American Indian Law: a Surge of Interest on Campuses

By KATHERINE MANGAN

Growing up on a Navajo reservation near Gallup, N.M., Jordan Hale never dreamed he would one day be standing in front of a courtroom recommending whether a defendant should be released on bond, or working with a prosecutor to draft a criminal complaint.

Becoming a lawyer was the farthest thing from the mind of the high-school runner whose home, at the end of a dirt road, had no running water or telephone.

Now he is one of 37 students, representing 29 Indian tribes, who are