Reznet

After Hawaii, the Fallout

By Andi Murphy

LAS VEGAS, N.M. — The Navajo Nation, beset by tribal members' uproar over news that hundreds of Navajos flew to a convention in Hawaii at a cost of a half-million dollars, has criticized the newspaper that reported the trip, saying the story was misleading.

The Daily Times of Farmington, N.M, reported Nov. 3 that the tribe sent more than 360 Navajos to the four-day conference of the National Indian Education Association last month in Honolulu.

The newspaper estimated the total travel cost of "the 362 Navajo representatives" at $506,800, or $1,400 per person, and said the Navajo Nation "sent hundreds more delegates to [the] Hawaii education conference than any other American Indian tribe."

The Daily Times report was distributed widely by The Associated Press news service. The AP story appeared on reznet under the headline, "The Education Vacation."

The news had tribal members and officials up in arms.

"I thought it was just a waste of money," said Winona Kay, senior financial aid counselor at the Crownpoint school district on New Mexico's side of the sprawling Navajo reservation. "We could have funded our students."

Navajo Nation officials objected to what they believed was an implication in the newspaper report that tribal government funds paid for the Hawaii trip for all Navajo attendees. George Hardeen, communications director for the tribe, stressed that the Navajo Nation funded only 18 members of the 88-member tribal council and three from the president's office, including President Joe Shirley.

"The Navajo Nation did not send all of these people," Hardeen said. And the Navajo Nation didn't fund all Navajo delegates, said Joshua Butler, spokesman for the Navajo Nation Council.

Instead, school boards, not the tribal government, sent and paid for the other Navajo educators to attend the convention, using federal funds, the tribal officials said. Some Navajos even paid their own way, they said.

As for the accumulated cost of all delegates, "no one knows for sure," Hardeen said. Since each school board sent its own members as representatives, each district would have to be contacted individually for an estimated total of travel costs, Hardeen said.

Butler explained that each school board was responsible for funding its own representatives for the trip. "They are people across the whole reservation," he said.

The Daily Times said the Central Consolidated School District of Shiprock, N.M., sent eight school officials to Hawaii, spending about $15,000 in federal funds. "Regardless," the story added, "the money left the reservation."

Tribal officials also objected to the report's statements that Navajos far outnumbered other tribes at the Hawaii convention, including 45 Cherokees who preregistered, 48 Oglala Lakota and 17 Seminoles. In fact, the host Hawaiian delegation had only 183 more delegates at their convention than the Navajos, the paper said.

With more than 300,000 tribal members, the Navajo tribe "is the biggest" in the United States and "the Navajo Nation has the highest representatives for any conference," so why should the Hawaii convention be any different? Hardeen asked. "Who went and who didn't is not the [tribal] president's job to check out," he said.

Butler defended the decision to attend the education convention, saying delegates from across the reservation learned a lot and "were very active in the entire session."

"The council delegates attended the convention to represent the Navajo Nation. They needed to be involved, and they did a wonderful job," Butler said, quoting remarks by Speaker Lawrence T. Morgan in a news release.

The convention workshops mixed culture and education, said one Navajo delegate, who asked not to be named. Topics of discussions included student life on various reservations, substance-abuse education and perspectives on different cultures, the attendee said.

The Navajo Nation has written to the Navajo Times in response to criticism of the Hawaii trip, Butler said. One letter by Council Delegate Harry Claw of Chinle, Ariz., said the convention was not the " ‘Navajo Indian Education Association,' as some people think."

The "majority of the Navajo population are very thankful that the Navajo Nation Council was out there [in Hawaii] advocating for their youth," Claw wrote. "They thanked us upon our return from the convention and encouraged us to continue to represent them at such conferences and conventions. And we will continue to do so."

Tribal officials' explanations have not extinguished the firestorm over the trip.

"A lot of people were really disappointed," said Nelda Yazzie, legal secretary for the Navajo Housing Authority. "We keep thinking about all the money that was wasted."

Many college or high school students are turned down for Navajo Nation scholarships because "there's never enough money," said Kay of the Crownpoint school district. "It's just unfortunate that this money could not have been spent in a better way."

Eric Bennett, a Navajo freshman at New Mexico Highlands University, said, "The Navajo Nation didn't give me anything-the New Mexico Lottery helps me" pay for school.

One Navajo who traveled to Hawaii was Deidra Hubbard, 18, a freshman at the University of New Mexico. She went with her father, Harry Hubbard, a tribal council delegate, to the convention. Deidra said her father paid for her travel, lodging, shopping and food.

"People have their own different opinions" about the Navajo Nation's spending habits, she said.

Andi Murphy, Navajo, is a student at New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, N.M. A graduate of the Freedom Forum's 2007 American Indian Journalism Institute, Murphy interned as a reporter at The Daily Times in Farmington, N.M., last summer.