Indigenous Responses to Climate Change and Water Quality Concerns in the Great Lakes

As a citizen of the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians in Michigan, I have an indigenous perspective on the governments of the Great Lakes. A recent book2 on climate change in the Great Lakes Region begins with an observation that four critical points must be addressed for effective mitigation and adaptation: * Downscale our understanding of the effects of climate change to understand the local impacts (bring climate change "home"); * Engage expertise on coupled human and natural systems; * Deploy expertise on decision making under uncertainty; and * Link scientific analysis with deliberation. This is interesting because tribal governments are well equipped to do these four things in ways that others are perhaps not. In terms of understanding the local ramifications of a changing climate, tribes are in a unique position with their capacity to collect detailed data regarding local impacts, as a result perhaps of climate change, within their communities. Furthermore, they have the resources and capacity to engage in a deep collection of data regarding changes in water temperatures, changes in habitats, changes in ice formation, changes in precipitation, etc., and impacts on water resources and the ecosystem

Commuters, Wanderers, and \u27international Mongrels\u27: Resistance and Possibility in Post-immigrant Literature

The recognizable motifs of the immigrant tale have been upended, as the traditional narrative has been adapted to capture the multitude of directions, individuals, nations, and paths of the twenty-first century migrant. In four chapters, I examine selected works from the authors Colum McCann, Junot Díaz, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie to argue for a new designation, “post-immigrant literature.” Post-immigrant literature treats critically the themes of loss, regret, and forced assimilation from perspectives shaped by post-colonial, post-modern and post-identity politics thinking. Rather than narratives stressing the limitations imposed by deterministic social forces, post-immigrant texts posit more agency, and anxiety, for their transnational characters. Post-immigrant literature departs from preceding generations by proffering possibility, empowering the subject, creating space for more voices, and disrupting traditional binaries, expectations or assumptions. Ultimately, I argue that the post-immigrant narrative detangles the strands of immigrant literature and disavows the “single story” so as to appropriately represent individuality

The First Federalists

Article published in the Drake Law Review

Indian Tribes and Human Rights Accountability

In Indian country, the expansion of self-governance, the growth of the gaming industry, and the increasing interdependence of Indian and non-Indian communities have intensified concern about the possible abuse of power by tribal governments. As tribes gain greater political and economic clout on the world stage, expectations have risen regarding the need for greater government accountability in Indian country. Despite these expectations, Indian tribes are largely immune from external accountability with respect to human rights. In fact, tribes have effectively slipped into a gap in the global system of human rights responsibility. The gap exists in the sense that tribal governments are not externally accountable in any broad sense for abuses of human rights that they commit. The failure of the legal system to provide for tribal accountability for human rights produces serious harms for Indian tribes and their polities. In this Article, I argue that the conventional understanding of tribal sovereignty must be reformed to reflect the transformative international law principle that all sovereigns are externally accountable for human rights violations. I then offer a proposal based on tribal accountability and respect for tribal sovereignty. I propose that tribes develop an intertribal human rights regime that includes the formation of an intertribal treaty recognizing tribal human rights obligations and establishing an intertribal institution with the capacity to enforce human rights violations. An intertribal human rights regime offers the best possible method for providing external accountability for tribal abuses of human rights. It allows tribes to address human rights violations without relying upon solutions supplied or imposed by the federal government. It also allows tribes to articulate and interpret universal human rights in light of their cultural, philosophical, spiritual, political, and social perspectives, and it allows them to develop effective and culturally appropriate institutional enforcement mechanisms

Cultural Sovereignty and Transplanted Law: Tensions in Indigenous Self-Rule

Article published in the Kansas Journal of Law & Public Policy

The Institutional Economics of Tribal Labor Relations

Article published in the Michigan State Law Review

Impact of an Innovative Classroom on BSN Students\u27 Self-Efficacy and Academic Performance

The critical shortage of registered nurses (RNs) in the United States has led to increased enrollment in nursing schools, but the number of graduates is still decreasing, as nursing students struggle and fail in upper division courses. There is a significant gap in knowledge concerning students\u27 self-efficacy (SE) as a factor directly influencing students\u27 academic performance. The problem examined in this correlational study was the impact of collaborative learning in an innovative classroom setting on Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) students\u27 SE and academic performance. Framed by Bandura\u27s theory of SE, the research questions examined the relationship between students\u27 SE scores at the beginning and end of the innovative course, and their end-of-course grade. The sample included 22 students from one nursing class (N = 22) in an undergraduate-level nursing program in Texas. Data sources included disaggregated student grades and an anonymous, online survey. Analyses included Chi-square and Pearson\u27s r correlation of the data. Results indicated SE scores at the end of the course were higher than they were at the beginning of the course, which provided an initial understanding of the impact of the innovative learning environment on BSN students\u27 academic performance, but were not statistically significant and could not, therefore, disprove the null hypothesis. This study indicates that student nursing courses could increase student self-efficacy, which would result in a positive impact in hospital and clinic support for United States citizens