Sacramento State to create Native American College to support and empower Indigenous students

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento State announced Friday the opening of a Native American College, marking the first school of its kind in the California State University system.

The college will be the second ethnic-based institution housed at Sacramento State after the university opened its Black Honors College this fall. The Native American College will offer a range of programs that integrate tribal values, traditions and community engagement, school officials said. The college will begin accepting students for the fall 2025 semester and will have no GPA prerequisite. Officials also said the college would focus on pairing students with faculty mentors as part of the college.

The announcement was made at the California state Capitol on California Indian Cultural Education Day and announced by President Luke Wood and Annette Reed, a Sacramento State professor since 1998 who served as chair of the ethnic studies program. Reed will be the first dean of Sacramento State Native American College.

The institution follows recent trends of California embracing Native education. Recently, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1821 into law, which will require K-12 schools to include curriculum about the genocide of California’s Native populations during the Gold Rush era from an Indigenous perspective.

Reed said that she came out of retirement to lead the initiative. She said that if her leadership could make a positive impact in these students’ lives, it was worth coming back.

“All I could think about was those first 30 to 40 students that might be entering,” said Reed, who is a member of Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation. “Our ancestors made decisions, and that’s why we are here today. Those decisions are the ones we make for future generations.”

“The Sacramento State Native American College is more than an academic institution; it is a space of belonging, empowerment, and collaboration,” Reed said. “We are creating a learning environment that values Native American knowledge systems and traditions while preparing students to address the challenges of today and tomorrow. It is an honor to lead this transformative initiative.”

Wood called the creation of the college a “historic moment for Sacramento State,” adding that the university was committed to “work on restoring past, present and future Native relations.”

Students can apply to the college through Cal State’s general application as an incoming or transfer student. Students must have a concentration or minor in Native American Studies, officials said. Sacramento State said they would accept students of any major, but they must have an emphasis on Native leadership.

Native students have the lowest college enrollment rates among ethnic groups in California. Often, Native students struggle in college because of systematic barriers and financial obstacles.

The school will likely boost enrollment of Native students into a four-year state college, giving the community college system’s roughly 6,500 Native students a pathway to a bachelor’s degree. Native students make up less than 1% of Sacramento State’s 30,000-student body, according to enrollment figures from the spring semester. Across the Cal State system, Indigenous students accounted for fewer than 1,000 students in fall 2023, about half as much as the University of California system.

Reed said this is where the Native American College hopes to bridge the gap for retention and graduation rates. A tribally-focused education, she said, could help Native students navigate higher education.

“There’s very few that finish. So that’s what’s so exciting (about the college),” Reed said. “Is that knowing (the ones who do graduate), the things they do are going to impact those that come after them.”

This isn’t the first Native partnership Sacramento State has made this year. Sacramento State recently collaborated with California Tribal College, a minority-serving institution centered on empowering Native communities, in offering curriculum and degrees that are based in cultural knowledge and tribal sovereignty. California Tribal College began offering classes this fall.

“I think it’s good that state institutions do something more for California Native students, and for Native students outside of California too, because our nation went through a genocide for all Native people,” Reed said.

“I think part of truth and healing is also providing services that have been promised in education for years,” she added.

Assemblyman James Ramos, a Democrat who joined Reed and Wood in the announcement, said the new college is a “testament to the power of education in preserving and uplifting our tribal nations.”

“It’s inspiring to see a university take such bold action to provide culturally relevant opportunities for Native students while building bridges between academia and tribal communities,” said Ramos, who is Serrano/Cahuilla and the only Native American in the Legislature. “I commend Sacramento State for setting a precedent that I hope others will follow.”

The California Legislative Native American Caucus also welcomed third and fourth graders from Miwok Village Elementary School and Arlene Hein Elementary School from Elk Grove Friday.

The day’s educational lessons opened with a Southern California/inter tribal bird song, which was performed for the first time in California history on the Assembly Chamber floor, said Ramos.

Throughout the day, classes of students learned about the Miwok language, the importance of salmon for Northern American tribes, Native plants and weaving.

“I’ve learned a couple things about Native Americans,” said Logan Rozok, a fourth-grader from Arlene Hein Elementary School. “They make baskets so tight that they can hold water and have sage where they light them up and go around with smoke. It’s really fun to learn about.”

These classes were led by members of Wilton Rancheria, the Shingle Spring Band of Miwok Indians and the Yurok Tribe from Del Norte and Humboldt counties.

“The most powerful thing is the teachers of these circuits are California Indian people teaching about their own history, no longer taking somebody that’s not Indian, telling the students about who we are, without the voices of Indian people themselves,” Ramos said. “This is changing the narrative because it’s the voices of the local people telling their local history.”