Members of Native American center board resign

A change in door locks has thrown the future of the First Nations Educational and Cultural Center up in the air.

The center created for Native Americans, Native Hawaiians and Alaskan natives has been in existence for more than a year, but members of its volunteer student board resigned Aug. 4 and the center might change locations before the fall.

On July 24, the keys and locks for the center’s two rooms, located on the sixth floor of Eigenmann Hall, were changed, said graduate student and former board member Rebecca Riall.

Board members lost access to the rooms and were not given a clear answer on how to check out keys, Riall said.

The organization, which is led by the student board, moved to Eigenmann after its previous location was ruined in a flood. The goal of the organization, Riall said in a March 11 Indiana Daily Student article, was to get its own cultural house. In March, the center celebrated its one-year anniversary.

Locks were changed for security reasons and FNECC board members were not given the keys because they are not employed by IU, said Charles Sykes, executive director of multicultural initiatives.

Sykes, who the center relies on for approval and funding of events, said he was out of town when the ordeal occurred.

“There was no lockout,” Sykes said. “Another department moved onto the sixth floor, and you have keys that match the other locks.”

Board members or students of the American Indian Student Association and the Native American Graduate Students’ Association, who work with the FNECC, use the center. In the past, Sykes gave FNECC board members the key to use. Now, they have to check out keys from a part-time staff member who works four hours a day at the FNECC.

Riall called the lock-changing the “last straw.” The organization relied on the facility to be able to have meetings and events.

Terri Miles, a third-year graduate student, said checking out the key from the FNECC office is easier said than done. Miles is involved with the American Indian Student Association and the Native American Graduate Students’ Association and said it’s going to be difficult to organize meetings around students’ busy schedules and the time when the center is open.

“It’s really disappointing that this happened,” Miles said. “We are just going to have to meet elsewhere.”

Riall and Miles said the lock-changing incident is just one example of difficulties students have faced without a director.

“I think if they are committed to Native Americans on campus they have to hire a director,” Riall said. “If (we) don’t have the authority to do basic things like get keys, the center will never succeed.”

Sykes said there are currently no potential candidates for an FNECC director, but the organization plans to find one.

Members of the American Indian Student Association and the Native American Graduate Students’ Association, as well as the center’s regulars, are already thinking of opening a nonprofit center for Native Americans in Bloomington involving community leaders outside of IU.

Sykes said the center will stay open and may move to a student-accessible location before classes start this fall.

“We are open to the idea of working with student groups and faculty (for) programs,” Sykes said.