A new Director of Tribal Relations was appointed by Eastern Washington University following a six month vacancy in the position.
The Easterner sat down with new hire Cola Boyer to get to know her and her plans for the position.
An Eastern alum, Boyer began as the school’s tribal relations director on Nov. 18. With aspirations to make positive contributions to the campus community, she said that returning to the university was a “huge deal” for her.
“I got to come back on campus and be an Eastern Eagle,” Boyer said. “I’ve always wanted to come back and be in academics.”
Boyer is a Shoshone-Bannock tribal member who claims to have a “motivation, passion, and love for all things university and all things tribal relations and tribal people.”
During her time as a student, Boyer was president of the Native American Student Association, now called the Native American Student Coalition or NASC. She graduated with a Bachelor’s of Arts in Race and Culture and minors in American Indian Studies and Africana Studies.
Boyer went on to earn a Master’s degree in business leadership from Whitworth University and is currently working to obtain a doctorate degree for Education in Leadership and Innovation through Purdue University.
One of the first things on Boyer’s EWU docket is to make strides towards creating a new building to house the American Indian Studies program.
Creating a center for the program has been considered for years as a part of a longstanding EWU project called the Lucy Covington Initiative, named in honor of the late Colville Tribal Council member Lucy Covington. Covington stood against the 1953 tribal termination policy, which aimed to remove the special legal status of tribes.
Boyer said that the initiative as a whole would “represent all of our tribal students and also bring awareness and attention and information to all of the campus community.”
She said that she recognizes the efforts that Eastern has made to ensure that campus is a welcoming and inclusive space, and aims to further those efforts in her position.
Boyer said that her goal is to create “a safe place with a connection so that we can start making positive moves through the future, for the university, for the tribal communities and tribal students.”
Current NASC president Jackie Wambolt had a meeting with Boyer on Tuesday Nov. 19. They discussed revising Eastern’s land acknowledgement, which Wambolt described as a “subject of contention.”
Wambolt said that she is encouraged by Boyer’s willingness to work with NASC.
“[The] lack of a person in the position was making it hard to get things done,” Wambolt said. She said that she believes Boyer stepping into the role will make things “move much more quickly.”
Following Wambolt’s meeting with Boyer, other members of NASC expressed hopefulness in Boyer’s readiness to collaborate with the club and her passion for the role. One student said that she seems “driven to make change,” while another said that her openness to collaboration was “positive.”
