KU News Release

Graduation stories: For indigenous nations scholar, law school beckons

Mandy Cisneros

LAWRENCE — Growing up as a member of the Kansas Kickapoo Nation in Horton, Mandy Cisneros took the challenges facing her tribe to heart. She resolved to use her education to benefit the Kansas Kickapoo — and this ambition has led Cisneros to New Mexico, Capitol Hill and back home to Kansas.

“I’m just interested in being a voice,” said Cisneros. “There’s only about 1,600 Kansas Kicakpoos. We’re a very small number, so it’s critical that everyone plays a part and contributes to the tribe.”

After earning a bachelor’s degree from the University of New Mexico, Cisneros will graduate from the University of Kansas on Sunday, May 18, with a master’s in indigenous nations studies. But her educational achievements won’t take her too far — geographically speaking. That’s because Cisneros will stay in Lawrence to enter the KU School of Law this fall, confidently following a path that she has mapped with care.

“I’ve already picked out most of my classes for the next three years,” said Cisneros. “I grew up with my mom and my grandparents, and they’re just excited. My mom cried when I told her I got into law school. I’m the first in my family to get a four-year college degree as well as a master’s — and then get into law school.”

Cisneros will focus much of her legal education on issues facing the Kansas Kickapoo Nation. Most urgently, the tribe has a critical problem accessing quality drinking water. Thus, Cisneros has made the topic of water rights central to her studies.

“It’s really complicated,” said Cisneros. “My tribe has a lack of water because the reservation we were placed onto was on a rock. There’s not any access to groundwater. The Delaware River is running dry, and it’s dirty — we don’t drink it.”

Cisneros also has investigated legal issues that affect Native American communities nationwide, such as the growing methamphetamine epidemic.

“It’s a jurisdictional maze,” said said. “You have state, federal and tribal police that all have jurisdiction depending whether the individuals involved are Indian or non-Indian. The Supreme Court decision in Oliphant said that tribal police don’t have criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians. They have to defer to federal or state police. Meth drug cartels are targeting reservations because of this loophole. It strains the budget for tribal law enforcement as well as health. It creates child abuse, prostitutes — all that comes along with addiction.”

Mastering the ins-and-outs of thorny issues such as these has required hard work. Several faculty members in the Indigenous Nations Studies Program have been central to Cisneros’ academic success: She cited KU professors Angelique EagleWoman, Bobbi Rahder and Stacy L. Leeds as primary mentors. Through her diligence, Cisneros has won the respect of her professors in return.

“It’s been wonderful to have Mandy in my courses this year,” said EagleWoman. “She’ll make a real contribution in the areas of tribal law and indigenous issues. As we have discussed the situation of indigenous peoples around the world, Mandy has been able to draw parallels and find similarities with her own Tribal Nation, the Kickapoo Nation of Kansas. She’s following her lifelong dream by attaining her master’s degree and continuing on to law school.”

While studying at KU, Cisneros has worked as a resident assistant in a dormitory at Haskell Indian Nations University. There, she answers residents’ inquiries and acts as a peer adviser to younger students — while drawing on her own experiences such as working on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

As an undergraduate in the fall of 2005, Cisneros interned with the Senate Finance Committee on the staff of U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont.

“It really opened up my eyes to how our voices need to be represented on Capitol Hill — not just my tribe, but of all tribal nations,” said Cisneros. “I got to go on the Senate floor. Once, I got to have my picture taken with Barack Obama. It was awesome.”

Cisneros plans to use her knowledge of Washington, her time as an undergraduate student in New Mexico and her academic experience at KU as the foundation of her future legal career. But she keeps the well-being of the Kansas Kickapoo Nation in the forefront of her plans.

“After I graduate, I definitely want to look into working within tribal law,” said Cisneros. “There are many opportunities for Indian lawyers, and there are numerous issues to address nationally. But most of all, I want to work with my tribe.”

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