By Quinton Harper and Graham Titus
chh@heraldsun.com; 918-1035
CHAPEL HILL -- North Carolina's Native American tribes all unite at UNC Chapel Hill under one roof: the American Indian Center. North Carolina is home to the largest American Indian population east of the Mississippi, and for 204 Native American students at UNC, the American Indian Center (AIC) is a home away from home.
The AIC brings together students, professors, staff and community members from each of North Carolina's eight tribes -- the Coharie, Eastern Band Cherokee, Haliwa-Saponi, Lumbee, Meherrin, Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation, Sappony and Waccamaw-Siouan -- and creates a sense of community for American Indians on campus and statewide.
Located in Abernethy Hall, the center has an office, library, conference room, meeting space and community center.
"The center is a link between the University and North Carolina's Indian communities," said Randi Byrd, the center's program assistant.
Byrd coordinates the center's Tribal Leadership Workshop, a series of two-day sessions throughout the year focused on strengthening the Indian communities in North Carolina.
"Having a physical location that values American Indian culture is huge," Byrd said. "The fact that the center is even here acknowledges that culture is vital to student success."
"Historically, education was a negative thing for American Indians," she said. "It meant you were taken away from your people and your traditional knowledge. Today is very different. Culture is not only respected, but it is viewed as an important aspect of student learning."
This year's freshman class includes 47 Native American students, a 62 percent increase from last year, although the total population of Native students still represents less than 1 percent of the student body. The AIC helps these students embrace their Native American heritage and identity.
But when Brandi Brooks, 24, started at UNC in 2003, fewer American Indian students called UNC home. The Carolina Indian Circle, an American Indian education, service and student support organization, was the only undergraduate Native American student organization on campus, and American Indian studies was only a minor.
After coming from a high school without a Native American presence, Brooks, a member of the Lumbee tribe, fondly recalls her first months here.
"It was my first real interaction with Native American friends," she said. "All these people that are just like me, that speak like me, it made me feel so close to home."
"When I came to Carolina my freshman year, Carolina Indian Circle was much smaller, and that cohesion wasn't there," she said. "As the years continued, I became more politically active in the organization."
Brooks and other Native American students successfully petitioned the administration to hire American Indian faculty, establish a Native American studies major and found the AIC.
"Carolina is the nation's first public university," she said. "Why shouldn't it recognize the first people of North Carolina?"
Brooks, who graduated in 2007 with a degree in communication studies, is now the program coordinator for the center and a mentor to American Indian students.
One such student is Rachel Ensing, a former work-study student at the center and organizer of last spring's Carolina Indian Circle Pow-wow, an exhibition that provides hands-on cultural experience for Natives and the UNC community.
"All you have to do is ask [Brooks]," said Ensing, a junior psychology major and Native American studies minor. "People go to her for help and advice."
Ensing, 20, a member of the Haliwa-Saponi tribe, said she chose UNC because of the American Indian Center and its minority outreach.
"I think as an American Indian student one of my goals has always been to find out more about myself as an American Indian," she said. "I found out when I got here that I wanted to educate people. The center has helped a lot because I feel like I have a voice."
Ensing, also the vice president of Alpha Pi Omega, the Native American sorority at UNC, tries to be a mentor to others.
"Whenever we have visitations, I know students who come, because we come from the same communities," she said. "There's a deep sense of family and community. I've tried to be like Brandi for the younger students coming in."
Ensing emphasizes that the center's programs are for everybody, including Native students who are not from a historically Native community, such as Robeson County which is the traditional home of the Lumbee tribe.
Amelia Muse, 20, embraces her Native American heritage even though she grew up in a non-Native community.
"I live in Durham," said Muse, a junior psychology major and chemistry minor. "There's no Native American identity or community."
Muse said she felt encouraged to pursue an interest in her heritage.
"I'm half white, so it's confusing to know how much to do," she said. "There's a group of people at Carolina who are from Robeson County. Their entire family is Indian, but I don't have that."
Muse, also a member of Alpha Pi Omega, said performing a traditional shawl dance with her sorority at last year's powwow was an important part of her experience with the Native American community.
"I always thought pow-wows were for 100 percent Native American people," she said. "For the first time, I felt like I could merge with the people I'd seen as 'real' Native Americans. I could feel more comfortable being a part of their group."
And now, as the center enters its third year, Carolina boasts a growing number of Native students on campus and a 90 percent retention rate of those students, the highest in the UNC system.
"When this incoming class applied, they knew there were American Indian student organizations," Brooks said. "They knew there was an American Indian presence on campus, so we're doing something right."
