[3] She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in elementary education at Moorhead, graduating magna cum laude.
in guidance and counseling from North Dakota State University and a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study in educational administration.
She and others protested kickbacks related to the then-proposed Shooting Star Casino on the White Earth Indian Reservation,[7] participating in a takeover of the tribal headquarters for which Vizenor and 28 others were arrested.
[8] The events led to Camp Justice, a reform movement that lasted five years[9] and concluded with the felony convictions of two council members and of tribal chair Chip Wadena on charges of embezzlement, money laundering, and election rigging.
[2] Among the changes she sought to implement was opening tribal citizenship to lineal descendants instead of the one-fourth blood quantum requirement, a prerequisite also mandated by the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe.
[15] The old White Earth constitution lacked separation of powers, an independent judiciary, and contained numerous references to obtaining the permission of the secretary of the interior.
[10] Vizenor wrote the 2016 novel Treaty Shirts: October 2034 — A Familiar Treatise on The White Earth Nation.
The novel is set in a dystopian future where reservations are diminished to sectors that serve the commercial interests of a totalitarian federal government.