Page 12 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, June 1, 1984 Indian school holds first graduation WILSON, Mich. (UPI) - Switching schools just before senior year might be traumatic for some, but to the four members of the Hannahville class of 1984 it may have meant the difference between receiving their diplomas or becoming drop outs. Michigan's firstsand only Indian-run school graduated its first class last night at ceremonies attended by proud Tice Daie 764-0558 * 'o* E L A 1/0TRAY o K~ 'b Po w State's only tribal school produces first four alumni family and friends and two members of the State Board of Education. TOM MILLER, the fledging district's administrator and principal, said some of the students might never have com- pleted high school without the switch to the new school. "We've had a history of failures at the local high school and public school because of cultural and special needs," Miller said. The Hannahville Indian School is Michigan's first and only "tribal contract school" and one of just 64 in the nation. Tribes have the option of opening their own schools, under the funding and jurisdiction of the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, rather than using public schools in their area. The Hannahville school opened for kindergarten through eighth grade in 1975. Last fall, it accepted its first high school students. It serves residents of the nearby Potawatomi reservation and Indian students in the surrounding area. THE SCHOOL system now hasa total of 85 students and is located in western Menomonie County, about 18miles west of Escanaba. Miller said many of the students had problems learning in regular public schools and had difficulty meeting at- tendance requirements. "We had to be pretty flexible," he said. "We approached it just like jobs. No one was passed just to pass." Despite operating with just 3.5 high school teaching positions in a building he describes as "piecemealed together," Miller said the students received a well-rounded education and scored well on achievement tests. A MICHIGAN Department of Education spokesman said he is not certain if the Hannahville class is the smallest in state history, but said he believed it to be among the tiniest. Graduate Diane Halfaday said she felt more "comfortable" at the Han- nahville school than she did among the 30 class members at the public Bark River High School she formerly atten- ded. "We all knew each other since we were kids," she said of her Hannahville senior classmates. "There was not so much pressure all the time." HALFADAY, 18, plans to attend Nor- thern Michigan University in the fall, but it is not yet certain what she will study. The other graduates are Kenneth Metzger, John Decotah, and Ruth Meshigaud. Despite the small size of their class, the Hannahville seniors managed to experience some high school and graduation traditions. They started a school newspaper and they had the usual disputes over the color of their caps and gowns. "AT FIRST they were supposed to be silver and black, but we didn't want that," Halfaday said. The class of 1984 decided on light blue and dark blue. The graduation ceremony and celebratory feast at the Hannahville Bingo Hall was replete with tradition and one of few in the state attended by State Board of Education members, Annetta Miller (D-Huntington Woods) and Carroll Hutton (D-Highland) were scheduled to attend. Halfaday believes her soon-to-be alma mater will encourage more In- dian students. "I already see lots of kids going back to school that were not going before," she said. 01 Private college fears federal control WASHINGTON (UPI) - The presi- dent of a private Pennsylvania college that is struggling to keep free of govern- ment regulation warns that a civil rights bill now in Congress could mean more federal intrusion into private schools. Charles MacKenzie, president of Grove City College near Pittsburgh, warned a Senate panel Wednesday that the legislation is a "giant step" toward "Government domination of private campuses." The civil rights legislation has wide support in Congress. It was introduced to undo a Feb. 28 Supreme Court ruling" involving Grove City, a 107-year-old liberal arts college that accepts no gov- ernment aid. The ruling upset civil rights groups by narrowing the reach of a key sex discrimination law, which bans bias VILLAGE Peaches (per 1 lb. Ritz Cra Eckrich Smoke meat, beef,c Lowfat Milk, Sweet Cherri VILLAGE CORNER 601 S. FOREST ANN ARBORMI. 48104 CORNER This weeks specials: against women in schools receiving fed- eral money. But it also was a defeat for Grove City because the justices ruled that the school, even though it accepted no government aid, had to sign a federal anti-bias pledge because some of its students received federal education grants and loans. To overcome the court decision, the school is no longer enrolling any stu- dents who accept federal grants or loans, MacKenzie told the Senate Judic- iary subcommittee on the Constitution. But even that might not keep the gov- ernment from interfering in the school's affairs if Congress passes legislation now before it to undo the Supreme Court decision, he said. "If this bill passes in its present form," he said, "we fear that we may never be able to go far enough to disen- gage the college from the federal gov- ernment. . . . Someone, somewhere, will attempt to trace a federal dollar to Grove City's treasury." The Reagan administration opposes the legislation as written as too broad, particularly because its coverage sweeps to all "recipients" of federal aid. In testimony last week, Assistant Attorney General William Bradford Reynolds warned it could lead federal officials to enforce laws against sex, race, age and handicapped discrimina- tion even in grocery stores that accept The U.S. Civil Rights Commission of- ficially took no stand Wednesday on the bill, which alresdy has won the ap- proval of two House Committees and could be acted on in the full House next month. pound) ...... 3ckers . . ... . . 2d Sausage or polish (per p gallons....). es (per pound) . 8. . . . 89 ......1.25 )und). .1.99 ...... 1.59 . .89 sun-fri 8-12 sat 9-12 0 01 995-1818