Summers said, according to a transcript of the speech released in April, that the “vast majority” of Native American suffering “was in many ways a coincidence.”

“I can conclude that he is miseducated about American history,” Lussier says. “It’s not American Indian history, it’s American history.”

ETHNIC FRAUD

In February 2005, The Crimson reported that Harvard does not require Native American applicants to verify their heritage, which Scott says sparked a huge response from Natives across the country.

Scott said at the time that, of the 18 members of the Class of 2008 who identified themselves as Native American on their applications, only four had joined NAHC.

Earlier in the school year, Scott says, members of NAHC visited the dorms of self-identified Native freshmen, and two of the freshmen explicitly admitted that they were not Native, despite checking the box on their applications.

“It was a big thing,” Scott says of the admissions office report. “Every Indian I’ve ever known was contacting me. It got into a big media issue.”

Lussier says NAHC has met with the admissions office to express its concerns, but Director of Admissions Marlyn McGrath Lewis ’70-’73 wrote in an e-mail that the office has no plans to require proof of background for Native Americans or other students.

“We expect students to be honest with us in the information they present as part of their applications,” McGrath Lewis wrote.

Yet according to NAHC Finance Commissioner Kyle E. Scherer ’05, Native Americans are unique from other ethnic minorities because they must prove their heritage in order to qualify for certain rights.

Scherer, a member of the Munsee-Delaware tribe, says there is a “fulfillment of obligations by the U.S. that differs from Latinos, African-Americans, etc.”

According to the U.S. Constitution, Native American tribes on reservations possess the right to form their own government, to enforce laws—both civil and criminal—and to license and regulate activities. Limitations on tribal powers of self-government are few, and include the same limitations applicable to state governments.

“It’s actually a political issue,” says Youpee-Roll. “We’re already only 1 percent [of the Harvard student body]. If there is supposed to be 18 [incoming freshmen] but there are only four [joining the group], it’s really detrimental to our club.”

McGrath Lewis wrote that, in the event that there has been fraud in the admissions process, the situation will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

POWWOW SEASON