She has only been in her new position for six weeks, but the new American Indian adviser at OSU already plans to use her position to increase student and tribal diversity.
Robin Williams became the American Indian adviser over spring break, after Stuart Sparvier’s departure in January.
She said she feels OSU can do more to support American Indians, which is the largest minority group on campus, according to the OSU Diversity Ledger.
By working not only with OSU, but also with local tribes and the community, OSU can increase its tribal knowledge and create a better support network for American Indian students, Williams said.
Williams said the first step she feels she must take as an adviser is to go into the campus environment and evaluate demographics and the services available to American Indian students.
“I want to get a feel from students, faculty and staff,” she said. “The OSU Native American community assessment will help me see how students perceive the environment.”
After receiving the results from the assessment, Williams said she will form a synopsis from the responses.
She plans to use the summer to plan her future at OSU and to observe what students, faculty and staff want to see improved at OSU.
Through interaction with students and the Native American Student Association, Williams has already formed some ideas to help students in her short time at OSU.
“I’d like to see more cultural activities on campus,” Williams said. “I’d like to unite the OSU and [The University of Oklahoma] campuses to start a Native American hand game.”
Hand games, which tribes across the United States play, are a hide and guess game, Williams said. Someone hides an object in their hands and someone else guesses which hand the object is in. While the game is played, people sing and play tribal drums.
“There is always going to be that friendly rivalry [between OSU and OU],” Williams said. “But we are working toward the same goal — education.”
OSU could appeal to more students if it offered an even greater support network for American Indians, Williams said. Showing support for minority students could help OSU recruit and retain more students.
“I think OSU can do more to recruit more Native American because I would have probably never come here if it wasn’t for my sister,” said Rochell Werito, a human development and family sciences freshman, and Miss American Indian OSU. “I think some [American Indian students] stay here because of the friendships they have made and the organizations they have become active in.”
Williams said she wants to see American Indians develop as students without losing their culture.
“I’d like to see more exposure to the Native American church,” Williams said. “I’d also like to bring more stomp dances to OSU.”
Many tribes in Oklahoma, including the Creek, Seminoles and Choctaws, perform stomp dances, Williams said.
She said she would like to bring more tribal activities to campus through groups already on campus.
Through NASA, Williams said she and the group want to start American Indian intramural sports. By playing sports like stickball, which American Indians originally planned, students at OSU could feel a better sense of tribal community.
Williams said she plans to start monthly American Indian roundtable meetings, at which members from all American Indian campus groups would collaborate in an attempt to work together. Students say groups like NASA help them adapt to life away from home.
“If I wouldn’t have become a NASA member, then I wouldn’t be where I am today,” said Jessica Moore, a landscape architecture and studio art sophomore and current NASA president. “NASA can strengthen your leadership skills, [you can] learn about the culture, learn about another’s culture, talk with students… And most of all we have fun doing the things we do.”
Although it was hard to leave her job as academic adviser at Comanche Tribal College in Lawton, Williams said she accepted the job at OSU because of opportunity.
OSU has a different population of students, a larger campus with a larger student population and the ability to further her own education, Williams said. She wants to earn a doctoral degree while she is at OSU.
While increasing her own education, Williams said she wants to help American Indian students learn about other cultures as well as their own.
“My philosophy includes helping students achieve educational goals but to develop as students without losing their own culture,” Williams said. “Then students can open up to learning about other cultures.”
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