April 1999     

Last Dance Congratulations, Erich Pedestrian Safety NALSA SABER Graduation Pledge Seven-Year Reflection Small Claims and Cinnamon Rolls Church of the Earth Y2K Nuclear Threat Tribal Members Speak INS Are Thought Police In re Robin E. LOVE, Debtor Selected Crime Beat Reports Living Large: Downtown Haiku Variations The Light William Stafford perspective Spring Wave Poetry Notes

Over the past few years, a handful of students have developed a chapter of the Native American Law Student Association (NALSA) at Lewis & Clark. This year, under the guidance of its president, third-year Kara Hegwood, the group has blossomed from its fledgling roots into a mature student organization ready to give something back to the law school and larger community.

For example, NALSA worked in cooperation with other student groups on campus, including the Minority Law Student Association (MLSA), to raise awareness of Native American issues as they intersect with the legal issues that are of interest to the law school community.

Active outside of the law school as well, NALSA sent two of its members to the annual meeting of the Indian Law section of the Federal Bar Association in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in early April. First-year students Jeremy Aliason and Steve Wehling represented Lewis & Clark at the conference.

"We were engulfed in a swarm of Indian law attorneys, state attorneys general, tribal judges and other officials, and NALSA students from all over the country," Wehling said of the experience. According to him, over 700 people attended, well over the 500 people projected.

The conference began with a review of recent Supreme Court Indian law decisions, including the March 24 shocker Minnesota v. Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa, 119 S.Ct. 1187 (1999), in which the Court upheld the Mille Lacs Band’s treaty rights to hunt, fish, and gather on ceded lands in present-day Wisconsin and Minnesota.

"The Mille Lacs case surprised some of the participants," Wehling said. "Recent trends of the Supreme Court favoring states’ sovereignty over Indian interests has led some Indian law advocates to take a cynical view of the future legal issues brought before the Court." The rest of the conference consisted of breakout sessions covering a wide range of topics, including sovereignty, water law, and tribal economic development.

The national NALSA board also convened at the conference. Two major items were on the agenda: election of new officers, and a vote on the site of next year’s NALSA moot court tournament. Presentations were made by Harvard NALSA and Hawaii NALSA. Wehling reported the verdict: "Unfortunately, next year’s NALSA moot court participants will have to tough it out in Hawaii."

"All in all, the trip was a success," Wehling said. "Jeremy and I came away full of tamales . . . I mean ideas."

Local NALSA officers have been elected. Officers for the 1999-2000 year are: Jeremy Aliason, President; Steve Wehling, Vice President; Cheryl Kosewicz, Secretary; Cliff Cannon, Treasurer; and Emily Davis, Public Relations Coordinator. Wehling, star baker as well as NALSA enthusiast, reminds us: "Keep your eyes open for NALSA on campus next year, because we throw a mean bake sale."