Kendra Field, the College's 2008-2009 Charles Eastman Fellow in Native American studies, presented her dissertation, "Intruder of Color: Race, Nation and Thomas Jefferson Brown's Life in Indian Territory," to about 25 attendees in Carson Hall Wednesday evening. Fields, a doctoral candidate at New York University, discussed the life of Thomas Jefferson Brown, a "mixed-race" man who migrated from Arkansas to the Indian Territory in 1870. Brown, who was born to an Irish woman and a black man, was married twice -- both times to members of Native American nations with African heritage. The talk explored several of the issues surrounding Native Americans in Brown's time, including the relationship between settlers and Native Americans in the territory and land allocation as a result of the Dawes Act. The presentation was part of the annual First Nations Week, presented by Native Americans at Dartmouth.
Brown University and Cornell University recently announced cost-saving measures such as hiring freezes. Brown's president Ruth Simmons announced Brown will not fill vacant administrative or staff positions, in an e-mail sent to the Brown community, the Brown Daily Herald reported. Cornell has placed a moratorium on hiring new staff members from outside the university through March, Cornell University President David Skorton told the Bloomberg news service. According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, Cornell will postpone new construction on its Ithaca, N.Y., campus for a minimum of 90 days.
Two members and five new members of Phi Mu Delta fraternity at the University of New Hampshire are scheduled for arraignment today on possession by consumption charges from an Oct. 3 party, which resulted in the criminal charges of hazing and facilitating an underage alcohol party against the fraternity, The New Hampshire and the Seacoast Online reported. Phi Mu Delta lost its charter due to the misdemeanor charges and will therefore remain closed for three to five years, according to the Seacoast Online. During the night of the incident, fraternity members required new members to possess alcohol at all times, Deputy Chief Rene Kelly told Foster's Daily Democrat. The seven students were subsequently taken into custody by Durham police, and two of those charged were treated for excessive alcohol consumption at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital, according to Foster's.
