culture is American culture," Winona believes, "and we can all learn from it."

At age 13, Ryder did a screen test for director David Seltzer's Desert Bloom. Though she didn't get the part, the director cast her in a supporting role in his next film, Lucas.

Winona Ryder would appear in 18 films over the next 10 years, including the 1989 black comedy cult favorite, Heathers, which catapulted her to stardom.

She continued to impress critics and audiences with multi-layered performances in offbeat films like Mermaids, Edward Scissorhands, and Bram Stoker's Dracula in 1992. Ryder's performance in The Age of Innocence for Martin Scorsese even earned her a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination.

Last year she played opposite a childhood hero, Sigourney Weaver in Alien Resurrection. Earlier roles in The Crucible for Nicholas Hytner and Little Women for Gillian Armstrong appealed to Ryder's literary sensibilities.

Ryder's genuine concern for the young is a recurring theme in her life. "What happens to you when you're a kid or a teenager is as important as what happens to you as an adult," Ryder believes.

That conviction has led directly to her involvement with the American Indian College Fund. The Fund ensures that students like Douglas Katenay, whose heritage is Navajo and Paiute, will have access to the educational resources so vital to success. A former student body president at Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in Albuquerque, Katenay prepared for a career by taking courses in physics, calculus, and laser optics. He's also kept in touch with his cultural history with Navajo language courses. "The multiculturalism, the diversity, that's how I've learned," Katenay explains. "Working, studying and just being together, the spirit of our people is alive."

Meanwhile, Ryder still finds time to be one of Hollywood's most popular young stars. Her next film will be Celebrity, for Woody Allen, coming out in the fall.

In May, the actress was welcomed into the colleges' "family" with a traditional Indian tribute from one of the schools. The President of the Northern Cheyenne tribe's college brought an Indian star quilt from Montana to New York City where he presented it to Ryder in gratitude for her support. The Cheyenne leader unfurled the hand-made quilt with its brilliant patterns, and with Ryder's mother Cindy watching on, drew it around the actress.

"To be able to bring attention to this cause is so important to me on a personal level," she said, "because more people need to know what is happening."

For more information: American Indian College Fund, 1111 Osage St., Bldg. D, Suite 205-A, Denver, Colorado 80204; tel. (800) 776-FUND (3863).

Copyright ©1998 Cowboys & Indians

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