ACLU of North Dakota launches survey to strengthen Indigenous students’ First Amendment rights

GRAND FORKS — The American Civil Liberties Union of North Dakota has distributed a survey to Indigenous students to gauge their understanding of their rights within the state, particularly regarding tribal regalia and cultural expression.

North Dakota is one of 14 states in the country that has legal protections outside of the First Amendment for tribal regalia, according to Cody Schuler, the North Dakota ACLU’s advocacy manager.

Schuler says despite these protections, he still receives calls annually from Indigenous students asking questions about their tribal regalia rights in public schools. He says the calls are often resolved easily, but highlights the need for more education around Indigenous rights in the state.

“We’re always looking for ways to better understand how people understand their rights, right? Like, what is the knowledge base?” he said. “It is a constitutional right for them as United States citizens, especially the people who were here before our constitution existed … to honor and revere those cultures, but also for those individuals to express themselves and to share who they are.”

Tribal regalia in schools

made news in Grand Forks last spring,

when a group of parents said the local school district told Indigenous students they would not be allowed to wear traditional beadwork on their graduation caps. During a

subsequent meeting with parents,

district leaders said they plan to introduce stoles for American Indian students starting this year.

The ACLU survey, distributed to Indigenous students across the state through their teachers, social media and word of mouth, is meant to be a “temperature check” about how well-versed students are in their own regalia and cultural expression rights.

The survey is made up of 18 questions to gather students’ experiences around wearing tribal regalia at school ceremonies. The survey asks students if they’ve ever felt tribal regalia has been treated differently than other forms of cultural expression, who makes decisions about whether regalia is allowed in their school, the personal impact when Indigenous cultural expression is restricted, and ideas for improving the protection of students’ cultural expression.

Schuler said ensuring Indigenous students can express their cultural identity during school ceremonies is vital and added that Indigenous culture is embedded in North Dakotan communities and in the identity of the state itself.

“I think that it’s so important for our Indigenous people to be able to share their culture and to express their culture and their religion,” he said. “This is North Dakota. The very name of our state is taken from Indigenous language.”

The ACLU is a nonprofit organization focused on defending First Amendment rights and fighting censorship. According to Schuler, The Tribal Regalia and First Amendment Rights in North Dakota survey is an informal and non-scientific study intended to gather information and possibly lead to education or policy initiatives.

“It will give us a little bit of a pulse on what’s happening around the state,” he said.

Sophia is the K-12 education reporter for the Grand Forks Herald.