editorials

What goes on at football stadiums on college campuses rarely helps the schools meet their educational missions, unless you consider watching a costumed mascot doing push-ups to be critical to the college experience.

The University of Minnesota's new football stadium will be different.

When the stadium opens in fall 2009, fans entering through the main plaza will encounter educational exhibits focusing on Minnesota's rich Native American history.

The $12.5 million gift announced last week by the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community includes $10 million for the stadium and $2.5 million for a scholarship endowment that will be matched by the school.

The $10 million gift is a significant boost for the university's stadium fundraising campaign. The endowment may have more impact on the university, though.

When classes started this fall, there were 274 American Indian students in the ranks of 33,761 undergraduates on the Twin Cities campus. University officials rightly consider the native population to be underrepresented.

Though the Shakopee Sioux scholarship fund will be open to all students with financial need, Native Americans will receive preference. Despite the windfalls that some tribes have gained from gambling operations, many native students in and beyond Minnesota need financial help to attend college.

Tribal Chairman Stanley Crooks said the scholarship program was a key part of the tribe's decision to work with the university. "We need Indian doctors, lawyers, teachers, accountants and leaders to help Indian people," he explained.

It's unfortunate that some critics of Indian gaming have used the announcement of the Shakopee Sioux's gift to reignite the debate over non-Indian gambling in Minnesota. There's no question the contribution to the university is positive news for the university, the tribe and the state. It's a good deed that doesn't deserve to be punished.

The tribal donation is the largest single gift to the university's athletic department. (The university characterizes the $21 million that TCF Bank is putting into the stadium as a sponsorship agreement, not a gift.)

Details of the scholarship program are still being worked out, but it's certain to benefit thousands of students -- and the University of Minnesota -- for decades to come. It is in no way self-serving; Shakopee Sioux members will not be eligible for the aid, because the tribe provides its own educational funding.

The tribe says it has donated more than $100 million to hundreds of causes and organizations over the past decade. Those philanthropic efforts too often go unrecognized or underappreciated. The tribe's leaders deserve more credit than they get.