UW System To Create Tribal Consultation Policy

University of Wisconsin System officials say they’re starting to craft a new policy governing consultations with Wisconsin’s American Indian tribes.

UW System officials said in a news release Monday announcing the effort that they hope to foster greater American Indian enrollment and improve graduation rates.

System officials say the policy will mirror a similar plan the Arizona Board of Regents adopted in 2016 that guides interactions between Arizona’s public universities and that state’s tribal American Indian nations on issues such as land use, education policy and research.

A dozen American Indian nations are located within Wisconsin. In the fall of 2017, the most recent data available on the UW System website, 628 American Indian students were enrolled at system institutions. They made up 0.4 percent of the system’s total enrollment.