PBH to Send Students To Indian Reservations

Phillips Brooks House has announced at least six teaching and counseling positions open to Harvard and Radcliffe students on American Indian reservations this summer.

This summer's program is an extension of the former Harvard-Radcliffe American Indian Project, which was incorporated into PBH in October.

The Ute Tribe of Utah has requested three female nursery-school teachers, two tutors for eleven and twelve-year olds, and a student to write a thesis or some other scholarly paper on certain linguistical and social developments among the members of the tribe.

For the past two years, the Ute Tribal Council has paid room, board, transportation, and a salary. The leaders of the program expect the same arrangements this year. Although there are only six opportunities available now, PBH is concluding arrangements with other tribes in order to increase the number of students who may participate.

Applications, which are available in PBH now, will be accepted before the final arrangments with the other tribes are completed. Brooks House will then notify successful applicants as soon as it receives confirmation of the new opportunities; applicants will then have the option of accepting or rejecting each new situation.

The Utes, generally considered one of the best organized Indian tribes in the country, particularly want a student researcher who will be able to examine the Ute language to discover which of its properties cause Ute-speaking children to have more trouble with English than most other foreign-speakers.

If the research does not develop productively, then the tribe will hire the student as a camp counsellor with a "virtual carte blanche," according to Stephen L. Bayne '64, one of the co-directors of the project.

Teachers on the project will probably teach, among other things, both American history and tribal history to Indian children.

Project Originates in Seminar

According to Byron R. Stookey, Associate Director of Advanced Standing and one of the first advisers to the group, the American Indian Project began in 1961 with enthusiasm on the part of Dorothy E. Lee's freshman anthropology seminar. She and Mrs. Robert Rosenthal, a member of the executive board of the Association of American Indian Affairs, first set up employment opportunities on the reservations.

Stookey said that the project sought affiliation with PBH that first year, but PBH refused to "adopt" it then because it did not have the time for two major fund raising activities (PBH had just started Project Tanganyika). Since then, the Indian Project has found that the tribes would be willing to pay expenses, thus avoiding the complexities of fund raising.

Tribes Seek Students

According to project members, the Indian tribes feel that a successful future can be built within the Indian communities, provided there is a concentrated attempt at upgrading standards. Thus the tribes are particularly receptive to the idea of student help, which is usually free of red tape.

PBH will hold an open-house for students interested in learning about the Project at 7:15 p.m. Wednesday evening, November 28.