Native American Conference

A conference on Native American Rights, which drew about 100 Indian students from throughout the New England area, was held at the College the weekend of February 18 to 20.

The purpose of the conference, a first, was "to open a dialogue and let the general public become more aware of Native Americans' rights," according to Stuart A. Tonemah, the organizer" Tonemah, a Kioaw and Comanche, is a member of the College's student counseling staff.

In addition to Indian students at Dartmouth, participants included ABC students in public and private secondary school programs in New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts- Indian students from Harvard and Wesley an; and representatives of the Boston Indian Council.

Guest speakers at the sessions Friday evening and Saturday were Archie LaCoote, lieutenant governor of the Passamaquoddy tribe in Maine; Ernest Stevens, an Oneida, who is director of economic development for the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs; and Robert Burnette, a Sioux from Rosebud, S. D., author of Tortured Americans and director of American Indians and Friends.

A symposium to explain the policy statement issued in December by the Native Americans at Dartmouth opened the conference Friday afternoon. A concert entitled "Custer Died for Your Sins" was presented Saturday evening in Alumni Hall by Floyd Westerman, a Sioux from California, who recorded the album of that name.