Natural Resources & Environmental Law

Indian Alumni Breakfast

About 64 people attended this year's Indian Alumni Breakfast, sponsored by the UNM School of Law's Indian Alumni Council. The breakfast took place, as it does every year, during the Federal Bar Association Indian Law Conference at Pojoaque Pueblo's Buffalo Thunder Resort in early April.

Incoming Dean Kevin Washburn, an enrolled member of the Chickasaw Nation, joined Interim Dean Leo Romero, along with other UNM law Indian alums and students.

A special guest was T Lance Jackson, who attended the conference and wanted to meet Jacob Keyes, a 3L, the first recipient of the Henry Kent Anderson Scholarship, awarded to a UNM law student who demonstrates a concern for victims of social inequality.

Jackson established the scholarship this year in honor of Anderson, who was his great-grandfather. Jackson discovered his relationship to Anderson 10 years ago when a relative researched the family history. It turned out that Anderson was a descendant of Cherokee Indians who fought to obliterate prejudices endured by his people during the 1800s. Jackson owned a construction company in Pennsylvania prior to his retirement and decided to continue his great-grandfather's work through this scholarship.

The UNM Indian Alumni Council, a network of Native legal professionals who graduated from UNM School of Law, has become an integral vehicle for supporting the school's Indian Law Program. By giving generously to the Indian Law Program Fund and the Toby Grossman Scholarship Fund, alumni affiliated with the council have provided financial assistance that enables the law school to continue leading the way in legal education for the benefit of Indian nations and Native people.