KRISTIN MELODY
PRIDE STAFF WRITER

CSUSM opened the California Indian Culture and Sovereignty Center (CICSC), Nov. 17, in the Social and Behavioral Science Building to facilitate Native American activities on campus and collaborate with California tribes.

“There is simply no other place in California like this one,” President Karen Haynes said at the opening speech.

November is Native American Heritage month and the CICSC is open to all California tribes including the 18 tribes in southern California. It is a meeting place for American Indian Student Association (AISA) and many other outreach and development programs.

“With the opening of this center we are creating a brighter future… and creating history once again at Cal State San Marcos,” President Haynes continued.

The CICSC addresses Native Americans face a unique challenge in attending college as they most often are leaving a reservation for the first time. This is the first center dedicated to Native Americans in the CSU system.

There are more than 10 student members of AISA and they aim to “create solidarity among Indian students…and to meet other American Indians,” Tommy Devers, a CSUSM Masters of Sociology student and member of the Pauma Indian Tribe said.

“Native American people’s dreams are just as important as anybody else’s,” Chairman James Ramos said, the fi rst Native American to be appointed to the California Board of Education.

Dr. Joely Proudfit is the CICSC director and collaborates with local tribes and tribal leaders to run the Native American Advisory Council, the only one of its kind in the CSU system. In six months, the CICSC and its partners developed a Luiseño language learning program for the Nintendo DSI.

The center has resources including workstations, offi ces and research capabilities to focus on concerns and issues regarding tribes or Native American students.

“I joined to help out the youth and reach out,” CSUSM student Tommy Cooper of the San Pasqual tribe said.

Photo by Kristin Melody