September 17
The Gates Millennium Scholars
Program announces scholarships for
Indian students.
Microsoft Corporation chairman Bill Gates launches
a program through his private charity that will pro-
vide $1 billion in scholarships for minority students,
including American Indians. The announcement is
made following a challenge by activist Jesse Jackson
to the computer industry to improve its record in
hiring minority workers. Over the next 20 years,
the Gates Millennium Scholars Program will offer
scholarships to undergraduates as well as students
seeking graduate degrees in math, science, engineer-
ing, education, and library science.
September 28
The American Indian College Fund receives a
$30 million donation.
The Lilly Endowment announces that it has given
$30 million to the American Indian College Fund,
the largest private donation ever received by an
American Indian organization. The grant, which
nearly equals the total amount of money the char-
ity has raised in its 10-year history, will be spent
on constructing new buildings to replace crumbling
facilities at 30 tribal colleges.
November 25
The Leonard Peltier Defense Committee
ends a month-long demonstration.
Several Indian organizations requesting clemency
for Leonard Peltier end 25 days of rallies and dem-
onstrations in Washington, D.C. Convicted of the
murder of two FBI agents, (see entry for APRIL 18,
1977), Peltier has been imprisoned for 23 years,
though many activists maintain he is innocent.
Demonstrators estimate that worldwide more than
25 million signatures have been gathered on peti-
tions demanding Peltier’s release. (See also entries
for DECEMBER 15, 2000, and for JANUARY 20,
2001.)December 21A federal judge orders an overhaul of the
Indian trust fund system.
Maintaining that “it would be difficult to find a
more historically mismanaged federal program,”
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth rules on the
first phase of Cobell v. Norton (see entry for JUNE
10, 1996). Lamberth maintains that the secretary
of the interior and the U.S. Treasury have breached
their trust obligations to the Indian plaintiffs in the
case. He retains judicial oversight over the trust ac-
count system for at least five years, appoints a special
master to manage the production and protection of
documents related to the case, and orders the gov-
ernment to make quarterly reports to the court.
The second phase of the case calls for determining
the amount owed to the plaintiffs.
Although the ruling is considered a victory
for the Indian plaintiffs, Lamberth does not follow
the Indians’ recommendation that the trust funds
be taken out of the hands of the government and
placed under the jurisdiction of a special receiver,
who would report directly to the court. The judge,
however, does threaten that if adequate changes are
not made in the trust fund system, he will find the
officials responsible in contempt of court.
Lamberth’s ruling is delivered only weeks after
an investigation found that the Treasury Department
had shredded 162 boxes of documents relevant to the
case. Although the government’s attorneys maintain
the destruction of the evidence was accidental, they
neglected to tell the court about it for three months.
(See also entry for AUGUST 22, 2003.)