This article is part of a partnership between The Mendocino Voice and nonprofit newsroom EdSource to bring relevant education-related news to Mendocino County readers. Learn more about EdSource here.
SACRAMENTO, CA., 11/8/24 – Sacramento State is starting a new college in fall 2025 that aims to fold Native American culture into its programming and connect students to tribal governments.
Students in the inaugural cohort of the Sacramento State Native American College will be able to major in any field across the university to which they are accepted, but must minor in Native American Studies. The curriculum will include courses in tribal leadership. The college will also host Native American leadership events, speakers and training.
Students can apply to the college after they are accepted into Sacramento State, according to a campus announcement. The college will accept first-year students, transfer students and students entering their junior year.
Only 833 American Indian or Alaskan Native students attended the California State University system in fall 2023, according to CSU data, including 79 students at Sacramento State. American Indian or Alaskan Native enrollment across the university system has fallen 44% since a 10-year peak in 2013.
Cal State has seen significant graduation rate gaps between Native American students and their peers. The systemwide six-year graduation rate among first-time American Indian and Alaskan Native students who started in 2017 was roughly 47%, almost 16 percentage points less than the rate for all students.
Sacramento State Native American College will follow a cohort model, encouraging students who enter the college to take general education courses together, according to a Sacramento State website summarizing the program. Students will also be paired with a faculty mentor and will have a physical space with classrooms, computers, meeting space and access to tutors.
Its first dean will be Dr. Annette Reed, an enrolled member of the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation. Reed currently serves as the chair of Sacramento State’s Department of Ethnic Studies, according to the department’s website.
Sacramento State is not the only higher education institution in California that is seeking to deepen offerings aimed at Native American students. Palm Desert-based California Indian Nations College, now affiliated with a local community college, is trying to gain full accreditation so it can operate as a standalone college and offer degrees to Native American students in California. If successful, it would be the only standalone tribal college in the state.
Determining any policy based on skin color and race goes against Martin Luther King’s ideals and creates artificial inequality.