University kicks off new Native project

As the echo of heavy raindrops bounced off the roof above the classroom, Jody Ground explained to his 14 assembled students his expectations and hopes for their class.

"I'm not going to lecture. We're going to discuss things," he said. As a senior double majoring in anthropology and Native American studies with a minor in communicative studies, Ground is at the helm of his first university class, which from all outward appearances, looks and operates like a First-Year interest Group, or FIG.

Yet, this is a misnomer. The class, known as the Learning Community until the students pick a new name, is actually a pilot project, according to Fredricka Hunter, the director of American Indian Student Services at the University of Montana.

"We didn't do any marketing, and it wasn't offered to everybody," she said. Instead, Hunter broached the idea to incoming Native American freshmen, and those interested filled the class roster.

"We just thought we would find freshmen who would be interested in being part of a cohort, who would be interested in taking core classes with other Native students and having some discussions and activities off campus," Hunter said.

Yet the class has a larger purpose than merely resembling a FIG. Rather, it is piloting a plan for a Native Living and Learning Community to begin at UM in the fall of 2011. The Living and Learning Community will consist of around 50 Native American freshmen who will live in the same building and attend the same classes.

"They will be housed together, will also have components of core classes together and they'll also have the opportunity for professors to go into the living area and teach," Hunter said, adding that other cultural components will be added to the mix.

The move comes about as UM hopes to improve its Native student retention rate. Hunter said she looked at what other universities, such as the University of North Dakota and Arizona State University, were doing to help their Native American students.

"What I've been able to understand is that, especially we as a people, we're very inter-dependent, and we believe in an extended family so I think that a lot of our students who are coming here to the UM are really lonely because we don't have that sense of community and you don't know anybody," Hunter said.

While many students experience the same emotions during their first semester, Hunter said Native American students experience a unique adjustment.

"It's more difficult to reach out because you're going through a cultural transition," she said. "Sometimes you're coming from a very rural area to Missoula, which can sometimes be very overwhelming."

Hunter said AISS will soon start marketing the Living and Learning Community to high school seniors this year.

"It will be a first-come, first-served basis," she said. "I'm thinking that when other students find out about our program, there will be a lot of interest."