Speaker: Government not protecting Native Americans, tribes
Elizabeth Kronk Warner said crime is higher in Indian Country and the federal government isn't doing enough to stop it.
Warner spoke to a full room at the K-State Student Union Ballroom Monday for Indigenous Peoples' Day. The university held the program as opposed to Columbus Day activities for the third year. This year, the theme was "Indigenous Female Leadership: Disrupting Dominant Discourse."
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Who Owns Tradition? Reconceptualizing the Protection of Indigenous and Traditional Knowledge
"This Fall, the Spangenberg Centre on Law, Technology and the Arts will be holding its annual conference on the issue of Intellectual Property, Traditional Knowledge, and Folklore. Focusing on the international aspects of the issue with a US perspective, the conference seeks to revisit and re-examine the theoretical discomfort, and sometimes outright rejection of the possibility of protection of GR, TK and Folklore in mainstream intellectual property discourse in developed countries.
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Law professor named 2016-17 KU senior administrative fellow
LAWRENCE — The Office of the Provost has selected the 2016-2017 senior administrative fellows.
The program identifies and cultivates current and potential leaders already on the University of Kansas faculty. Now in its 24th year, the Senior Administrative Fellows Program was expanded to prepare even more tenured faculty for leadership at KU.
"This year we had an extraordinary degree of interest in the program from faculty in disciplines across KU," said Mary Lee Hummert, vice provost of faculty development. "We are fortunate to have so many faculty eager to learn more about academic leadership."
The Senior Administrative Fellows Program offers tenured faculty interested in leadership roles the opportunity to see the nuts and bolts of administrative activities and responsibilities. In addition to learning more about major units of the university, fellows meet with KU's senior leadership and take part in discussions surrounding academic leadership, public policy and the future of higher education.
"Previous participants in the program have gone on to administrative leadership positions at KU, so this level of interest bodes well for KU's future," Hummert said. "I look forward to working with this year's fellows."
The class of fellows is selected from applications solicited late in the spring semester of the previous academic year. This year to accommodate interest, two cohorts of fellows have been formed.
2016-17 senior administrative fellows
Wednesday cohort
Jim Backes, professor, pharmacy practice; associate dean, School of Pharmacy
Caroline Bennett, associate professor, civil, environmental and architectural engineering; School of Engineering
Chris Brown, professor, environmental studies and geography; director of environmental studies, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Florence DiGennaro-Reed, associate professor and chair, applied behavioral science, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
David Fowle, associate professor, environmental studies and geology; associate director of environmental studies, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Mugur Geana, associate professor, William Allen White School of Journalism & Mass Communications
Liz MacGonagle, associate professor, history, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Amy Mendenhall, associate professor, School of Social Welfare
Laura Mielke, associate professor and associate chair, English, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Jeremy Shellhorn, associate professor, design; associate dean, School of Architecture, Design and Planning
Eric Stomberg, professor, bassoon; associate dean, School of Music
Margot Versteeg, associate professor, Spanish & Portuguese, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Thursday cohort
Genelle Belmas, associate professor, School of Journalism
Nate Brunsell, professor and chair, geography and atmospheric science, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Stephanie Fitzgerald, associate professor, English; director of indigenous studies, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Chris Gamblin, professor, molecular biosciences, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Heidi Hallman, associate professor, curriculum & teaching, School of Education
Nicole Hodges Persley, associate professor and chair, theatre, School of the Arts, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Elizabeth Kronk Warner, professor and associate dean, School of Law
Michelle Johnson-Motoyama, associate professor and associate dean, School of Social Welfare
Paola Sanguinetti, associate professor and chair, architecture, School of Architecture, Design and Planning
Milena Stanislavova, professor, mathematics, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Mike Wehmeyer, professor, special education, School of Education; director, Bureau of Child Research
Bryan Young, associate professor, civil, environmental and architectural engineering; director, University Honors Program, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Hummert leads the program with Jenny Mehmedovic, executive associate to the vice provost for faculty development.
Updated on: 08/30/2016
UO Today with Maxine Burkett and Elizabeth Kronk Warner
Maxine Burkett, Law, University of Hawai'i, and Elizabeth Kronk Warner, Law, University of Kansas, talk about how climate change impacts indigenous communities on Pacific Islands and in the Arctic. They discuss the role law can play in planning for adaptation to loss of resources and land. Burkett and Warner were keynote speakers at the UO's Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples Symposium, addressing tribal sovereignty, traditional knowledges, and climate-induced change among indigenous peoples in the U.S.
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Treaties could be key in helping indigenous communities fight effects of climate change
LAWRENCE — Some may view treaties between indigenous peoples and the federal government as a relic of the 19th century, but they just might provide a way for tribes to mitigate the effects of climate change on their lands and communities. A University of Kansas law professor has authored a study showing that provisions of treaties can lead the way to fight the effects of climate change, which often hit native communities earliest and most severely.
Elizabeth Kronk Warner, associate dean of academic affairs, professor of law and director of the Tribal Law and Government Center at the KU School of Law, has authored "Everything Old is New Again: Enforcing Tribal Treaty Provisions to Protect Climate Change Threatened Resources." The article examines provisions of two native treaties and how they have been successfully argued to require the federal government to address damages done to fishing resources of the Swinomish and Nez Perce tribes. The cases are proof that treaties, which were no longer drafted after the 1870s, could be a new way to fight the effects of climate change on native communities.
"I don't think anyone has ever looked at treaties for this reason," Kronk Warner said. "It may not be a cure-all, but it could certainly be part of a larger solution. It's applying what has been a very successful solution to a new context."
In the case of the Swinomish and Nez Perce tribes, their treaties with the federal government contained specific provisions that their fishing access and rights be maintained as they were a vital part of their culture, daily life and very survival. When those rights were infringed, the tribes were successful in bringing action that eventually required the federal government to ensure fulfillment of those rights.
There are more than 500 federally recognized tribes in the United States, many of which have treaties with the federal government. Those who are negatively affected by climate change could potentially use the treaties as a legal tool to mitigate those effects, Kronk Warner said. For example, tribes with provisions regarding hunting rights whose lands are affected by drought, wildfires, rising coastlines or other effects of climate change could bring suit arguing the federal government is bound by its treaty to protect those rights.
Federal courts have proven in recent history to be very protective of hunting and fishing rights protected by treaties. Kronk Warner said provisions related to infrastructure and many other aspects of native life could potentially be part of a legal strategy as well. She added that, in her legal opinion, the argument that climate change was not a foreseeable issue when the treaties were signed would not be an argument relieving the federal government of its obligation to uphold the agreement.
Kronk Warner compares the approach to litigation against big tobacco companies. It took decades to find the right legal strategy to eventually hold the companies liable for health damages their products caused. Similarly, using treaty provisions to mitigate the negative effects of climate change could be the next step in an ongoing battle, in which climate change is already devastating the lands and resources of tribes across the country. Looking to treaties could be a valuable tool, as litigation and adaptation plans have had varying levels of success.
Kronk Warner, a citizen of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, has written extensively on climate change, native law and indigenous knowledge's role in the fight against climate change. She was also recently appointed a district judge for the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation and will serve on the Healing to Wellness Court. Her most recent article will be published in the University of Nebraska Law Review and is available online.
While climate change has already begun having negative effects on native lands, communities and resources, the legal fight to ameliorate the effects is still fairly new. Looking at treaties, which many have failed to view as a solution to a modern problem, could be key.
"How climate change impacts tribes will continue to change, and how tribes react to that will change as well," Kronk Warner said. "Examples are highly localized, but I think this is an approach that any tribe with a treaty could look to use."
Indian Tribes and Environmental Concerns
"Professor Kronk's research focuses on the intersection of environmental and natural resources law and federal Indian law. Currently, Professor Kronk is engaged in several projects related to the impact of climate change on indigenous people and energy development in Indian country. She spoke on June 14th at the Unitarian Fellowship of Lawrence."
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Voter ID laws focus of Kansas civil rights committee
"The Kansas division of a federal civil rights commission will investigate whether voter identification laws have affected turnout around the state.
The Kansas Committee of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission voted Tuesday to hold hearings to determine if turnout in some communities has been suppressed, KCUR-TV reported.
Committee chairwoman Elizabeth Kronk said there is concern that the law 'disproportionately impacts certain age groups and certain racial categorizations.'
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Smashing the Glass Ceiling: Women in the Law
"Female lawyers have seemingly overcome systematic exclusion, but many still struggle with stress, influence and power as they are paid less and do more on average per week in terms of work (domestic and professional) than men.
'I regularly encounter people who believe that because there may be de jure gender equality there is de facto gender equity. The glass ceiling is real and it persists to this day,' reveals the Honorable Elizabeth Ann Kronk Warner, who serves as the Director of the Tribal Law & Government Center at the University of Kansas School of Law."
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Navajo Nation struggles with same-sex marriage
Elizabeth Kronk Warner, director of the Tribal Law & Government Center at the University of Kansas School of Law, said her research showed that tribes historically accepted same-sex unions.
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Indian country torn over gay marriage
A national news article discussing the conflict surrounding gay marriage amongst Indian tribes featured commentary from Elizabeth Kronk, professor of law.
Hotakainen wrote:
Scholars note that before their introduction to Christianity, many tribes accepted their gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender members as "two spirits," even giving them added respect because they were thought to have special powers.
Consequently, they say, same-sex marriage is easier for many tribal members to accept, though it still kicks up plenty of controversy.
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