Tim Topper Reclaims His Roots and Honors Indigenous Traditions

What sparked your interest in working with students?

My journey has been about self-identity, self-exploration and being proud of who I am. It brought me to my undergraduate institution, Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, which is the largest four-year higher education institution that's not a tribal college or university with the biggest population of Native students, staff and faculty.

In college, I gravitated toward what was comfortable: urban Native folks who didn't grow up close to their tribal homelands and came to Fort Lewis because of the Fort Lewis Native American Tuition Waiver. The college offers a tuition waiver for enrolled citizens—or the children—of an American Indian Tribal Nation or Alaska Native Village recognized by the U.S. federal government. It was enacted as part of Fort Lewis's charter to become a college because of its history as an Indian boarding school and a military fort used to ward off Indigenous people in the area. It’s a form of repatriation and affirmation for our Native communities.

As I progressed in school and learned more about my own identity, I started to develop a passion for Native student success. I knew that there were probably other students out there like me going through similar things and that the narrative around Native students in higher education—which is that higher education inadequately serves Native students—needed to change. My experience at Fort Lewis College inspired me to get my doctorate and work in equity spaces in higher education at Chapman University, UCLA and now here at UC San Diego.

For me, it's been a continued path of discovery. I use my privileges to help change the narrative and uplift Indigenous voices in arenas where they have either been silenced or severely altered.

What vision do you have for your role?

The ITRC, which serves all students, was a night-and-day difference from what I was used to. Seeing how equipped it was, I automatically felt very welcome and fortunate.

Coming into this role, one of my biggest visions was to have an Indigenous lens on what we do. We incorporate Indigenous scholarship and research-based theoretical frameworks to advance UC San Diego’s student-centered mission through meaningful support for all students and staff.

For example, our work is grounded in Kirkness and Barnhardt’s Four Rs: respect, reciprocity, relevance and responsibility. When we work in the community, we want it to be a symbiotic relationship that’s healthy and supportive. We ensure students feel heard and seen on our campus and build bridges to uplift our Kumeyaay neighbors, as well.

How does San Diego’s Indigenous population impact your work?

San Diego County’s 18 federally-recognized and non-federally recognized Indigenous communities is the most of any county in the United States. Even though I’m in my second year in this role, I’m still learning about the different dynamics within each of the communities. I visit and am involved where I can be, fostering important connections. We need to take a back seat and help drive community priorities, too, because ultimately it helps bolster the relationships between the various communities and UC San Diego. These relationships will hopefully translate into more opportunity for local Indigenous students to learn more about UC San Diego and therefore be inspired to consider us as one of their top options for college.

How does the ITRC support students once they’re at UC San Diego?

The ITRC is a hub for all things Indigenous on campus. Our campus partners come to us for conversations about finding community, political sovereignty, to better understand Indigenous epistemology or culture or to just hang out. The space and services are open to all, so we try to get students through the door so they can find our space and get what they need. Our team is attentive to students’ needs on a one-to-one basis rather than using a cookie-cutter approach. That goes back to relationships with our colleagues across our campus and community partners.

What are your hopes for the future in your role?

The previous rhetoric around Indigenous students in higher education is that they're attending institutions in a system that was built to assimilate them and they are not succeeding academically. Among Kumeyaay students and families in particular, there is a stigma that UC San Diego is out of reach for them, which is not true. The ITRC is working to change the narrative by educating about and honoring Indigenous people's traditions, empowering the sharing of the Indigenous experience with all and encouraging the Four Rs. This is instrumental in making sure that all pathways for all students - regardless of their background or tribal affiliation - are visible.

In combination with what I’ve learned through my doctoral research and see daily among our amazing scholars on campus, Native students are more than equipped to do well at really prestigious institutions and are excelling.

When we're in the community, we have an opportunity to be as supportive, if not more than, neighboring universities. Every single community member at UC San Diego, Indigenous or not, has a different set of priorities, and the university and the ITRC are committed to providing programs and policies to support all of our students’ journeys.