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Dean of University of Connecticut Law School
Lobbies for Center Focused on Tribal Issues

By The Associated Press
September 15, 2003

STORRS — The dean of the University of Connecticut's School of Law said she is attempting to gather the funding to open an academic center that would focus on tribal legal issues.

Nell Jessup Newton, an expert in eastern Indian tribes, said the center would focus on land claims, federal recognition, Indian gaming, tribal governance and public education about tribal law matters.

Many law schools have programs that address western tribes, but no centers focus on eastern tribes, Newton said.

Newton said she brainstormed the idea during an interview with a reporter who was asking questions when the Rhode Island State Police raided the Narragansett Indians' smoke shop in July.

"That's when it came to me that there is no resource where anyone — citizens, legislators, reporters — can get this information," she said.

Newton has asked U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons to explore the possibility of applying for $2 million from the Bureau of Indian Affairs to launch the center. Simmons' office said he is consulting state officials.

"We wanted to kind of fell out state and local people first," said press secretary Joe Bell.

Stonington First Selectman Nicholas Mullane, a critic of the policies that enabled the Mashantucket Pequots to build a casino in the community, said he was concerned about how the center would be funded.

He said he worried the center would become dependent on gaming tribes if government funding ran out.

"The concern is that if something like this is done we want to make sure it doesn't become dependent upon those people who can influence it the most by grant allocations — the tribes," he said.

Newton said she has told the tribes about the proposal, and said she would take money from anyone who wanted to help. Tribes have given her money in the past to work on a revision of a federal law handbook on Indian law.

"When I accept money from them, I send them a letter and say ‘thank you' and ‘By the way, you don't have any influence on what the book says,'" Newton said.

Charles F. Bunnell, the Mohegan Indians' chief of staff for external and governmental affairs, said the tribal council would consider a proposal to fund the law center.

"We believe the more that people know about and understand tribal sovereignty, the better all of the parties involved can work together cooperatively," Bunnell said.