Foundation Professor of Law Robert N. Clinton is scheduled to testify as a defense witness for the University of Colorado on Friday, March 20, at a civil trial in Denver about the discharge of a faculty member.

Clinton served as a member of a Special Investigatory Committee that looked into allegations of research misconduct involving Ward Churchill, a former professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

In its report, issued in May 2006, the committee unanimously found that Churchill committed several forms of academic misconduct, including falsification, plagiarism, failure to comply with established standards regarding author names on publications and serious deviation from accepted practices in reporting results from research. To read the report, click here.
After numerous other proceedings, Churchill ultimately was discharged by the Colorado Board of Regents on an 8-1 vote.

Tsosie contributes to book on ‘Indigenous Rights’

Rebecca Tsosie Rebecca Tsosie, executive director of the Indian Legal Program, has contributed a paper on “Indigenous Treaty Rights: Sacred obligations, Intercultural Justice and the Discourse of Treaty Rights,” to a book, Indigenous Rights, that will be published by Ashgate in April.

“Throughout the world, indigenous rights have become increasingly prominent and controversial,” states the book’s description. “The recent adoption by the United Nations General Assembly of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is the latest in a series of significant developments in the recognition of such rights across a range of jurisdictions.

“The papers in this collection address the most important philosophical and practical issues informing the discussion of indigenous rights over the past decade or so, at both the international and national levels. Its contributing authors comprise some of the most interesting and influential indigenous and non-indigenous thinkers presently writing on the topic.”

The book is edited by Anthony J. Connolly, of the Australian National University.

March 17-18, 2009 Workshop on NEPA in Indian Country
International Institute for Indigenous Resource Management
444 South Emerson Street
Denver, Colorado 80209-2176
Phone: (303) 733-0481; FAX: (303) 744-9808
E-Mail: iiirm@iiirm.org Website: www.iiirm.org

A Workshop on the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in Indian Country Designed for Tribal Council Members, Attorneys, Natural and Cultural Resource Specialists and environmental Protection Professionals and Federal Agency Personnel and Contractors Working in Indian Country

March 17-18, 2009 Radisson Hotel Denver Stapleton Plaza
3333 Quebec Street
Denver, Colorado

Applied to the Colorado Supreme Court for Continuing Legal Education Credit

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) can be an important part of federal agency consultation with Indian tribes. However, effective tribal participation in the NEPA process requires an awareness of the workings and procedural requirements of NEPA, technical expertise, knowledge of the broad range of tribal environmental, social, cultural, health and safety interests that March be affected by federal programs and activities and a strategy that links NEPA responses to other legal and statutory requirements such as the federal-Indian trust doctrine, treaty rights, AIRFA, NAGPRA, etc. This Workshop will provide practical instruction and assistance to inform tribal decision-makers on: the requirements and latest developments in NEPA compliance and litigation; the role of tribal, federal and state regulators in the NEPA process; and strategies to identify and protect tribal interests that March be affected by
proposed federal actions.

Preliminary Agenda
March 17, 2009
8:15 a.m. Registration, Coffee and Continental Breakfast
9:00 a.m. Welcome and Introductions Mervyn L. Tano, International Institute for Indigenous Resource Management
9:30 a.m. Small Group Exercise
10:15 a.m. History and Overview of NEPA James “Skip” Spensley, Spensley & Associates
10:30 a.m. NEPA as a Tribal Environmental Protection and Development Strategy Mervyn L. Tano
11:30 a.m. Break
11:45 a.m. An Approach to Identifying Tribal Interests Affected by Proposed Federal Actions Mervyn L. Tano
12:30 p.m. Lunch (on your own)
1:30 p.m. Planning for NEPA: What Tribes Need to Know About Federal Agencies, What Federal Agencies Need to Know About Tribes Mervyn L. Tano
2:30 p.m. The Environmental Impact Statement: The Process James “Skip” Spensley
4:30 p.m. Adjourn

March 18, 2009
8:30 a.m. Registration, Coffee and Continental Breakfast
9:00 a.m. Content of the EIS: Making Sure it’s Adequate James “Skip” Spensley
10:00 a.m. Assessing Cumulative Impacts Mervyn L. Tano
10:45 a.m. Break
11:00 a.m. Tribes as Cooperating Agencies: Issues and Opportunities Mervyn L. Tano
11:30 a.m. Other Issues including Programmatic EIS, Environmental Justice, etc. James “Skip” Spensley and Mervyn L. Tano
12:30 p.m. Lunch (on your own)
1:30 p.m. Indigenous Approaches to Adaptive Management Mervyn L. Tano
2:10 p.m. Strategic Approaches to NEPA Requirements James “Skip” Spensley Mervyn L. Tano
2:40 p.m. Small Group Exercise
4:15 p.m. Adjourn

Workshop Faculty:
James W. “Skip” Spensley is one of the nation’s experts on the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) working with its requirements from numerous perspectives including administrative, legislative, judicial, and project development. Mr. Spensley served as staff to the President’s Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) in 1970 after NEPA was first enacted. He assisted in preparing the first CEQ guidelines on environmental impact statement (EIS) preparation. He subsequently worked with an environmental law firm in Alexandria, Virginia where he litigated NEPA cases. In 1974, Mr. Spensley worked for a transportation and consulting firm which managed one of the largest urban transportation projects in New York where he was the architect of the EIS for the West Side Highway Project in New York City. In 1975, Mr. Spensley was hired by the United States House of Representatives to act as Legal Counsel to the Subcommittee responsible for NEPA. During his tenure there, he was responsible for writing the first and only amendment to NEPA in 1975. In 1984, The Marchor of Denver hired Mr. Spensley to manage the preparation of the EIS for Denver’s new international airport, the largest land area commercial airport in the world. Between 1989 and 1995, he has consulted with numerous large-scale projects concerning their NEPA requirements including among others the Vail Ski Area Expansion project; the Department of Energy’s Technology Integration Program; the E-470 Toll Road Project in Denver; and the Rocky Flats Site Wide Environmental Impact Statement. Since 1995, Mr. Spensley has provided consulting and project management services to the Colorado Department of Transportation, the City and County of Broomfield, the Seattle Port Authority, Will County Illinois on the 3rd Chicago South Suburban Airport project and several private company clients concerning environmental documents related to major transportation and development projects. Mr. Spensley has lectured on environmental law and NEPA at both the University of Colorado and the University of Denver in the law schools and other graduate programs since 1982. He is the author of the NEPA Compliance Manual for federal managers and author of the NEPA Chapter in the Environmental Law Handbook (Editions 12-16) for Government Institutes. He conducts regular annual national workshops on NEPA and the EIS process.

Mervyn L. Tano Mervyn L. Tano, Esq. is an attorney and the president of the International Institute for Indigenous Resource Management. He earned his Bachelor of Arts Degree in History from the Church College of Hawaii, Masters Degree in Education from the University of Arizona and the Juris Doctor Degree from the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University. Mr. Tano has extensive experience working with Indian tribes and includes, as a small sample: assisting the Confederated tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation establish a comprehensive water quality management system; helping the Nez Perce tribe establish the tribal environmental restoration and waste management department to oversee the cleanup of Department of Energy facilities at Hanford; and, advising the Oglala Sioux tribe on solid waste management issues. Mr. Tano has been a member of several national advisory boards including EPA’s Federal Facilities Environmental Restoration Dialogue Committee, the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council, DOE Office of Science and Technology’s Community Leaders Network, the National Academy of Public Administration’s committee on intergenerational responsibility and the National Research Council’s committee on priority setting, timing and staging of DOE’s environmental management activities. Mr. Tano has written numerous papers, articles and manuals on risk, environmental justice, environmental restoration, technology development, environmental law and radioactive waste management, and has written extensively on tribal strategies for NEPA responses.

Workshop Logistics:
All workshop sessions will be held at the Radisson Hotel Denver Stapleton Plaza, 3333 Quebec Street, Denver, Colorado. Rooms are available to workshop attendees at the special rate of $89.00 (single or double) per night. For reservations, call the Radisson Hotel Denver Stapleton Plaza at 303-317-3500 or 1-800-333-3333. Be sure to mention the “IIIRM NEPA in Indian Country Workshop” and make your reservation by April 20, 2009, to qualify for the special rate.

Registration Information:
Registration Fee: Early registration (until February 28, 2009) is $395.
After that date registration is $450. Tuition includes morning and afternoon coffee service and one copy of the workshop materials. For information on multiple registrations from one tribe, or other information, call the International Institute for Indigenous Resource Management at 303-744-9686. Please fill out the registration form and send it and your check or purchase order to: IIIRM, 444 South Emerson Street, Denver, CO 80209-2176; or FAX to: 303-744-9808.

The International Institute for Indigenous Resource Management
444 South Emerson Street, Denver, Colorado 80209-2176
Workshop on the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in Indian Country Radisson Hotel Denver Stapleton Plaza, 3333 Quebec Street, Denver, Colorado March 17-18, 2009

To pay by credit card or electronic check, please call Jeanne Rubin at 303-744-9686. A small on-line convenience fee applies.

If you no longer wish to receive these notices please send an e-mail message with “Unsubscribe” on the Subject line to mervtano@iiirm.org.

Mervyn L. Tano, President
International Institute for Indigenous Resource Management
444 South Emerson Street
Denver, Colorado 80209-2216 U.S.A.
Phone: +1 303-733-0481; FAX: +1 303-744-9808; Mobile: +1 720-341-4755
E-mail: mervtano@iiirm.org; Website: www.iiirm.org

Mervyn L. Tano, President
International Institute for Indigenous Resource Management
444 South Emerson Street
Denver, Colorado 80209-2216 U.S.A.
Phone: +1 303-733-0481; FAX: +1 303-744-9808; Mobile: +1 720-341-4755
E-mail: mervtano@iiirm.org; Website: www.iiirm.org

Bob Clinton contributed two essays to the Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court of the United States: one on Marbury v. Madison and the other on Mandatory Jurisdiction.

Professor Clinton is now an Associate Justice for the Hualapai Tribe Court of Appeals. He also on the following courts: Chief Justice, Winnebago Supreme Court; Associate Justice, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Court of Appeals; and Associate Justice, Colorado River Indian Tribes Court of Appeal

I am pleased to announce that the Association of American Law schools has appointed Rebecca Tsosie to a three year term on the Association’s Committee on Recruitment and Retention of Minority Law Teachers and Students. This is obviously an extraordinary important committee, and I think it helps the College of Law to have visibility within AALS. I am therefore grateful for Rebecca’s participation and I congratulate her on this honor.

Rebecca is being sworn in on Jan. 30 as a new Court of Appeals Judge for the San Carlos Tribal Court of Appeals, San Carlos Apache Tribe, San Carlos, Arizona. Congratulations Rebecca!

Native Americans, Race and the Constitution
Friday, February 27, 2009
8:30 – Noon

University of Colorado Law School
Wolf Law building – Room 204
2450 Kittredge Loop Road
Boulder, CO

Tuition $100
3 Gernal and .5 CLE applied for

To register and for more information visit:
http://lawweb.colorado.edu/events/details.jsp?id=1923
or contact Jill Tompkins
jill.tompkins@colorado.edu
(303) 492.8126

Presented by the CU and DU Chapters of the Native American Law Students Association

Professor Robert N. Clinton of the Indian Legal Program spoke on a panel, “One Country, Separate Sovereigns: Emerging Issues in Indian Law,” at the Appellate Judges Education Institute this weekend. The conference brought together federal and state appellate judges, appellate staff attorneys and appellate lawyers, was held at the Doubletree Paradise Valley Resort in Scottsdale on Nov. 13-16. Also on the panel with Clinton was Judge William Canby Jr. of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and a founding faculty member of the College of Law, Judge Joseph Thomas Flies-Away of the Hualapai Tribal Court, and Elizabeth Rosenbaum, an Indian law practitioner. The panel was moderated by Charles G. Cole of Steptoe & Johnson. Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor spoke at the annual dinner on Nov. 15.

Professor Clinton will be presenting “The Return of Indian Treaty Making” at the University of Kansas on Friday, February 13, 2009. The 2008-2009 Tribal Law and Government Conference will focus on “Innovations in Tribal Governance”

Tsosie at ALA Conference
Rebecca Tsosie presented at the Cultural Heritage and Living Culture Conference in Washington DC. In November the American Library Association’s Office of Information Technology Policy hosted a thoroughly stimulating conference on Cultural Heritage and Living Culture: Defining the U.S. Library Position on Access and Protection of Traditional Cultural Expression. The conference aimed to discuss and debate the present and historical role of archives, libraries, and museums in preserving and providing access to the “traditional cultural expressions” (TCE) of indigenous people and traditional communities worldwide. The conference further aimed to begin forming ALA positions on TCE, including how the rights of native people in their own TCE interact with conventional Western concepts and codifications of intellectual property. ALA will be able to carry forth these positions to discussions with global organizations such as UNESCO and the United Nation’s World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). WIPO’s Intergovermental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge, and Folklore (IGC), addresses protections for TCE, which affect and are affected by international copyright treaties and U.S. copyright law.

Tsosie at ITCA Conference
In October, Professor Tsosie presented at the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona’s conference “Future Directions of Tribal Health Research in Arizona” on Intellectual Property and Cultural Property.