by Jacqueline Trescott
Washington Post Staff Writer
The Washington Post
A group of trustees of the National Museum of the American Indian have complained to the Smithsonian Institution that they were excluded from the selection of Kevin Gover as the new director of the museum.
“Never in my mind would I think the hiring of a director would not include consultations with the board of trustees,” said Elouise Cobell, a trustee and member of the Blackfeet Nation. “I signed on to be a trustee and I thought it was just that. I didn’t understand why they wouldn’t share this information with us and let us vet the candidates.”
Eight trustees, almost a third of the 25-member board, held a telephone conference Monday with Sheila Burke, the Smithsonian deputy secretary and chief operating officer. They discussed what they considered a serious oversight, especially with the high visibility of the appointment among Native American communities.
“We felt we were left out of the loop,” said Phyllis Young, the board secretary. “I was really in the dark. I just feel it is the Smithsonian way of doing things. We were informed that it was the sole responsibility of the secretary. We can cry spilt milk but it is done,” said Young, a community activist on the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota.
Dwight A. Gourneau, the board chairman and a member of the search committee, said there were missteps in the communication process but the inclusion of some board members on the search committee brought in their input. The 11-member selection committee included three members of the board and four Native Americans.
“We didn’t do enough to keep them informed,” said Gourneau, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa of North Dakota and a retired IBM engineer. “I can understand the trustees feeling they lacked status or information, and being frustrated with the process, but the process was what it is.”
When candidates were discussed by name, Gourneau said, the conversations were private and not discussed with the entire board. Henrietta Mann, a search committee member and former board member, agreed the process was confidential.
Burke, who chaired the search committee, and Cristi¿n Samper, the acting Smithsonian secretary, said they were standing by the process and the ultimate decision. Samper, at a briefing with reporters on Monday, said the search committee “interviewed many candidates and in the end they forwarded two names, and I personally interviewed two candidates, and in the end it was my decision.”
Gover, a law professor at Arizona State University in Tempe, was appointed to succeed W. Richard West, the founding director of the museum. The Mall museum opened in 2004.
A well-known professor and former federal official, Gover led the Bureau of Indian Affairs at the Interior Department from 1997 to 2000. That position traditionally puts its leader at odds with many Native Americans. During his tenure, Gover was held in contempt by a federal judge for not providing documents in a long-standing suit by Native Americans about the government’s handling of Indian trust accounts.
Gover could not be reached for comment.
Cobell, the lead plaintiff in that class action suit, said she opposed the appointment on all grounds, including his tenure at BIA. “It is just a situation where he is not well-respected in Indian country,” Cobell said. She said the museum director should not be an “adversary” of any Indian interests. West said last week that Gover has “good standing” in the Indian communities.
Gourneau, who has endorsed the appointment, said: “We need to move forward. Kevin Gover has the right set of skills and experience. I hope we can move past this and have everyone who is interested work with Kevin.”
Linda St. Thomas, a spokesman for the Smithsonian, said the main role of the board of trustees was to raise funds and counsel the director.
Elliott Levitas, a former congressman and one of the lawyers who represents the plaintiffs in the suit, said the exclusion of broader input from the board was troubling.
“At the very least, assuming it is not required by law, common courtesy and common sense would have required consultation with the museum’s board,” he said. “Also, one of the problems besetting the Smithsonian at this point is the concern about transparency. Here you have a complete absence of transparency, you have opaqueness.”
An editorial in the newspaper Indian Country Today also objected to the fact that Gover and West had worked together at two law firms and remain friends.
“Post-Abramoff, the delicate thread by which the perception of Indian peoples hangs is easily broken and arduously restored. Now more than ever, the museum must be above reproach in order to fulfill its mission to represent all Indian people and to educate the public about Native histories and culture,” the editorial said.
During the telephone conference on Monday, Cobell suggested the decision to hire Gover should be put on hold. “I think we have to have more conversations. This is not the end for me. I need a lot more questions answered,” Cobell said.
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