Tribal stewardship is ingrained in every fiber of Cola Boyer. Naturally, part of that stems from her upbringing as a Shoshone-Bannock tribal member on a reservation in Fort Hall, Idaho, but much of her dedication to Native Americans also comes from the activism and political advocacy of her family members.
Her grandmother LaNada War Jack is well known as one of the organizers of the Occupation of Alcatraz, which was a 19-month sit-in to prevent Alcatraz Island from reverting to federal ownership. War Jack was also the first Native American woman to attend the University of California, Berkeley, and she was vital in the introduction of the school's first ethnic studies course in 1969.
While her grandmother's activism took a stand on the national stage, the rest of Boyer's family also did vital work for their people.
"My dad's a tribal council person. My grandmother was a tribal council person. My great grandfather was a tribal council person. My mom's side of the family, too," Boyer says. "So I have a long history of tribal policy and federal policy. This is where my heart sits."
Continuing that familial trend, Boyer was hired as Eastern Washington University's newest director of tribal relations about three weeks ago — more than a decade after she graduated from the same school. She'll be replacing Erin Ross, who left the position in May to work as a senior tribal policy manager with the state Attorney General's Office. At the end of Boyer's first week on the job, we chatted about her dedication to uplifting Native communities, her relationship with mentor Nicole DeVon (Eastern's first tribal relations director), and creating a strong platform for Native students at Eastern. Her answers have been edited for clarity and length.
INLANDER: Before you started working at Eastern, you spent seven years working with the Kalispel Tribe at Northern Quest Resort & Casino and then almost a year working with the Coeur d'Alene Tribe. Would it be fair to say that your career has been driven by a goal of uplifting Native communities?
BOYER: Yeah, you're not wrong. I love my tribal people, and all of our Indigenous tribes and communities. There's a fire that just wants to help every single person that I can. So, drawing back to this position, it's everything I've ever wanted to do. I get to be a voice for the people and help them.
As the university's third tribal relations director, do you have or plan to have any connections with your predecessors?
The first one was actually an adviser of mine when I was here in school, her name is Nicole DeVon. Actually, I think the position was created on behalf of her, and she did all of these wonderful things.
Have you spoken to DeVon since accepting the position she originated?
Yes, I actually spoke to her the other day. Nicole was like, "First of all, I want to say, congratulations. I have watched you from the time you came into school to where you are now," and she goes, "It's wonderful because as your adviser, as your friend, as your sister, as your auntie, I've watched you grow into this person. I couldn't be more proud of you."
Is this a position that you plan to spend a long time in, like DeVon who spent nearly 16 years at Eastern?
This is something I've always wanted to do, but this is probably the tip of the iceberg. I could be here for five years. It could be 10 years. It could be something I end up doing until I'm retired.
When we moved from the reservation [Boyer's family moved to Ione, Washington, when she was 15], it was my mom and my sisters. Both of my sisters have husbands and children now, and I don't really see leaving them, but to be totally honest, my end goal has always been to move back home to the reservation and help my own people there. Maybe that starts here, you know.
If most of your family is here, what draws you back to the reservation you grew up on?
Oftentimes as little children the most common thing that we hear growing up is, "Go and get your education and then bring that back home to your people so that you can help us." So that idea has always been a concept in my mind.
I also have land back home on my reservation that I eventually want to build off of, and what makes that special is because I grew up on that land. So many beautiful memories of just growing up on the reservation. When you'd wake up in the morning, the sun would be up, and it was right next to a potato field. It wasn't like city life at all.
Being back on the lands of my people is important to me. And so I think it just goes back to my roots and where my people are. Having our land, having our language, having our traditions and cultures, is what makes us who we are as Indigenous people.
You hope to create a strong platform for Native students. What does that work look like on a university campus?
When I was a student here there was nobody else like me that I had seen at that point. I knew Nicole [DeVon], but there was nobody that I graduated with who I could look up to. I don't think that that's fair, there needs to be role models on this campus. One of those things that I'm hoping I will be able to do is to be that resource for them.
My door is always open for students to come and talk, and I plan on being very upfront and present with all Native students on campus. I also plan on bringing in representatives to showcase how they got to where they got, because I think that those things are very important for our students to see. I just don't want them to feel like they're alone.
I went over to the Native American Student Association the other day and what they're doing is fantastic. They've actually created their own platform and model for that type of representation, too.
Though much of your job requires you to work with students at Eastern, do you plan to work collaboratively with regional tribes?
My position will be working with all tribes all over Washington state, as well as the students. Washington state has 29 federally recognized tribes that we could work with.
Are there any major projects that you plan to work on?
One of the projects I’ll be working on, and that we’ve been working on as a university, is the Lucy Covington Initiative. We will be dedicating a building, the Lucy Covington Leadership House, on behalf of her resilience and her work. [More information can be found at ewu.edu/buildourfuture/covington]
Lucy Covington was from the Colville Tribe, and her work, her resiliency, her passion for her people was so strong because back in the ’50s there was a [federal] policy introduced called the Native American termination policy. This policy basically said, “We’re going to terminate your tribe, and by terminating your tribe you will no longer have access to land, you will no longer be able to practice your culture, your language, nothing.”
She said absolutely not [to that policy], because without our lands, without our culture, without our language, we’re not a people. We are the natural inhabitors of this place. All of her work was dedicated to making sure that this termination policy didn’t go through, and in the end, it didn’t.
Moving back to Eastern Washington and the university, it’s so important that we have these different programs or initiatives supporting our culture. That culture is what makes us a people, it’s what makes us a tribe, what makes us Native American in general, and it must be protected.
Is there an anticipated timeline for this project yet?
There’s been challenges in different areas that have stopped the process or slowed it down, but I’m meeting with some architects within the next few weeks so we can start moving that initiative forward again.♦
