Judge Gregory Judge a Muckleshoot

Judge Gregory Judge A Muckleshoot Indian has many difficulties to overcome in order to attend reputable colleges such as Tacoma Community College (TCC). Those problems could be resolved by having on site or satellite classes at the tribe. The need to be part of the community by contributing to, and participating in the community, through one's own efforts and skills, is perhaps what is missing in the lives of our Muckleshoot people.

For the Muckleshoot community, contributing to the community and participating in the community could be achieved by completing a program of higher education. Higher education could be made more accessible to the community if offered through a community-student-college/university satellite course instruction partnership. At present the Muckleshoot community does not have a history of higher education. Higher education is not an established individual, family, or tribal tradition (Katel 2006). That could change if TCC entered into a partnership with the tribal community.

The Muckleshoot Constitution and Bylaws for the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe (1934) does not prevent a partnership between the Tribe and TCC to create access to higher education directly to the reservation via satellite courses.

In fact, the opening paragraph of the Muckleshoot Constitution of 1934 reads: "The purpose of this organization shall be the economic, educational, social, and moral rehabilitation of the Indians of the Muckleshoot Tribe, the conservation and development of their resources for their common welfare, the ultimate attainment of self-support and political independence, and the furnishing of a responsible organized body through which government subsidy and control may be exercised so long as necessary (1)." The Muckleshoot Tribal leadership and government could not argue against bringing the benefit of bringing outside scholarship into the community.

Taking college courses would intellectually enrich and empower the young people of the community. These core courses taught via satellite access would motivate the young high school graduate who might otherwise be intimidated by an environment outside of the community. Graduating from a reputable college would be a personal and family accomplishment. Muckleshoot college graduates would realize a greater number of opportunities in the world around them that are not available to them on the reservation. Many Muckleshoot are jobless and are not attending college.

"Indian unemployment on reservations nationwide is ten times the national rate (Katel 360-384)." Two-year degrees from TCC could greatly reduce the unemployment rate on the reservation. Two-year degrees would prepare Mukleshoot college graduates with the skills and knowledge to get jobs in the communities surrounding the reservation. Some of these surrounding communities are economically healthy and have entry level job opportunities that could be secured by a Muckleshoot with a two-year degree.

In other instances, the TCC graduate might have to seek job opportunities farther away from the reservation, but a two-year degree program would instill in the Muckleshoot graduate the confidence needed to consider those opportunities too. The consequences of poverty are visible on the Muckleshoot reservation. As with any community, poverty on the Muckleshoot reservation manifests as alcoholism, substance abuse, child and adolescent neglect and abuse, and crime. Katel (2006) says that death rates from alcoholism and tuberculosis among American Indians are 650% higher than the rest of the U.S. (360-384).

Suicide among Indian young people is triple that of the rest of the U.S. (360-384). Indians in the Upper Plains and West are the third-largest abusers of methamphetamines (360-384). These are manifestations of poverty, hopelessness, helplessness and other socio-economic related factors that could be changed through education. They are also the socio-economic reasons why an initial two program courses and partnering with TCC via satellite would make it easier and within reach of the Muckleshoot community, and could have a positive impact on reversing these problems.

The reservation casinos contribute to the economics of the tribal community through dividend payments to their tribal members. Dividend payments do not create wealth (Cooper 1996). The payments allow the recipients to live off the money and to do nothing with their life. This is not enough, because it is not socially or individually healthy, and it does not empower the person with self-confidence and knowledge.

Nor does it instill in them the skills and career experiences which would allow them to one day return the tribal community to work and to productively benefit the community as a whole. The problems and inhibitions of life in poverty are not resolved with casino dividend payouts. The real economic factors in the Muckleshoot community that contribute to the young peoples' inability to attend off-site courses is available transportation, the cost of gasoline to drive round trip, and the problems of child care.

These problems can be overcome with satellite course instruction. Also, the experience of education and gaining knowledge on an individual level is an exciting and compelling one. Many of the students who have this experience will acclimate to the rigors of college course instruction and student assignment preparation. Personal growth through higher education is one of the most rewarding experiences a young person might have. Every Muckleshoot student preparing to graduate high school is entitled by their tribal Constitution to have this experience.

A residual effect might be an increase of the number of young people earning their GEDs to be able to attend college courses via the satellite campus. Other tribal communities might be inspired by the Muckleshoot's partnership with universities and colleges, and follow suit. This would be of great benefit to the tribal communities that do not have reservation casinos. Bridging the gap between the tribal community and the outlying metropolitan and urban areas could be accomplished with a higher education partnership with the Muckleshoot tribal community.

This has been accomplished in other communities, such as Syracuse, New York (Chronicles of Higher Education, 2006). "With the scholarship, Syracuse joins an expanding group of colleges that have established programs to help put college diplomas in the hands of American Indians, who have the lowest graduation rate - 36.5%." Although American Indian numbers have soared in higher education, they still make up less than one percent of the total student population.

Along with the scholarship Syracuse also got counseling, tutoring, and clubs for the Native students with permanent budgets (1)." The lack of counseling and tutoring has been cited in the failure of some tribal college experiences (Martin 2005). The benefits of a college-tribal partnership cited in the Syracuse report are counseling, tutoring, and clubs. These benefits would help to firmly establish the higher education concept within the Muckleshoot tribal community. They would help ensure the success of TCC's partnership with the tribal community.

In order for the Muckleshoot Tribe to increase the overall education of its members to combat the past trends in poor education is necessary to be innovative and to assess the effectiveness of satellite core courses on site at the reservation. The reservation has a Muckleshoot Library located at 17102 400th Street that could serve as the site to provide satellite courses for purposes of a two-year test pilot program.

The library is within walking distance of the Muckleshoot Tribal Community College and less than a mile from the Muckleshoot Tribal School campus at 1599 SE 376th Street. The library or surrounding buildings could easily be the most convenient location for the satellite campus. It is important to separate the satellite college site from the school for the psychological advantage it gives the student in not returning to the high school setting.

This would only be used until funding can be obtained in grants and tribal contributions to make an extension onto the existing Tribal College that would be dedicated to satellite courses. Eventually, students would be able to buy lap tops and home PCs so that they could take the courses from home -- that is the ultimate goal of satellite course instruction. However, many homes still do not have personal lap tops or desk top computers and the library would be the most inviting location for a test pilot venture.

An important goal of a satellite course setting is to.