Save Blackfeet Language

[rrlapier at aol.com]

No Blackfeet Language at the University of Montana?!

It is unbelievable that the University of Montana, with a Native American student population of 800+, will not be teaching the Blackfeet language or any other Native American language the Fall semester 2014. Your support is needed to encourage the University of Montana to teach Blackfeet language.

Research has shown that the study of Native American languages strengthens student self-worth and their academic success. The teaching of Native languages also allows non-Native students to learn about a culture that is different from their own and enrich their understanding of Montana’s Native peoples. 

Montana has served as a leader in promoting and preserving Native American languages. Most prominently through the leadership of the late Darrell Robes Kipp, the late Thomas Little Plume, and Dorothy Still Smoking through their creation of the Piegan Institute. And most recently Senators John Tester, Max Baucus (retired) and John Walsh sponsored the Native Language Immersion Student Achievement Act (S. 1948) in the U.S. Senate “to promote the academic achievement of American Indian children.” And the State of Montana’s recently funded initiative called the Montana Indian Language Preservation Pilot Program (managed by the State Tribal Economic Development Commission) is viewed as a resounding success.

It is unfortunate that the University of Montana chooses not to teach the Blackfeet language or any other Native language this semester. There are several qualified Blackfeet tribal members with either a Class 7 Native American Language and Culture Educator License and/or a Master’s degree in the Missoula area. And there are more qualified individuals on the Blackfeet reservation and state-wide.

Please contact the President of the University of Montana, Royce Engstrom at 406-243-2311 or royce.engstrom at umontana.edu to respectfully request that the Blackfeet language be taught Fall semester 2014.  

Rosalyn LaPier (Blackfeet/Metis)
Professor of Environmental Studies
University of Montana
406-243-6787
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ilat/attachments/20140820/b12aa058/attachment.htm>