President
Calvin Hatch
Vice President
s
Aaron Waite
Rick Tuha
Secretary
Mari Kikuchi
Treasurer
Joanna Gustafson Bell
Dear NNALSA,
We hope that all is well with you. We are pleased to report a productive
year for our BYU chapter. The year
began in traditional fashion with an opening social held at the home of
Professor Larry Echohawk. After a
delicious meal we were lucky enough to listen to a presentation on Paul Tsosie’s
experiences working for the Navajo Nation and for California Indian Legal
Services. Though the number of
Native Americans attending BYU Law School are few, our attendance was 37 Law
Students along with some of their families.
In October, we held a Symposium on “Native Americans in
Utah and Tribal Sovereignty.” The
activity was spear headed by Aaron Waite one of our Vice Presidents. For Speakers he was able to get Mr.
Forrest Cuch, the Director of Indian Affairs for the State of Utah, Professor
Larry Echohawk of the J. Reuben Clark Law School, and Professor Skibine of the
University of Utah Law School. Mr.
Cuch’s presentation was a general introduction to tribes in Utah. Professor Echohawk’s presentation was an
analysis of the book Tribes, Treaties and Constitutional Tribulations. Professor Skibine’s presentation was on
the potential Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians Reservation Nuclear Waste
Dump and its Implications on Tribal Sovereignty. Prior to the presentations we had a drum
group perform and REDHAWK, an Indian storyteller, share a story and the purposes
behind the telling of stories.
In November, we were lucky enough to have Judge William
A. Thorne Jr. of the Utah Court of Appeals present “A Report on the Utah Task
Force on Racial and Ethnic Fairness in the Legal System.” Judge Thorne was on the steering
committee for the Judicial Council’s Task Force on Racial and Ethnic
Fairness. Though he was not
accompanied by entertainment, His presentation left a lasting
impression.
Spring has been a time for preparation to compete in the
NNALSA Moot Court Competition and for that reason we have not sponsored any
major speaking events. The BYU Law
School was very proud to sponsor three teams to this year’s competition. Though we would like to have done
better, we were very pleased to have one of our teams reach the quarter
finals. It was a wonderful event
and we learned much from the experience.
We hope to continue to send teams every year as the event proves to be
very valuable to everyone whether they are interested in this area of law or
not.
The rest of the year is likely to be less eventful as
finals approach. Our chapter
elections will be held next week and we are anxious to see who our new
leadership will be. Also, we are
still deciding wether we will send any individuals to the Indian Bar Conference
at the beginning of April. It has
been a good year!
Have a great Day!!!
Calvin Hatch
BYU NALSA
President