Elousie Cobell Praised by Rollins College
WINTER PARK, Florida, May 15 -- Rollins College has honored Elouise P. Cobell of Browning, Mont., with an honorary doctor of laws degree for her long-running battle over the federal government's admitted mismanagement of Individual Indian trust accounts.
A member of the Blackfeet Nation, Cobell is the lead plaintiff in the 11-year-old Cobell vs. Kempthorne lawsuit which has challenged the government's handling of the accounts on behalf of 500,000 Native American trust beneficiaries.
"For more than a decade you have been engaged in a battle that has been compared to the encounter between David and Goliath," said the citation accompanying her degree.
"As lead plaintiff in one of the largest class-action lawsuit ever filed against the U.S. Government, and through your work on the Individual Indian Monies Trust and Corrections Recovery Project, you have sought to assure the financial rights of hundreds of thousands of American Indians."
The college also cited her work as a treasurer for the Blackfeet Nation and as a founder of the first national bank on an Indian reservation that was owned by Native Americans.
"You have championed the economic independence and well-being of the residents of the Blackfeet Reservation," the citation read.
Rollins also noted Ms. Cobell had received a "genius" grant from the MacArthur Foundation and it was joining organizations like the Ford Foundation, the Lannan Foundation of New Mexico, the International Women's Forum and the Women's Leadership Exchange "in celebrating the strength and passion you bring to your advocacy for social justice."
The honorary doctorate is the second for Ms. Cobell. She previously was honored by Montana State University for her work on behalf of Native Americans.
contact: Bill McAllister 703 385-6996
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